Kanye West in Israel: All show, no play
Star rapper plays all the hits but poor production and poor sound lets down seasoned concertgoers.
Kanye West's show Wednesday night at Ramat Gan Stadium was in fact the story of one man, LED lighting, pre-recorded music and the stage.
If you are a seasoned concertgoer with a mild obsession for proper sound, you were probably not blinded by all the lights. For you, the experience of meeting face to face with the half man-half God complex that is Kanye West, required more than a long list of hits, a DJ and a thick gold chain.
If, on the other hand, you were part of the dominant group of those at the stadium last night - the age range being from 14 to 24 - it is fair to presume that Kanye delivered.
The beginning of the show was definitely an impressive show of strength for someone who has an incomprehensible amount of hits for an artist of his stature. "Stronger" and "Power" made for a strong start, immediately followed by "Can Not Tell Me Nothing."
West, dressed perfectly for a show in Glastonbury, sweated it out in the Israeli heat and continued with "Clique," which references the most popular Israeli of the week ("Sh*t is real, got me feelin' Israelian, like Bar Refaeli or Gisele - no that's Brazilian"). He then went from "Runaway" to "Heartless" without breaks. Song followed song, one mingling with the next, remixes of only one man, armed with little more than a microphone.
The Israeli audience, warmhearted as usual, replied with the hospitality expected of it, and yet, it seemed that at this point of the show the level of attention had dropped drastically. A lack of real communication with the audience and pretty awful sound, slightly damaged a long string of hits. Luckily for him and for everyone, West picked himself up in time and ran through "Flashing lights," "All of the lights," " Bound 2," " No church in the wild" and ended with "Dark fantasy."
The majority of the audience were satisfied with the string of big hits performed but their rapid delivery, combined with the fact that the show was minimalistic, almost embarrassing in terms of production, gave them short shrift.
Kanye West's appearance in Israel at the height of his powers is not insignificant for a country used to seeing international stars at the end of their careers, but to bring here a huge artist and cultural icon and let him run around onstage by himself to pre-recorded music, is not really serious.
Kanye, for his part, gave quite a bit of himself last night, jumped, bent down, ran around and told us to raise our hands in the air, and it worked for the captive audience who came to see him. But for those of us who have certain standards and expect more than just the artist's appearance, this could have been watched at home on DVD.
