When I saw last Thursday that Kanye West was playing Mohegan Sun Casino with Lupe Fiasco and Common in less than a week, I blindly bought a ticket. I did not care that I would have to sit in rush hour traffic and make a 2 hr drive back home on a work night. I mean what else would I be doing instead? Sitting on my computer or watching TV? No thanks. I needed to go to this. Badly.
I unfortunately arrived too late to catch Lupe's set. But luckily I sat down in my seat two seconds before Common hit the stage. I'm about to annoy some of you because I don't know a lick of his music with the exception of "Go" and his joyous Peace, Love and Gap ad that I looked forward to almost every TV commercial break during the Christmas season. But after his set, I've been inspired to check out his music.
Common's energy is contagious. It's impossible not to bob your head along as he bounces and bounds across the stage. Even though I don't know the music, his set was fun and kept my attention. And I think I really need to look up some of his lyrics, because apparently he can get kinda hot with them. "Freaky like the daughter of a pastor, said I was bait for her to master"? Hello.
During one song, he brought up a girl from the audience and serenaded her. She was obviously a total fangirl, saying all the words along with him, so that was kinda sweet. I don't know the song, but I know I wished I was her for the moment he ran his hand up her thigh. Damn Common.
What really brought the house down was his freestyle about Connecticut. You'd think it'd be hard to rhyme my home state's name with anything, but not for Common. "Predicate." Why didn't I ever think of that? Probably because I haven't tried to rap lately. Or ever. But I digress.
Because the sound wasn't so great, it really frustrated me that I couldn't make out with him- I MEAN- make out what he was saying. Like I said, I'll have to check out some of his songs later.
Next up was Kanye. The lights went down and as the Daft Punk sample began blasting out of the speakers, the girl in front of me leaned over to her friend and said "Oh it's TIME to stand up NOW." And so we did.
Kanye came running out in a wildly-colored jacket wearing his shades announcing "That that don't kill me can only make me stronger" as we all waved our hands like we just didn't care. I was so psyched for this song. I can't get it out of my head, nor do I want to. When the beat kicks in, it makes me want to bust out dance moves that would rival those of one of the greatest movie scenes in history: The House Party Dance Off. But because the people around me seemed to be a little more subdued and not likely to gather around me in a circle while I battled the older couple next to me, I kept to my low-key stationary bounce.
Kanye had a string section behind him made up of young women in long silver lame gowns, who wore Zorro-style masks. OK. He also had two backup singers (a guy and a girl) who were dancing and singing like they were having their own party in the back.
I came to two realizations at this show. First, that the jeans I was wearing were way too baggy, even by Fred Durst wannabe standards. Second, hip hop shows don't always play well in arenas. It's hard to get the same kind of vibe going that you would in a club. I wanted the whole place to erupt into a dance frenzy when Kanye came out, but they didn't. I don't know what it is that gets lost in the translation. All I know is, that I've thought the same thing at every hip hop show I've been to.
As I don't actually have any Kanye CDs, I was glad I knew the majority of the songs, not knowing maybe 3 songs. From what I remember the setlist was as follows:
-Stronger
-Diamonds of Sierra Leone
-Heard 'Em Say
-Through the Wire
-Can't Tell Me Nothing
-Workout Plan
-Jesus Walks
-Slow Jamz
-Gold Digger
-Touch The Sky
-Get 'Em High
The highlights for me were pretty much everything. Common came out for Get 'Em High which rocked the house. And like he was shot out of a cannon, Lupe came out for his part of Touch the Sky. When I saw how nuts he went on his verse alone, I was immediately sorry I didn't leave work early to see his set. I wish I could have seen him do "Daydreamin'" too. Oh well :(
Here are some super crappy shots from my new cell phone camera. I should have tried to bring my regular camera because security was very loose at this show. (Try to) enjoy:
Kanye on the Jumbotron.
My awesome view (6th row on the side).
Common on the Jumbotron.
Kanye and Common.
