Kanye West Sydney concert review: Yeezus tour a hit-filled triumph

KANYE West played a career-spanning greatest hits to the faithful in Sydney last night, complete with an angry rant directed at the media. And yes, Kim Kardashian was there.

WITH the Kim and Kanye show slowly making its way across Australia, it’s easy to forget that, behind the media circus, Kanye’s actually been one of the most reliably brilliant figures in music we’ve seen in the past decade.

He certainly reminded us all during his hit-heavy, frequently electrifying Sydney show last night.

Firstly, to get it out of the way: Yes, Kim was there. For most of the evening, the only celebrity spotted at the sound booth was Redfoo (not exactly A-list), but Kim could be seen slipping in discreetly just in time to hear her husband’s ode to their very public love, Bound 2 (which, divorced of its much-parodied video, revealed itself to be pretty damn wonderful).

The show opened powerfully, with West bottling the rage and intensity of his latest album, Yeezus, for blistering opener Black Skinhead.

Despite a simple stage setup — no dancers, no band on stage, just Yeezy and a giant, LED screen — the rapper was barely visible for the first half-hour of the show, performing largely in silhouette.

When he was finally shown, it was in a succession of extravagant, face-covering masks — a potentially alienating move, but the Friday night audience didn’t seem to mind.

And why would they, with a litany of hits performed in quick succession: Can’t Tell Me Nothing, Runaway (with support act Push T returning to the stage for his rap), the underrated Clique, which was preceded by a call to arms for his fans — his ‘clique’ — to keep the faith against people who write unflattering things about Kanye on the internet (sorry, Yeezy).

Just as the intensity threatened to become too overwhelming, too oppressive, West lifted the crowd with a handful of his brighter, earlier hits. All Falls Down, Touch the Sky, Good Life and Gold Digger all nearly lifted the roof off the arena — and certainly united the white people of Sydney in busting out the daggy Taylor Swift hip hop moves.

After such a tight set, devoid of any of Kanye’s infamous extended rants (this is a man whose wedding speech was a 45-minute tirade about the state of the media), it was a shame to see the wheels fall off so completely during the encore.

New album highlight Blood on the Leaves and Jay Z collaboration N***as in Paris are undoubtedly two of West’s best songs — but he stretched fan good will to breaking point by performing them in full, a grand total of five times (twice for Blood, three times for N***as). A puzzlingly belaboured ending to an otherwise brilliant show.

+ Kanye West plays Sydney’s Qantas Credit Union Arena tonight, Saturday September 13, and Brisbane Entertainment Centre on Monday September 15. Tickets and info through Livenation (www.livenation.com.au)

Originally published as Kanye West Sydney concert review: Yeezus tour a hit-filled triumph