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Kanye West


seumasbeathan
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Don't get me wrong his setlist was great. A good range of his catalogue. Much better than what I saw last year with him at Wireless. But as many others have said his own ego ruins the show for me.

Repeatedly telling us how great he is when in actual fact he had to completely restart songs numerous times (Tons of bands would have just carried on or started from where they left) the Queen cover he didn't know the words to etc.

It didn't really back up his point of how great he is. Also thought the stage and lighting was proper w*nk.

Think it was a set that if you like Kanye then you'll have loved it. But for the neutral or those who like a few songs of his you thought he was shite.

Edited by seanz25
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Yes. That's why I qualified it with "who was leaving "

Having said that, everyone within a few hundred around us at the Pyramid were distinctly unimpressed too.

Just remembered another funny bit. He seemed to have finished, then came back to say "I have another seven minutes ". As if he'd had enough, but he hadn't fulfilled his contractual obligation.

Unlike just about any other artist on the planet who would be desperately trying to make the most of every second on stage.

He looked and sounded bored, like we were keeping him from doing something else he'd rather be doing.

A world class pranny.

He came back saying he had 7 mins left because he had already overrun his slot and had to finish by midnight. He still had arguably his biggest hit to sing. Stop putting such an awful spin on it.

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Oh me too. It's obviously all subjective but Kanye's output is more enjoyable to me than Florence and The Who put together. Sadly, I made the wrong choice picking Kanye over PSB, though. I don't regret it in any way other than through hindsight but still.

What was Kanye trying to do when he cut short Gold Digger? He mumbled something about his dressing room, making everyone near me think he was having a hissy fit. Sadly, that doesn't work for Kanye, because he's so temperamental it's entirely plausible he really is having a moment. So when he re-appeared in a crane, everyone near me was a bit non-plussed and had to make an extra effort to get into it rather than it being a natural response to a great set.

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Oh me too. It's obviously all subjective but Kanye's output is more enjoyable to me than Florence and The Who put together. Sadly, I made the wrong choice picking Kanye over PSB, though. I don't regret it in any way other than through hindsight but still.

What was Kanye trying to do when he cut short Gold Digger? He mumbled something about his dressing room, making everyone near me think he was having a hissy fit. Sadly, that doesn't work for Kanye, because he's so temperamental it's entirely plausible he really is having a moment. So when he re-appeared in a crane, everyone near me was a bit non-plussed and had to make an extra effort to get into it rather than it being a natural response to a great set.

 

I think it was an instruction like "[do it] like we spoke about in the dressing room...". Think it just hadn't been planned/rehearsed well enough. Think it's a real shame because some parts of the set were 10/10 for me. The crowd (from TV) looked pumped when Power started, but he struggled to pick back up again after the long autotune solo thing.

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He didn't do it for me at all. Never been a Kanye fan,but pretty open-minded. I wouldn't have gone if I'd been there, but sat down with a cider at home and fully expected to be proved totally wrong (and have a chuckle at all those who bothered with an anti-Kanye petition) but I didn't feel that - for me it felt indulgent and dull - like he truly believed he didn't need to bother with a spectacle or raising the bar as just him would be enough. It wasn't. And seriously, bohemian rhapsody?! and the 'worlds greatest rock star' moment...just no.

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I can see why people wouldn't enjoy it, but personally I thought that on the night he was brilliant.

 

Did you watch it on TV or were you at the festival?

 

I can understand why people watching it on TV may have enjoyed it. I'm not a fan in the slightest but the live show was intriguing. I thought it was more like a piece of performance art that anything else. From the comfort of my couch, with a joint in one hand and a beer in the other it was great viewing. If I had paid 20 quid to go and see him as some unknown I would have probably came away raving about how interesting and unique it was as a show.

 

Saturday night waiting to watch a headline slot at Glastonbury it was not. I believe the blackout periods were heavily cut down on the BBC coverage and even worse for the crowd. I would have been seriously pissed off had I been at the pyramid stage for him. 

Edited by Saul Goodman
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This is gonna be another "you just had to be stood exactly where I was to understand" moment

And by my recalling, I was stood pretty much right at the front surrounded by those knowing all the lyrics and having a good time! When he got in that crane the crowd around me Eurupted. Not the best headline slot I've ever seen but I can't say I didn't have a good time..:

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Utter, utter shite. I genuinely cannot understand how anyone can defend it.

If you were there, you can say that you had a great time, you can say the crowd were pumped, and that people were singing along and cheering etc. You cannot say he was a competent performer. He proved without doubt that he isnt a competent performer.

 

And this was shameful, not even the fact he is the only person on the planet that doesnt know the words to Bohemian Rhapsody, but the fact he wasnt even in the right key.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNkPn0JrTFQ

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And this was shameful, not even the fact he is the only person on the planet that doesnt know the words to Bohemian Rhapsody, but the fact he wasnt even in the right key.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNkPn0JrTFQ

Not sure what you're taking about t8yman. I see nothing in this video to discredit his claim of being the world's greatest living rock star

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We didn't hang around to watch this live, so I thought I'd watch it on TV to make my own mind up...

hmmm, I would love to know what EE is honestly thinking about that booking in hindsight. I like that they book different acts and keep changing the boundaries etc but...

I really wanted to think that it worked - but it really didn't.

Disjointed, lots of it really badly performed, very dull after first couple and v amateurish. Given that is was more a load of songs badly strung together rather than a 'performance' I can only assume that he was being ironic when he called himself the greatest living rock star??

Parts of that act even made the joke act, Stevie (?) from X factor look good/in tune. and who on earth allowed him 'sing' Bohemian Rhapsody???

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I was walking past the Pyramid after a brilliant performance from Suede and managed to catch his biggest song Goldigger,

 

The music for the song was played for around 30 secs then the 'best living rockstar in the world voiceover' and then him rapping over intermittent music, which was a shambles.

 

Man even managed to mess his best tune up. 

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I went along thinking this could be epic. Left after 5 or 6 songs. Dull as dish water and at times amateur. My mate stayed for the whole thing and said it didn't get any better. PSB were excellent just around the corner at glade however. Glad the majority are thinking along the same lines as we did. Best leave these divas alone.

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(Selection bias - I was right up the front where everyone was really into it, but that's exactly why I go up front.  With these kinds of acts it's obvious that the back is going to be devoid of atmosphere.)

 

I absolutely loved it. Not a Kanye fan but the set up and sound design worked really well.  It's a shame the technical hitches held the show up - if everything worked as it should be then I'd say it was a complete triumph.   The gaps to sort out hitches were quite welcome up front, it was one of the tightest packed crowds I've seen in a while.

 

I liked how he didn't go down the live band route.  Personally, I think too many rappers try and pander to rock festival fans by bringing out a few guitars.  Rappers aren't bands, and they shouldn't try to be (or at least it shouldn't be obligatory).  Their show is their voice, everything else is smoke and mirrors.  Keeping it stripped back with just beat and voice worked really well.  Watching the BBC footage now, and the sound mix sounds a LOT different though, much more of the backing track in there.  Up front it mostly sounded like drum n bass.  

 

Not all great though.  I was disappointed in the Rhapsody bit.  It's a shame that Kanye didn't quite have the confidence to stick to his own thing without trying a forced singalong (another "trying to be a band thing").  Either that, or he was copying Jay Z, which would be even more disappointing.  

 

And do people really find his rock star comments controversial?! Pretty tame if that's the only thing people could pull out as controversy.

 

 

On a side note: Pharrell William's set was exactly what I feared Kanye would be.  Ridiculous dancers, misogyny galore, a band so flat and lifeless they sound and look like they're miming to a backing track, that melody of every song he's ever produced or written (even if he hardly sings in it), plenty of songs that he pretty much only sings the backing vocals.  Kanye didn't do any of that.  

Edited by fowls
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 Their show is their voice, everything else is smoke and mirrors.

 

 

I don't really understand a lot of the criticisms, aside from the gaps and restarts, but different strokes.  People were baying for blood before the set, and Kanye just doesn't have the street cred of Jay Z. 

 

 

 

the man was off key trying to sing one of the most famous songs in the world, aside from the fact he didnt even know the words. he used autotune.

 

if his voice is his show, must have been some show!

 

not saying you didnt have a whale of a time, but context is important - it was a trainwreck.

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I thought up until New Slaves it was really great but then just lost its way and started to bore me. Around the time Bound 2 was played I decided to go and get some food and watch him from a distance. Crowd started emptying around 8 songs in around me. Very disappointed to be honest.

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the man was off key trying to sing one of the most famous songs in the world, aside from the fact he didnt even know the words. he used autotune.

 

if his voice is his show, must have been some show!

 

not saying you didnt have a whale of a time, but context is important - it was a trainwreck.

 

I agree the restarts weren't particularly professional, but I thought he dealt with them well.  They were snappy and got straight back into it.  I've seen plenty of headline acts restart a song... maybe not as many as Kanye did, but it didn't destroy my enjoyment of the show.  He didn't fluff up his rapping, which would be the deal breaker for me.

 

And yes, it's always going to be down to individual enjoyment.  There have been many shows I've loved at the time and then listened back to a bootleg to find there were forgotten lyrics or things out of tune that I didn't notice at the time.  It doesn't mean I retrospectively change what I thought of the show.  

 

I was really surprised he had no means of communicating with his crew without speaking into the main microphone. All those "lights higher" "restart" "slow it down" things did detract from the show needlessly.

 

His use of autotune was mostly stylistic - he's a rapper, not a singer.  There's a big difference to me using autotune in that highly stylised way and using it covertly to cover up for a singer who is meant to be singing in tune.  Voice modulation in the way Kanye used it is just like a guitarist using an effects pedal.

 

And if we're rating rappers on their ability to sing a few lines of a cover...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9eT0LJ9vE4

Point being, Kanye never put himself forward as a singer.  

 

I've been pretty clear in my post that it wasn't all a bed of roses, but it wasn't a trainwreck. 

Edited by fowls
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