On Sunday night, Kendrick Lamar and Kanye West’s showmanship lit up the TD Garden in Boston. Lamar opened the concert with a 40 minute set of songs from his recent release, “Good Kid M.A.A.D. City.” He ran through some crowd favorites, including “Money Trees,” “F-ckin Problems,” “Poetic Justice,” “Backseat Freestyle” and “Swimming Pools.” “F-ckin Problems” easily received the most excitement from the audience as it is one of his most successful collaborations with A$AP Rocky to date.
Lamar’s voice overpowered the stadium as his diehard fans screamed the lyrics and tried to keep up with his impossibly fast flow. Lamar’s energy filled the Garden, hyping everyone up for West’s arrival. It was unfortunate that Lamar’s set was noticeably short and only featured songs from his most recent album. He has a passionate following that began with his earlier albums, and a performance of older tracks would’ve added some variety and excitement to his set.
West’s theatrics began with his entrance as women wearing white robes and what appeared to be panty hose on their heads glided on stage in eerie synchronization. Opening the show with “On Sight” from his latest album “Yeezus.” the crowd reacted wildly as he lit up the stage wearing his ridiculous, if not creative, masks. West finally took his off mask about halfway through the show, right when the audience had given up on seeing his face at any point. His masks were ornately decorated, from gold chain mesh and jewels to small square mirrors that he wore through the majority of his performance.
His theatrics extended into the religious realm as he introduced Jesus during “Jesus Walks.” West exclaimed “Is that you, white Jesus?” and the two kneeled before each other, as if one was blessing the other. They are equals, after all – at least in Kanye’s mind.
The concert was organized into five sections: Fighting, Rising, Falling, Searching and Finding, as our hero scoured songs for meaning in his effected landscape, alluding to Biblical references. During the performance of “I Am a God,” West’s disciples sacrificed him. Wearing only nude pasties, G-strings and more pantyhose on their heads, the women lifted West and presented him to a higher being, presumably himself if this theatric came from his own mind.
His stage was the most impressive aspect of the show; a towering Mount Kanye, inclining icebergs and the infamous circular 60 foot LED screen that caused the cancellation of multiple shows. The screen allowed for the mountain to become anything from a fiery volcano, as it was during “Black Skinhead,” to an icy arctic mountain during “Coldest Winter.” The iceberg itself propped West up as he sang to the falling snowflakes, making for a unique and memorable visual experience. The pyrotechnics were as shocking as they were blinding, engulfing Kanye and his mountain in flames multiple times as he provoked the audience with his rants and antics. His most memorable guest included a Yeti beast that slunk up Mount Kanye and perched itself as its demonic eyes stared at the audience.
In his choice of songs, he covered an absurd amount of material, spanning across most of his albums all the way back to “College Dropout.” While he didn’t perform “Through the Wire,” his first song produced and recorded, “Jesus Walks” and “Diamonds from Sierra Leone” were welcoming throwbacks that the crowd jammed to as West threw up the infamous Illuminati symbol. Even though there were over 30 songs performed, the songs with the most intense reaction were “Stronger,” “Jesus Walks,” “Runaway” and “Black Skinhead.” West and the crowd vibed as he threw himself around on stage, taking his energy to a new level.
There’s no denying it — West’s performance can’t be compared to any other artists’. While he might not actually be a god, he’s a master of putting together an unbelievable show. Yeezus is West’s first solo tour in five years and reality proved to exceed the high expectations.
In one of the few not-so-exciting parts, West ranted for 10 to 15 minutes about haters and other odd things through his Auto-Tune microphone, slowing down the upbeat pace of the show. Not only did it dull the excited mood in the stadium, it felt out of place. Love him or hate him, one thing is for sure; the enigma is committed to being “Kanye.” Other than that, West’s performance, with the help of Lamar, was second to none, leaving no fan disappointed as they walked away from the TD Garden.
Ana Lopez can be reached at [email protected].
