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Kanye West Glows in the Dark in San Jose (and why I hate HP Pavillion)

So I went to the Kanye West “Glow in the Dark” tour on Saturday at HP Pavillion. It was an impressive line-up of stars - Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D., Rihanna, and Mr. West. I was excited, my friends were pumped…until we got to our seats. (note, the following picture is what I found online for illustration purposes, this was not taken from my seat - far from it).

We were in Section 217, Row 2 - which placed us 90 degrees to the right of the stage. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem - you can still see the stage and have a pretty close view of the performance, except tonight, there was a GIANT projection screen hanging in the way. After much grumbling throughout Lupe Fiasco’s otherwise impressive performance, we went down to customer service with about 20 other 217′ers to see what we could do about the situation. A few lucky people before us were able to move to better seats, but those were couples, since the show was basically sold out. Our option was stay there, move to section 218, or leave. Since we wanted to stay for the concert, we decided to check out section 218, and guess what, it was actually BEHIND the stage! But no worries, since we were told that the stage would be more open once Kanye West performance (for the others, half the stage was blocked off while they performed in front of a black curtain). Anyway, less than ideal, but for all of the performances, we had the entire section to ourselves. 218 was the place to be!

I really enjoyed all of the performances - Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D. did a great job simply rapping and getting the audience really involved. One thing that was nice about being in our seats was that you could easily see everyone who had floor seats. It looked like a madhouse down there everytime the lights were pointed towards the crowd. Obviously it would have been better to be down there, but alas…

Rihanna was just as good as she sounds on the radio, and her songs were quite scripted with some cheesy choreographed dancers. My favorite part - where she held a cigarette while performing “Rehab.” She told the audience twice, “Remember smoking kills” so I guess there was an inspiration message to the whole situation. Oh, did you know that she also has insured her legs for $1 million? And yes, “Umbrella” was AMAZING.

So by the time Kanye West was set to perform, some other 217′ers got the hint and moved over to our section for a better view. It literally took an hour for the stage crew to set up Kanye’s ridiculous stage. In the meantime, Baron Davis of the Warrios decided to show up and that kept many fans happy. I wonder if Kanye West asked him to walk around the floor for a few minutes to keep them satiated. Finally, more than 3 hours into the concert, the lights dimmed and on came Kanye. The premise of his 80 minute performance was that his spaceship had crashed landed and while the robot computer voice fixes various technical difficulties, Kanye can run around the ‘planet’ rapping. It was pretty much like being at a Las Vegas show, with pyrotechnics, tons of fog machines, and a rotating stage in the middle that had lights on the bottom that changed color depending on the performance. It certainly showcased his megalomania - his band was put in the orchestra pit, shielded from the audience, and it was all Kanye, no dancers or backup singers. Even when he rapped “Touch the Sky”, Lupe Fiasco did not make a guest appearance. But, I’ll give him credit, he put on a helluva performance and only paused 3/4 in for a 2 minutes break to drink water on the corner of the alien planet while the band played Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believing.” At this point, Kanye got off the planet, rapped some more, and then left the building, no encore (unless the lights turning off for 5 seconds was the “end”). Either way, it was a good time, sans crappy seats. If you ever buy concerts tickets for HP Pavillion, do not go to sections 117-118, 217-218.