
Kanye and his exotic pet fireball.Photo: Getty Images
Falling back mostly on stuff off Graduation, Kanye had no problem owning the night. Some moments, like the “Throw your hands up into the sky” refrain on “Good Life,” were so clearly the stuff of epic sing-alongs that we had no choice but tip our hats to the very calculated Kanye — and, also, you know, to throw our hands up into the sky. The loose premise of the show was that West and Jane, his … spaceship, had crash-landed on this planet (sub–original–Star Trek moon-surface stage design? Check). ’Ye, in some sort of postapocalyptic space rags, was selling the bit hard. It was hammy and harmless, for the most part, except for when Jane figured out how they were going to get off the planet — “We need the biggest star in the universe! You, Kanye!” Uh, yeah. Also questionable was the band segueing into “Don’t Stop Believing” right after the earnest “Hey Mama.” But we, at least, thought it was rad. Kanye, slumped in the corner of the stage regaining his composure, didn’t want to waste any time getting back to the epic stuff — and so he let Journey do it for him. —Amos Barshad
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