Kanye West at Mohegan Sun

There’s no question Kanye West talks a good game, but the Chicago rapper almost always delivers with his music.

Naturally, that leads to its own set of problems, including an over-active sense of self and, on occasion, bristling incredulity when his genius is less than universally recognized. Even so, as baseball legend Dizzy Dean once noted, “It’s not bragging if you can back it up.”

West can. He did it for nearly an hour Tuesday night at Mohegan Sun Arena, mixing a tune from his forthcoming album, “Graduation,” with songs from his previous two records during a set that was a strong reminder of just how good West is.

He was funny, dropping incisive pop-culture references to Michael Jackson on “Slow Jamz” and wry, self-deprecating rhymes on “All Falls Down” as the crowd sang the catchy hook. He offered a quick snippet of his mammary-centric remix of Rich Boy’s song “Throw Some D’s,” before blanking on the rest of the words.

“I forgot it!” he laughed.

West was earnest on “Through the Wire,” his first hit, as he recounted the car accident that broke his jaw and prompted the title. He professed his spiritual faith on the portentous “Jesus Walks” as a group of seven string players backing him added dramatic flourishes on cello, violin and harp.

The rapper, known for his work ethic, carried the show himself, roaming back and forth across the stage as he rapped, mostly without a hype man to help fill in lyrics (though openers Common and Lupe Fiasco joined him for a song each).

He was brash, opening the show with his new song, the throbbing techno-rap rave-up “Stronger.” He added an element of social consciousness on “Diamonds From Sierra Leone,” a song about conflict diamonds mined in war zones and built around a sample of Shirley Bassey’s classic Bond theme “Diamonds Are Forever.”
West was even contrite, noting at the start of his last song, “Touch the Sky,” his penchant for stirring up trouble when he doesn’t receive the recognition he thinks he deserves.

“Even when I spazzed out a few times when I felt like I was robbed, I think y’all have forgiven me,” he said.

Fellow Chicagoan Common performed before West, rhyming with a spark of righteousness about social justice, the notion of community and people’s power to effect change.

“We can't wait on no president to change the world,” he declared at the start of “It's Your World.” “We can't wait on no government. We can't wait on no preacher.”

Common also displayed a sense of humor, though, freestyling with obvious skill on the new song “Driving Me Wild” and name-dropping Oprah Winfrey and last year's much-discussed choreographed treadmill video by the rock band OK Go.

Opener Lupe Fiasco scoffed during his set at the NAACP’s recent symbolic “burial” of the N-word, calling it “meaningless.”

“Why don’t they bury police brutality next?" he quipped.

Comments

[Ish]

That was a Common..show with features by Kanye West and Lupe....Common show's why he is such a strong part of hip-hop...the sound check people sucked..poor Lupe lots of issues with sound levels during his set. Fire That team.

[dl004d]

It is interesting that so many people think they haven't gotten their money's worth at a concert unless the show lasts a long time. But surely quality matters more — does anyone feel happy after spending big bucks to see a three-hour show of a crappy band?

[1st & 15]

as 4 the entry by commonsense u must not know anything about rap, if u feel missing lupe wasn't a dissapontment, u prolly 1 of those mainstream groupie's who came 2 see Kanye perform Gold Digger, LUPE IS THE BEST, so just go listen 2 some Huey Pop Lock & Drop It ..... lol

[commonsense]

Alrite. Lupe opened, watever. My friend and I ate pizza during that cause we thought the doors opened at 7, not 6. Not a major loss, neither of us are huge Lupe fans. Kick push was tight and watever but i came to see kanye. Like idiots, we didn't really read the headlines for the concert a couple of days before it so we had no idea common was coming out. His set blew our minds. It was long, the tracks were amazing, DJ Dummy cut up that nasty It Takes Two jam he does; I was on a musical high. After one of the best hours of my life, literally, Common exits, stage crew comes on, wait like 40 minutes, and the high is gone. Kanye comes out, brings a Dj who does some lame ass cut of some Justin Timberlake song, and does a horrible, mainstream set with the likes of work it out, that twista song witht he strings,
etc. He did some good tracks, but I didn't drive 4 hours to see Kanye come out and basically spit in my face with a short set tuned not to the real fans of his music but the main streamers. No hey mama, no we dont care, no celebration, no school spirit, nothing I REALLY wanted to hear. I mean i guess that might be why I was really disapointed, but all in all, if Kanye West could read this, I would tell him as a true fan of his music that he knows damn well how much he jipped his true fans and Graduation better be tight.

[Frankie DJ]

Eric,
Well, thanks for pointing that review out, but I looked for it first on ctnow, and the new format of this website SUCKS! I did like your Prince review in '04, but the Connecticut venues are so unsafe for the handicapped, I'm movin' to Vegas, seeeeeeeeya! The concert itinerarys for the venues here all suck, plus the staff and the seating arrangements are terrible! Roger Pink Waters and the Police are the only worthwhile shows this year anyway. Blame it on Koplik I guess, he's a crappy promoter.

[Frankie DJ]

After reading all of this, I'm so glad I went to see Pink Floyd Waters at the Dodge The Drunks Music Center instead! At least Roger Waters gave us our moneys worth with all the Pink Floyd classics! And while I like Kanye, I feel you guys got ripped off, he needed to bring De La Soul for a set to make that concert worthwhile. Eric, no review of Roger Waters' Pink Floyd concert? Indicative of this website's failure to satisfy the readers!

Eric replies: Didn't look around the site much, did you? There's a review of the Waters show at www.courant.com/music.

[Rob]

Mike Jones once rapped for 14 hours straight.

Eric replies: Yeah, but slowly, 'cause of the purp.

[Richard]

>> All things considered, it was a pretty generous set.<<

This is what happens when you go to too many indie music festivals and see 10 bands each doing a half hour set with one encore. Expectations are lowered.

Sounds like a Mick Jaggar apologist. Gee you can't expect the guy to run around a massive outdoor stage, climb on top of a blow up phallus and then sing at the same time? For two hours? C'mon. Something's got to give.

All the more reason to bring back solos in rap music. Bring on the saxes, guitars and pianos.

Eric replies: We're not talking about indie festivals (which generally don't have encores) or the Rolling Stones, we're talking about rap shows. For a rap show, an hour is about standard. Some rappers perform longer. Some don't. Some, like 50 Cent at the Meadows a few years ago, are on stage for an hour and let their entourages do most of the work.

[CF]

I did enjoy the show, I was simply surprised by the length of the set. I was left to wonder if there was an 11 p.m. curfew, or if Kanye simply wasn't feeling the venue because it all seemed to end so abrupt.

Looking at setlists from the Touch the Sky tour, it seemed other venues got longer sets, but I suppose that also depends on the number of guests appearances, which might allow for more set variety.

Alas, maybe us concert junkies are simply spoiled by the marathon performances of the Dave Matthews and Bruce Springsteens of the world.

[G.O.O.D.]

they all did they thing, but i feel lupe was done wrong, he had 2 fight threw bad speakers & microphone, the beat was 2 loud, and his hype man & dj were 2 loud aswell saying 2 much drowning lupe's lyrics out, also there was only half the crowd was there so it wasn't poppin like common & kanye's acts, plus the people who were there wern't given lupe the respect he deserved with only minimal aploding, he's a top 5 rapper, (3 time grammy nomanated) he should have 1 album of the yr. but that was stole from him, but anyway i just wanna say lupe did his thing and over came all that, cant wait 4 the new album on holloween, and common's july 31 kanye's august 21

[CF]

So, Eric, you'd consider it okay for a headlining artist to charge $50-$75 for a ticket for 58 minutes of music that included a break for his DJ to solo, a couple of wardrobe changes, and no encore?

The supporting acts saved that show from being a larger disappointment. For a self-professed showman, 'Ye did little to "wow" the crowd beyond delivering a string of hits and showcasing a pair of new songs.

Common came out the biggest winner of the night, and his freestyle was by far the highlight of the evening.

Eric replies: Agreed, Common was great. But I'm not sure what else you wanted from Kanye (who changed clothes once, unless you count him shedding his jacket early on), unless it was an encore. Did he justify the ticket price? That probably depends on whether you liked the show.

[DJ Wienner]

That show was amazing. Lupe has been seriously slept on. Common was NOT an opener, let me say. Common doesn't open for people. Openers are bands that are getting big; Common (aka Common Sence) has been at this for 14 years. Kanye's new album is going to kill it for a third fall in a row, along with Common & Lupe's new shit.

[Waquoit]

His set was "nearly an hour"? Where did he find the stamina?

Eric replies: Rapping by yourself for an hour straight, while running around the stage, is not an easy thing to do. All things considered, it was a pretty generous set.