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CONCERT REVIEW: Kanye West @ Revel 7/6
When Kanye West took on the wide stages of Ovation Hall at Revel Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, there was a lot to love. Most of all by him, as no one could adore West more than he.
CONCERT REVIEW: Kanye West @ Revel 7/6
When Kanye West took on the wide stages of Ovation Hall at Revel Resort and Casino in Atlantic City, there was a lot to love. Most of all by him, as no one could adore West more than he. Not the screaming fans who paid upwards of $250 for a greatest hits (plus one) show. Not the lean and hungry dozen ballet dancers who pranced and knelt upon the etage in a ritual of devotion before an angelic relief while awaiting the lord and master.
West’s arrival came not before his wanting ballerinas but instead from above, perched upon a high-flying crane that stretched across the audience to the tune of “Dark Fantasy.” Surely, he loved that people had to crane their necks to stare sky-high beneath him. Fans of the Watch the Throne shows with Jay-Z (an album whose material West did none of at Revel) will recall that Kanye too stood atop another large cube-obelisk thing throughout the set. We get it, K. We’re watching the throne already.
As a producer, rapper, emotionalist, egoist and a guy to intertwine those things together, Kanye was excellent. Bathed in the glow of neon blue and blood red lighting, the auto-tuned “Dark Fantasy,” the flutter of “Flashing Lights” and the military thwomp of “Jesus Walks” were unparalleled. His older thinner material sounded big. The dusky wide-scale electronica of more recent material sounded bigger. Pulling his head back like Mussolini, Kanye hollered out the lyrics to “Monster” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothin’” while its beats kicked out like a wild animal. “Power” too with its savage King Crimson sample allowed Kanye a vocal husk beyond his usual. West’s new tune (once known as “Therraflu”) “New God Flow” was granted some nuance in its announcement, a more subtly rendered take on romanticism and religion than we heard all night. Some of his robotic ballads from 808s and Heartbreak and the softer bits of My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy were handled delicately.
But I noticed one thing that is annoying about West now: The majority of this set was rendered with heavy handed MCs style and hammered instrumental backing. The same thing was true of West’s set during his Watch the Throne shows. There’s zip understatement to be found in the Kayne of 2011/2012. Bragging rights to greatness is one thing. Banging a Kardashian yet another. But West, in a live setting, has been pretty handy with finding dynamic range within hip hop, creating the differences then exploiting them. Here’s hoping he’s hasn’t lost that loving feeling forever.
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