Kanye West Glow In The Dark Tour – 5.15.08 – Mansfield, MA

My journey to see Kanye West live for the Glow in the Dark tour began a few months back. I had an eye on Ticketmaster after the tour was announced. Tickets for the Mansfield, MA show were not yet available, and no info regarding a pre-sale date or anything of that nature was provided. So I kept the tour in the back of my mind for a few days, anticipating a chance to land great seats. When “Graduation” dropped, I promised myself to go see Kanye in concert if by chance he came to the Boston area.

With horrible luck, I landed on Ticketmaster a few days later to learn I COMPLETELY MISSED OUT on not only the pre-sale but also the general sale for the public.  Seats were available when I searched, but nothing in the first 3 front sections where I wanted to sit. If I was going to the Tweeter Center, a big venue outside of Boston, and going to a hip-hop show, then there was no way I was standing that far from the stage.

As the concert approached, I tried desperately to land great seats. Brokers were charging outrageous prices (what a surprise) and I couldn’t find a single set of great tickets on Craigslist. About 3 weeks before the show, I found myself back on Ticketmaster, and was able to land seats 17 rows from the stage in a side section. I snagged the tickets, grateful for such good fortune and wondering to myself why Ticketmaster releases better seats to the show once the show approaches. It’s all very bizarre. If you think about it, you could purchase average seats at the same price I paid for great seats, yet 3 weeks later, those greats seats that were not available before hand are all of a sudden waiting to be purchased. Makes no sense.

To make matters more complicated, two days before the show, I was on Ticketmaster once again, just curious to see what tickets would be available online the day before the show. I was getting a sort of sadistic enjoyment from seeing not so great seats available for my 17th row tickets, and knowing that people were purchasing these worse seats happily. But wouldn’t you know, out of some act by God, the day before the show, when I inquired online for 2 “best seats available”, what should show up but the following: Section 2, Row D, Seats 3 & 4. Translation: 4th Row center.

I couldn’t believe what lay in front of me. The opportunity to stand four rows from the stage. I had never been to a show and been so close, but the chance to see a hip-hop show of this size, at this distance, was too much for me to pass up. I quickly purchased the tickets, and then spent a few hours freaking the fuck out on what to do with my now spare 17th row seats. Thanks to Craigslist, I sold the lesser seats hours before I left for the show. Had I been forced to eat those tickets or sell them way under face value, it would have left an ugly smudge on the Kanye live experience I was about to embark on. But I got almost face value for them, so I was free to embark on “Glow In the Dark” with a peace of mind.

By the time we got into the Tweeter Center, Lupe Fiasco was more than half way done with his set. I had seen Lupe live in Manhattan when he opened for The Roots a year ago. I thought he was great live, and even though I’m not in love with his sophomore effort, “The Cool“, I would have liked the chance to see his whole set live. Booze and food took a higher priority, so we watched his final 4 songs on a TV outside the entry to the seats.

We made it to our GLORIOUS seats to catch N.E.R.D. I really liked N.E.R.D’s debut album, but I haven’t paid much attention to their releases since. Pharell’s biggest gift is his talent as a producer/beat maker, and this set kinda magnified this fact. I might download the upcoming N.E.R.D album when it drops this summer, but this set was solid, not great, and the highlight was hi-fiving Pharell after their set (amazing seats have their perks, no doubt).

Rihanna came on next. I gotta say her appearance on this lineup was a bit bizarre. I find her to be a bit too pop for the show, but it all kinda worked out in the end. She is beautiful in person, and she radiates a really positive aura while she performs. I think I actually enjoyed her set more than N.E.R.D’s, strangely. She closed with “Umbrella” (wow, really?), and the stage was set for Mr. West.

I should begin by stating I had huge expectations for Kanye. Anything less than “fucking amazing” to me would have been a total let down. I based this primarily on two things: Kanye’s performances on tv (which I found to always be better that I anticipated), combined with the strenght of his 3 solo albums. I personally feel “Graduation” was an almost flawless record, and it was safe to state that Kanye had quite a catalogue of songs to choose from to spark a fantastic setlist.

I won’t go into specifics regarding songs because, honestly, who can remember what they thought or felt for individual songs during a set, unless they review the setlist and recall memories. I will say there were things about Mr.West’s set that really stood out. First off: the stage. It was made out to look like another planet, think Mars, with simple moon-like structure. Behind Kanye in the center was a collection of screens that were made into one huge screen that projected images of galactic explosions and various space travels at the right moments. The show had a very theatrical feel to it. Kanye began the show lying on the stage, proceeded by his interaction with “Jane” (picture “Hal” from “2001:A Space Odyssey“, but a female voice). The story was that Kanye had just landed on this planet, and you can imagine where it went from there. There were lines, brief dialogues spit between him and “Jane”, and it all worked nicely.

The second thing I noticed was: no on-stage band, no back up dancers, no “hype man” rapping behind Kanye, holding a towel. It was ALL ABOUT Kanye. He really put it upon himself to be the only focus on stage, aside from the screen behind him, and with that responsibility he handled it perfectly. (The backup singers and live band were featured, via a video camera, during Kayne’s thank you’s and acknowledgments during the final song).

I don’t think Kanye stopped for more than 1 minute between the first 8 – 10 songs he rapped. That meant he was dripping in sweat, dancing and running around on stage, and created this amazing flow to the entire show. And when he did rest? He sat on the stage briefly, directly in front of where I was sitting, gazed out the crowd, and drank form a canteen, which fit in nicely with the theme of the stage (a plain old bottle of water would have thrown out the “world” he created). I think his set list did a great job of touching upon all 3 of his solo albums. I almost got emotional when he sang “Hey Mama”. It was very reminiscent of his performance of the same song on the Grammy’s this year. You can tell he still is very much in mourning for his Mom’s sudden passing.

Perhaps one of the most unexpected and coolest moments from the show was when during one of his few resting moments during his set, he sat on the stage, again in front of me, and looked out to the crowd as Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing” played in its entirety. Somehow it worked perfectly, and was a nice quirky surprise in the show.

Before leaving the stage, Kanye touched upon his rants at awards shows, saying he would try to stop it, but also proclaiming his reasons behind them and his ambition regarding his career in the same group of sentences. He then made a final statement regarding reaching for dreams that seem unattainable, and it was all very inspiring and perfect. By far the best hip-hop show I’ve ever seen, and my love and respect for Kanye grew so much as we made our ways to our cars. A perfect night indeed.

Kanye’s Set List:

1. “Good Morning”
2. “I Wonder”
3. “Heard ‘Em Say“
4. “Through the Wire“
5. “Champion“
6. “Get ‘Em High”
7. “Diamonds from Sierra Leone“
8. “Can’t Tell Me Nothing“
9. “Flashing Lights“
10. “Spaceship”
11. “All Falls Down“
12. “Gold Digger“
13. “Good Life“
14. “Jesus Walks“
15. “Hey Mama”
16. “Don’t Stop Believing” (Journey cover)
17. “Stronger“
18. “Homecoming“
19. “Touch the Sky“

The Fader has some nice words about the MSG stop here.

Also, the image above? It’s from a Glow in the Dark Kanye mixtape that you can download here.