Posts tagged 02 Arena

Event Name: Kanye West, London tour
Artists: Kanye West, Common, Estelle
Venue: 02 Arena, London
Rating: 7.5/10 – “Overall a good concert”
Author: Kurran Gadhvi (first ever Lovesoul.TV reader review!)

Expectations were at an all time high for the beginning of the Kanye West tour. With the recent unfortunate passing of his mother, rumours of cancellation spread fast a week before the concert. The go-ahead email from the O2 centre put a smile on thousands of faces just days before the concert.

An hour before the concert, rumours of supporting acts such as Jay-Z, Common and others, were floating around the numerous bars of the impressive O2 centre. The Concert eventually started off with Estelle, performing a few new tracks from her forthcoming album. Some tracks have been produced by former Fugees front man, Wyclef Jean, who apparently claims she is the best at creating her “own harmonies to her track”. She managed to get in ‘1980’, the track that brought her to the mainstream and the charts in 2004. However, with the sound levels not being quite right and the Arena just being half full at that time, the impact she made was definitely not worth remembering.

The second supporting act soon followed. Kanye’s fellow Chi-town native and GOOD Music label mate Common. After his big acting success in ‘American Gangster’, and scoring a Radio 1 Friendly crossover hit with Lilly Allen, you would have expected the UK crowd to give him a warmer welcome. But, how can I put this politely, the majority of the not so “hip-hop” oriented crowd, didn’t even know who he was! Hip-hop heads, such as myself, were moving away to some of his raw old-school tracks mixed with some from his latest album. Some people were singing along to Lilly Allens chorus, but that was probably the loudest the crowd were during his 30 min rendition.

The crowd started to grow restless in anticipation for the main act. Looking around with the lights on, you could tell that the crowd were mainly pop or commercial music followers and couldn’t wait for the chart topper version of Kanye to grace the stage. The lights went down, and unlike the supporting acts with just DJ’s, a drummer and poor sound levels; when Kanye came on it was a bang. The side big screens came on, his famous string quartet were on the stage accompanying the drummer, synths player, sound effects specialist (who did a solo at the end, the first SFX solo I have ever seen), guitarist and bass. Every track was special. Tracks from his new album, intertwined with some of his earlier chart toppers such as the Chaka-tastic “Through the Wire”, and the track “with Adam Levine from Maroon 5” (“Heard ‘Em Say”) were all sung along to by the crowd and the atmosphere was electric.

Then came a very touching moment, as he dedicated ‘Hey Mamma’ to his mother. He had a beam of an angel looking over him all the way through the track. With tears rolling down his cheeks throughout the song, the crowd gave him, and also to his mother, a standing ovation. The finishing track was “Stronger”, this got the majority of the crowd off their seats, shaking their booty to a beat that was apparently mixed down a record 15 times, with the help of Timbaland finishing it off in the studio. Looks like it worth it.

The Concert got progressively “Stronger”. There were many smiles going back to North Greenwhich station. Mixed reactions from some, but overall a good concert.

WE ARE LOOKING FOR MORE READER REVIEWS. BIG SHOUT TO KURRAN OF SWARA MUSIC. (pic: Shirlaine Forrest)