Watch The Throne - O2 Arena, London - 18th May 2012 (Live Review)
Wednesday, 23 May 2012
Written by Owen Sheppard
The business man and the entrepreneur, the stalwart and the genius, the Obama bro and the, ahem, “jackass”, I’m of course referring to the ultimate genre conquering, throne occupying duo of Jay Z and Kanye West. Nigh a year since their much hyped and critically acclaimed 'Watch The Throne' album was unleashed upon the world, they have turned their campaign of arena raising, grade A hip hop towards The UK and its Friday night at London’s The O2 Arena that is slated for the first of the 10 date tour.
It’s when you stop and think about how many people they will be playing to during their 5 dates here at the O2, plus a further five arena dates across the country, (that’s somewhere in the region of 160,000 bums on seats and tickets sold) that you gain a perspective that hip hop really has become as significant to the world of popular music as some stadium giants of rock music. Hip Hop is dead they say! Yet it’s only now in 2012 that any rappers can claim a cultural significance in nations on this side of the Atlantic that arguably rivals the like of The Foo Fighters, Muse or Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
Before the show I overhear one girl mutter “Damn there’s a lot of white chicks here” to which one man butts in, pointing out that “it’s a Jay AND Kanye show” (with emphasis in his voice on the latter) to which the girl reasons “yeah, that explains it then!”. And in a wonderful way, that moment quite perfectly summed up a small and superficial aspect of the night’s vibe, as well as the gap between the two artists. They are still rivals after all, and questions of who is the best and who will put on the better performance are on everyone’s minds. Notice how the arena is split up in to two stages as well, one circular centre stage and one huge stage at the end, kitted out with TV screens and rows of lights and lasers.
After an hour of seated speculation spent admiring the O2’s grandeur, the sudden cut of the house lights and the illumination of the two stages signals an almighty outburst of the boisterously operatic 'H.A.M'. If this track didn’t impress you on the album then live, it sounds titanic. What they did and how, to make it sound this cataclysmic is unknown but it feels gobsmacking, forcing neck hairs to stand on end.
Between their two egos and tonight’s show, it’s like watching an exhibition of everything good about modern hip hop writ large. The beats, the stadium worthy production, the tongue in cheek swagger blended with a totalitarian stage presence and authority over their culture, a culture they have helped spread across the globe in a way that hasn’t been done since Public Enemy or The Beastie Boys. All ingredients to what made this show larger than life.
Up high in the stands, there’s an atmosphere and energy in the crowd that you’d be hard pressed to find at many other shows. I think I’ve discovered a distinct advantage held by Hip Hop when in a live setting. You’ll feel naturally inclined to dance, sing along and mimic MCs with all your hand gestures whether sat on the highest row, or getting stuck in at the front barrier. Everyone is on their feet from the word go and the vibe is ecstatic throughout the entire 2 and a half hours. Maybe it’s their show man ship, or the fact that they both neglect to tour here as much which creates such a buzz whenever they do. But whatever, this is one of the best audiences I have ever been a part of, which is wonderful considering that Hip Hop as a genre is considered to be a hit and miss exercise when taken to the live setting.
The first chunk of the show is a five song run of 'Watch The Throne'. Following 'H.A.M' came 'Who Gon Stop Me,' 'Otis,' 'Welcome to The Jungle' and 'Gotta Have It'. Kanye’s expertise behind the mixing board shines brighter than ever tonight. It’s clear these songs were made for shows like this. The polished beats reign down hard and heavy and the hooks suddenly demand your attention in a way that humbles what previous experience you’ve had of these tracks through your Dre headphones at home.
Predictably, 'Otis' is echoed by the 20,000 throng nearly word for word but most notable this point was Jay and Ye’s keenness to demonstrate the power of their stage setting within the first fraction of the set. Jay spends the first couple of tracks on the centre stage rapping eye to eye, from across the arena with Ye, the two divided by the hysterical flock of fans. There’s an American Flag bigger than a London block of flats, flame throwers so intense you can feel them from the other side of the O2, projector screens and an incessant barrage of lasers and smoke machines. The centre stage even rises up out of the ground, its sides made of LED screens. They’ve got the theatrical side of the night nailed down at least as well as with the music.
The rest of the show is made up of roughly 20 minute rounds of either Jay’s or Ye’s greatest hits. There’s a good 50 minutes of solo material from each of them during the course of the night. Unsurprisingly it’s when Jay drops the likes of '99 Problems,' 'Public Service Announcement,' 'Big Pimpin' and 'Hard Knock Life' that we see the most enthusiasm during the show. Same, of course, goes for numbers such as 'Gold Digger,' 'Stronger,' 'Touch the Sky' and 'All Falls Down' when Kanye takes over. Generally speaking, it feels like it’s the classics that everyone is most excited for, but that’s not to say their more recent and mammoth melody driven tunes like 'Empire State of Mind' and 'All of The Lights' don’t go down a treat too, though all be it, mostly amongst the younger fans in attendance.
Quite bafflingly though, in this 40 song set list, it’s a 10 minute pocket of auto-tuned crooning from Kanye, as he gives, what in his mind probably seemed like a graceful serenade, in the form of 'Runaway' and 'Heartless' which causes an undeniable lapse in the atmosphere. While perched up on his 20ft high podium, illuminated in a glare of deep red and looking formidably sinister, there’s bums returning to seats in the stands and a buzz of conversation stirring. But it’s a short lived decline, as thousands are back on their feet again for 'Stronger' one of the highlights of Kanye’s solo contributions of the night. It was probably the weakest serving of the night from either rapper. Surely 'Love Lock Down' would have gone down with far more success? Then again it might also have added insult to injury had Jay chosen to play 'D.O.A' during this point!
One of the more introspective and serious moments of the Watch The Throne record 'New Day' also appears in the mix. Coupled with 'Hard Knock Life' it creates a more sensitive vibe at a half way point of the show. The last showing of the 'Watch The Throne' material was saved until the end though. It had hardly been kept a secret amongst the hip hop online community that we should fully expect three maybe even four or five outings of the mighty new single 'Niggers in Paris'. And so it came, a song written by two men, one of whom being old enough to be my dad, which redefine swagger. It was like they had started a new show within a show. The audience are going berserk all across the arena for what was probably the most highly but half heartedly anticipated moment of the night. Carrying lines with as much tongue in cheek audacity as “Prince William ain’t doing it right if you ask me/ If I was him I would have married Kate and Ashleigh” all 4 renditions were flawless and climactic.
So who was the best? The twitter-sphere seems to suggest that Jay may have reigned supreme, and I was inclined to agree. While the leather clad Kanye looked to have sweated a new river Thames over the course of the night, it looked to be calm and collected Jay who stood his ground and most lived up to his live reputation. But let’s not forget, it’s Kanye who provides what Jay will never posses the powers to do: create some of the most ingenious, heavy and hard hitting stadium hip hop production of this era. Jay may sit smugly atop his thrown as the king of the night and of the genre, but it’s Kanye who is expanding the hip hop empire to an extent that might never be matched again. All those “white chicks” maybe well have chosen to save their money for Rihanna’s next tour instead if it wasn’t for him and tonight is only the first of their 10 in the UK. There are many years to come before this rivalry will be even close to being settled.
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It’s when you stop and think about how many people they will be playing to during their 5 dates here at the O2, plus a further five arena dates across the country, (that’s somewhere in the region of 160,000 bums on seats and tickets sold) that you gain a perspective that hip hop really has become as significant to the world of popular music as some stadium giants of rock music. Hip Hop is dead they say! Yet it’s only now in 2012 that any rappers can claim a cultural significance in nations on this side of the Atlantic that arguably rivals the like of The Foo Fighters, Muse or Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
