REVIEW: Kanye West - Glow In The Dark Tour - Toronto (05/21/08)
Written by Felicia Mancini on May 22nd, 2008 in Commentary, Concert, Music, Review. 165 views
Even in freezing rain, thousands (mostly covered in their very finest Kanye inspired outfits) filled the Molson Amphitheatre to capacity as the Glow In the Dark tour made it’s stop in Toronto. Despite bone chilling temperatures and seemingly long intermission all was well the minute Mr. Kanye West took the stage which is utterly breathtaking to say the least. The always coolly conscious, Lupe Fiasco performed a rather short set but only set the mood for N.E.R.D which brought an array of fans (two males one of which resembled Mc Lovin and a huge posse of ladies). The Bathing Ape clad crew including two drummers, Pharrell, Chad and Shay owned the simply set stage but managed to set the soaked crowd into hysteria as one of the dancers on stage was revealed to be Rhianna’s beau, Chris Brown.
Rhianna with her pixie cut (rat tail included) took the stage performing a handful of hits (including covers of Lauryn Hill and Beanie Man tunes) she wore outfits that managed to take away from her actual performances which were average at best especially when she brought the overall mood down of the show with a few of her ballads. Overall Rhianna managed to bring the audience back up to speed when she finally performed Umbrella in which the crowd waved their umbrellas highly in the air.
It wasn’t until another lengthy intermission in which Kanye took the stage when he truly put his money where his mouth is and delivered an astonishing performance from start to finish on Planet Kanye where a spaceship was the only other thing on the stage besides him. Even with the eccentric and interactive stage props (which would have even been more effective if the concert took place in doors) Kanye remained to be confident and captivating with his one man show performing hit after hit. Even after bringing to life his heavily radio rotated songs with stage props and utter brilliance as a true lyricist (he sounded better live than on record on several songs he performed. Mr. West entered the ranks of Michael Jackson and Madonna in regards to his abilities as a performer making the most out of his stage and his songs. However it wasn’t until he performed “Hey Mama” a tribute to his mother where Kanye really got to show the 416 his true talent not only as a rapper but as a true entertainer with his honesty and rarely shown vulnerability.
Call him arrogant, boisterous, cocky, whatever you want to call it but he can back it all up. From having parents throwing diamonds in the sky to Police Officers in attendance dancing unabashedly to his songs, Kanye set the bar not only for Hip hop as a genre and culture but for all performers. It was well worth the endless hours in the wet freezing cold because after the obvious effort and consideration he put into this tour, hey it’s the least we could do.
I give this tour a perfect rating, 4 out of 4.
