Kanye West closes Wireless in sunny Hyde Park
Kanye West closes Wireless in sunny Hyde Park
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Monday, 06, Jul 2009 08:45
By Lewis Bazley.
Rap star Kanye West brought a close to the 2009 Wireless Festival on a sweltering Sunday in the capital.
The Stronger star revealed his elaborate European tour stage design as he headlined the second day of the Hyde Park event, with a gold, multi-layered platform the setting for West's confident and artistic show.
The Roc-a-Fella rapper was joined by a quartet of near naked backing dancers as he raced through hits such as Touch the Sky and All Falls Down before dedicating much of the set list to tracks from his recent 808s and Heartbreak album.
"Sometimes people don't understand what I do," West told the 30,000-strong crowd, who had earlier in the day seen strong performances from Tinchy Stryder, R 'n' B trio N-Dubz, dance act Calvin Harris and hip-hop legend Q-Tip.
"I thank you for accepting me," West went on, before launching into a thumping rendition of Robocop.
The 32-year-old came close to losing the crowd with a passionate, six-minute version of Autotune lament Say You Will but there was little fear of a lack of audience interaction once he broke into fan favourites such as Diamonds From Sierra Leone, Jesus Walks and former UK number one American Boy.
Though the stylish set design and surly onstage models confirmed West's growing penchant for the artistic, fans criticised a set that overlooked crowd-pleasing singalongs in favour of newer efforts, while the extensive band were all but hidden by the multi-layered staging.
The Gold Digger star remained disappointingly immobile for much of the set, though an exhilarating finish of an up-tempo Love Lockdown and smash hit Stronger meant a fist-pumping end for the fifth Wireless weekend.