Ego in the Dark: Kanye West
as the "Brightest Star in the Universe"

Nissan Pavillion in Bristow, VA, on Saturday, May 12, 2008

Review by Chris Martinez

Equal parts 2001: A Space Odyssey, mushroom trip, inspirational hip-hop, and intergalactic egocentrism, Kanye West's performance at Northern Virginia's Nissan Pavillion was an epic journey into the ousized talent and hubris of hip-hop's current North Star.

The proclaimed "biggest" stop in Kanye's "Glow in the Dark" tour (21,000 in attendance) opened with hyper-hop group Nerd, themselves hailing from Virginia, who unloaded a raw blast of youthfully mischievous, rock-tinged hip-hop with frenetic themes ranging from spazzing out to calling to "all the girls standing in the line for the bathroom." Nerd did not disappoint, and this drummer greatly appreciated the solos by each of the groups' two (!) drummers, as well as the lively interaction of the multiracial, predominantly under-25 crowd.

Next to take the stage was Rihanna, beginning the glow-in-the-dark theme with her hot-pink-highlighted outfit and dancers wielding glowing lances like giant light sabers. I spent much of Rihanna's set waiting in line to pay $13 for a cup of fries and a plastic tray of super-salty nachos, but my wife (a big Rihanna fan) loved the performance.

But these two appetizers (Nerd and Rihanna, not the nachos and fries) — for all their impressive vigor and polish — would soon be vaporized from memory by the world-ending supernova of Kanye West's long-awaited, bombastic arrival. The intermission lights shut down, the thousands of fans erupted into mad convulsions, and down from the welter of stage lights descended a screen with a robotic, eye-like pattern of blinking lights and the surgical, bright white-and-blue colors that commonly signify the near-sorcery of science-fiction technology.

Slowly, under generous heapings of space opera drama, red-orange lights illuminated the stage to spaceship sounds, until a female "computer" voice said, "Wake up, Mr. West." There in the middle of the bare, polygon-contoured stage lay Kanye, slowly rising with his hands on his face. Behind him, and beyond the robotic eye, lush, surreal cloudscapes swept across a giant screen, indicating Kanye's crash-landing on a strange planet devoid of life.

Thus the theme of the concert had been set: Kanye is the last surviving creative force in a barren and desolate art and music world (one could presume), and from this obvious narrative he would never deviate — he would spend literally the whole show completely alone onstage, save for the smoke, cloud, and light effects. When the introductory build-up finally reached its apex, the first song burst forth with a gamma-ray intensity that Kanye would sustain for the entire, uninterrupted set.

Kanye's "solo" performance (actually, he was supported by a live band, cruelly hidden from view) was flawless, inspired, and utterly self-involved. His interstellar explosion of ego finally reached its pinnacle when a blow-up-doll-like, female "robot" head appeared onscreen and told Kanye, outright, and to my amazement, that he was "the brightest star in the universe." I stood stunned as the frenetic audience, nearly tearing off its clothes and hair at this point, seemed to deflate with a sudden self-conscious and uncomfortable awareness of Kanye's cosmic self-regard. Quickly, however, the fans were back to screaming and flailing the moment the next song picked up.

I must confess, Kanye West's performance actually did thrill me. I was not half the Kanye fan my wife is, but I have been converted by his supremely executed blend of theme, effect, and, of course, fierce rapping. Perhaps I am a sucker for good sci-fi stylings, but by the end of the show I understood why so many nerdy-looking kids were in attendance in addition to the obvious hip-hop aficionados — for all his arrogance, Kanye is a gifted space-jock of not only the hip-hop solar system, but also the geeky, daydreaming inner universe common to us all.