By Megan Sullivan
Staff Writer
Seven years after Kanye West’s popular album, “808s and Heartbreak,” was released, West performed the entire album at the Hollywood Bowl September 25th and September 26th. The album had been highly adored when it first debuted and continues to be praised for its originality.
Despite the criticism of his ego, few can deny that Kanye West’s confidence has pushed him to success through his career. Considering the anticipation leading up to this concert, West’s performance was overall disappointing due to his lack of energy, stage presence, and the abruptness of the concert.
West made sure to show the audience that he was in charge by taking the stage half and hour after the time he was supposed to go on, and stopping the first song halfway through because he wanted to restart the entire concert. Although these antics stayed true to his egotistical character, it was still unprofessional and a little outrageous to the audience.
The stage design was clever for the minimal props it contained. The same staircase was utilized throughout the whole concert and was just moved around into different formations depending on the song’s mood. In addition, there were people dressed in various white clothing that stood behind West for his songs, which gave the audience something interesting to look at while West was performing.
“808s and Heartbreak,” was considered West’s most emotional album to many critics and fans when it was first released. Nothing less than an emotional performance in concert was expected from him. Instead, West rarely interacted with the audience and seemed to be completely uninterested in how the crowd reacted to his music, which diminished the viewing experience in general.
The entire album was performed which meant that each song sounded very similar. Unlike his other albums, “808s,” lacked diversity, and this became evident partway through the concert when many of the songs started to sound the same. Towards the end of the concert, the setlist felt very drawn out and unnecessary.
The majority of the concert took place center stage because West rarely moved around, creating a boring environment. There was not an exciting closing song nor opening which definitely made it hard to know when a song was starting and ending. West seemed to be just going through the movements, instead of actually performing.
West brought on Kid Cudi and Mr. Hudson as guests to sing their songs on the album. During “Welcome to Heartbreak,” Kid Cudi sang and presented as more excited then West to be a part of the concert. Later when Mr Hudson performed, “Paranoid,” the crowd seemed to be more energetic and involved in the concert. Although it was nice to have new energy on stage, the guest singers showed how uninterested West seemed to be with the concert and made him seem even more boring.
The concert only ran a total of seventy minutes and West performed only twelve songs, which left the crowd unsatisfied. There was no opening act, and the tickets claimed that the concert started at 8, but West did not appear until 9:20. Most of the concert seemed to be waiting around for something to happen, which left viewers dissatisfied with the ending of the concert.
Overall, West’s performance was disappointing and unsatisfactory, which may have been a result of the album’s depressing tone and poor stage presence by West. Regardless of the performance, the music was still impressive and enjoyable on its own.
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