I had only seen Kanye West live once before. It was back in 2011 when he performed at the Tacoma Dome with Jay-Z as part of the Watch The Throne tour. The highlight of the evening was Kanye yelling “again” after each completion of N****s in Paris, which the duo went on to play 6 or 7 times in a row. The lowlight came when someone near the stage threw a lanyard (?) onto the stage. Kanye freaked out and immediately halted the show until security found, and subsequently, kicked the perpetrator out. Overall, it was a wild & fun experience, one I will never forget. This previous experience only heightened my excitement to see Yeezy again, this time at Key Arena for the Saint Pablo tour. I took a seat around 7:30 pm and settled in to wait for the act to begin. A call to Twitter had not yielded an answer to my question, “was there an opening act?” A long hour and a half later my question was answered; no. I must admit, I was more than a little ticked off after waiting so long. “Come on,” I thought. “You have a video board, play some music video’s instead of this insufferable 4-note melody over and over again.” The bass was so deafening every 3rd beat, I lost a little bit of my hearing before the concert even started. Furthermore, the vibrations from the bass rattled me to the bone. In spite of these annoyances, I burst out of my seat when the lights dimmed and fog machines sprang to life, camouflaging the general admission crowd from my sight. Yeezus himself had finally arrived.

Let me back up a second. While my girlfriend and I waited patiently in our seats for the self-described “Louis Vuitton Don” to take up his perch (more on this later) we spotted a unique t-shirt on the backs of a couple of guys a few rows in front of us. On one side of the plain white tee was an airbrushed caricature of Kanye West’s mother, Donda West and, on the other side, a portrait of his wife’s late-father, Robert Kardashian. It was funny because more than a few people came up to the pair and asked to pose with them (and the shirt). Personally, I found the idea behind the shirt a little distasteful.

Perhaps I’m a little old-school in my thinking but I would prefer to honor my dead, instead of using them for my own financial gain. It also makes zero sense to me how a woman, who used a sex-tape to boost her celebrity status, and a man who has said/done some pretty controversial things (ex-interrupting Taylor Swift 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, ‘famous‘ music video, etc) have become one of Americas’ most well-known couple on a global scale.

I say this because at his performance, I saw almost every race/ethnicity singing along to his’ most controversial bars, such as, “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex / Why? I made that bitch famous” -Kanye West, “Famous”. While the individual lines, taken at face value, made me queasy. I would have to label myself a hypocrite if I didn’t admit I screamed these words out-loud right along with him. It was truly eye-opening to see this musician bring all types of people together. That’s when I realized Kanye West, along with his wife Kim Kardashian, are much more influential than I ever realized.

Key Arena plunged headfirst into the abyss. A deafening silence fell upon the audience, then a “Yeezus” chant broke out, followed by a “Ye” chant. The fog machines spewed an ever descending blanket over the screaming masses in general admission. From the videos I saw on social media (and what I could see in-person), it looked like an absolute madhouse. A mass of humanity waiting for their deity. When the spotlight finally switched on and bathed Kanye in an otherworldly orange fog, the roof of the building exploded.

Forgive me for forgetting the order of the songs, but I was in a state of nirvana. As I grew more comfortable and confident in my surrounding, I began to loosening my shackles. I rapped along to lines like, “Now if I fuck this model / And she just bleached her asshole / And I get bleach on my T-shirt / I’ma feel like an asshole,” and “I been feeling all I’ve given / For my children / I will die for those I love,” and “Real friends, how many of us? / How many of us, how many jealous? Real friends / It’s not many of us, we smile at each other / But how many honest? Trust issues.” At one point, Kanye told the DJ to shut it off and went on an impassioned rant about about why there will never be a sequel to “Watch The Throne,” and something about the “bullshit” between Apple Music and Tidal. He even went off on the legendary MC, Jay-Z; his costar on “Watch The Throne.” Kanye West was upset because, according to Mr. West, Jay-Z had not called him since the Paris robbery to ask how he and his family were doing. Now, I do not know if this is a fact, and I doubt we will ever get a public response from Shawn Carter himself, he’s been a tabloid ghost for quite some time. Although, I would have been able to glean more info if not for the screaming, drunken girl  behind me.

Her screaming *almost* ruined the entire concert for me, along with the other concertgoers in my section. A girl to the left of me kept turning around and, I believe, asking her to stop, but she kept on yelling and being obnoxious. At one point, I felt something hit me in the leg. So I looked down and spotted Ms. Screamer herself on the ground next to me, “looking for a black bag.” I only know this because after the woman reached her feet, she tapped me on the shoulder and asked if I had seen such a bag. Of course, I hadn’t because the crowded had been plunged into total darkness since the beginning of the concert and had seen no light since.

I raise this complaint because I came to see/listen to the artist, not a drunk woman yell, “get back to the music” multiple times during Kanye West’s emotional/revealing monologue.

Overall, the experience was mind-bending. I may not agree with all of Kanye West personal decisions but, god damn, he is a sensational musician and live performer. His set-design was so simple, yet effective. You know how most performers have a centrally located stage? Kanye West instead had a floating metal platform suspended perilously (IMO) above the GA crowd. It was a sight to behold. When the mass of humanity under his floating stage, bathed in an otherworldly orange glow, had their hand’s raised above their head’s, I finally understood the “Yeezus” moniker.