Friday July 10, 2015 is probably going to go down as one of the greatest days of my life. Well, that’s probably a bit of an exaggeration, but seeing Chance the Rapper and Kanye West, perhaps two of the biggest names in modern hip-hop, was definitely unmissable.
First up was Chance the Rapper on the Bell Stage. The show started as any good hip-hop show would—bursting with energy. Chance basically danced on stage before leading the crowd into a full-on, touch-the-sky sing-along to the hits off of his massively successful 2013 mixtape, Acid Rap.
I found myself directly in front of the stage as Chance started his show. In all honesty, the opportunity to be that close to such an incredible talent was indescribable, but it was impossible not to feel envy for the crowd behind me that was singing along and jumping around to the psychedelic tunes Chance was spitting to the crowd. Once I left the photo area and joined the crowd, I was able to fully experience what a show by Chance the Rapper should be like—never have I witnessed as well-balanced a show as this.
The bass shook the ground around me and yet I was still able to distinguish each instrument—including trumpets, pianos and drums—and still clearly hear Chance’s voice amidst the formidable backdrop of his tunes. Chance is a man who understands his audience, weaving between songs primarily from Acid Rap while throwing in a track here and there from his earliest mixtape #10day, as well as the resounding sing-along Sunday Candy (complete with a lyric-by-lyric guide on screen) from Chance’s 2015 collaboration Surf, with Donnie Trumpet & The Social Experiment.
I realize it’s a cliché to say this by now, but the only complaint I had with the show was its length. This was the kind of show that will have converted audience members to fans. Chance absolutely killed it.
Full disclosure—I’m a massive Kanye West fan. I have been waiting to see him live since I was around 14 years old, so finally getting the chance to do so in my beloved home town of Ottawa was a huge deal. This show would have been everything a Kanye fan could hope for. But for anyone else, I can only assume the show was less than enjoyable.
First of all, perhaps to no fault of his own, Mr. West was nearly 20 minutes late—although for me and the other die-hards in the audience, this only served to build up suspense. He finally arrived onstage shrouded by dense smoke and the 360-degree moving light setup behind him, which alternated angles throughout the whole show.
Consisting of hits from his albums spanning The College Dropout all the way through to the upcoming release SWISH (including the hit Niggas in Paris of the Jay-Z collaboration Watch the Throne), the setlist served as a highlight reel of the best of what Kanye has to offer—Kanye himself was loving each track as he blasted through them.
From an outside perspective, however, it may have seemed more like Kanye West on stage being Kanye West—he would stop tracks and restart if he didn’t like the way it sounded, he spoke directly to the audience about the importance of not selling out and listening to critics, and towards the end he would have to skip midway through each track to squeeze in as many as possible. However, as a Kanye fan without any prejudices towards the man, to me it just seemed like he was trying to ensure the audience had as good a time as possible. When he told me “Remember this night for the rest of your life!” I screamed “yes” louder than I ever have before.
Where Chance the Rapper produced a slick show that would make new fans as well as please long-time followers, Kanye produced a show directed specifically at his most loyal followers. While I fall under that category, I can’t help but notice that not everyone else does.
For me, it was a night I’ll remember for the rest of my life. For Kanye’s detractors, it was just further fuel to the fire, but I sincerely doubt he is concerned with those opinions.
