Beer and Pavement

Friends had an extra ticket to what is probably the biggest tour in hip-hop this year. Although I don’t particularly go for the hip-pity-hop, this show was too good to pass up. What follows is not a full-on review. I’ll post some crummy iPhone/Hipstamatic photos, Tweets, and bullet points on the evening. There was also some beer, “indie,” and Kid Rock thrown in for good measure.

So, first there are the pictures, then Tweets, then observations…

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Twitter feed – Sorry but I didn’t feel like shooting screen shots of every Tweet. So, they’re way out of order. The first set cover my beer drinking for the evening (I didn’t drive.) and most of the show…

Here’s the rest, again in the wrong order…

Observations and Explanations:

• Dinner before the show was at Flying Saucer. My choices were beers that didn’t really stretch my palate, but they were all good. Check the Twitter feed for the selections. I did have the Big Dipper with stout au jous sauce. It wasn’t bad.
• We had some pretty nice seats with a clear view of the stage. You can see from the panorama photo in the set above.
• Both Jay-Z and Kanye opened on these rising towers which they returned to periodically throughout the show. The only thing I could think was I bet they had to be careful not to wander too far from the center or…. end of concert and rapper.
• Kanye wore a leather kilt and pulled it off somehow. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder how many dudes in the audience were questioning his manhood.
• Jay-Z was the coolest cat in the room. In fact, I suspect he’s the coolest cat in every room.
• Kanye West sounds a lot like Q-Tip.
• Jay-Z really did interact with the audience in a genuine manner. He was playing it up to one portion of the audience when he noticed a boy, maybe ten years old. The kid was getting down; Hov motioned toward him and the kid went ape-shit. As Jay-Z walked away, one could see him chuckle a bit to himself. Near the end of the show, a fan up front had an early Jay-Z album, wanting a signature. Both rappers signed and returned the album to the fan. Kind of a cool moment.
• When Kanye did “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” all I could picture was Zach Galifianakis and Will Oldham.
• The duo finished with like 3-4 takes on “Niggas in Paris.” Totally made the night worth it.
• On the way home, despite all the catchy songs I heard, all I could play back in my head was this.

It’s been a fun month of daily posts and even more fun finishing out with this experience. I can’t say that this will continue as it’s gotten difficult as of late publishing so often. Look for the month of lists, though, lots and lots of lists.