Review: Kanye West at Workers' Gymnasium

Lisa Liang | Nov 3, 2008 3:00 pm | 4 comments | 2437 reads

Kanye West
RMB 280-2,000.
7.30pm. Workers' Gymnasium (6501 6655 ext 5033)

So Kanye West finally got his act together and made it to Beijing this past weekend, putting on an energetic, fantasmic, hour and a half light-show of a set at Workers’ Gymnasium Saturday night. The evening started off promptly at 7.30pm, with a rap group from Taiwan opening for his Westness, and receiving adequate applause at that. From what we’ve gathered here at the Beijinger, that group was not the originally advertised Will Pan.

And then, at around 8pm, Kanye stepped on stage to the welcome of a moderately-packed half of a stadium made up of equal parts local and laowai. “It seemed a little lacking in something, slightly antiseptic in its delivery,” says tbj Nightlife Editor Jonathan White, who attended the event. “Some of it was good, different versions of songs than album tracks – that impressed me. As did his hair and trousers.” (On an aside, Mr. White is also our new Fashion & Beauty Editor.)

All in all, and this comes from a self-proclaimed non-Kanye fan, it wasn’t a bad show – as much as could be expected from an event with assigned-seating, anyway. I mean, it could have ended disastrously had Mr. West actually finished his set at 9pm, but thankfully he came back for an encore (which felt slightly staged, though I’d much rather credit Section 320 for their heartfelt chants of “work for your money!”).

So in the end, perhaps all that is left to say is: Thanks, Kanye. You didn’t flake out. And that counts for something (ahem, Linkin Park). Take a look over at the Beijinger online gallery for more of agenda Managing Editor Iain Shaw's photos from the show. You can also read a review of the Shanghai show here.

Links and Sources
China Daily: Kanye West hit Beijing (image)
Youtube: Kanye West in Beijing
Shanghaiist:Last Night: Kanye West in Shanghai

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Comments

musichyper's picture musichyper Submitted by Guest on Sat, 11/29/2008 - 08:35

I think the record has some interesting music on it. Kayne however does hide behind auto tuning and tech sounds. He is terrible at hiding his inabilities as a musician live. There is worse stuff out there though.

I hyped it on Everhype and scored it 76% which I think is fairly accurate.

http://www.everhype.com/hyper/mikeborgia?X=S1807

I wouldn't mind getting some opinions on it . If you get on there, rate me a 5 & request friendship.

devibengfort's picture devibengfort Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 11:56

Overall, I thought the Kanye West concert was fun because going with over a dozen inebriated and overly-enthusiastic friends sporting shutter shades made the night, but I agree, we made the fun for ourselves, the performance was not the best. It was sanitized, and the energy coming from Kanye felt forced rather than organic. Plus, our friends in another section said that guards kept telling them to stop dancing and sit down in their seats. What kind of concert is that? I will not be dishing out money for future concerts in Beijing if that is the atmosphere I have to expect.

nnelson's picture nnelson Submitted by Guest on Wed, 11/05/2008 - 00:35

I gotta agree with flagstaffaz...

The sound system left me with this uncomfortable feeling that the music was gonna get turned up... THE WHOLE TIME

He didn't talk to the crowd ONCE

He didn't perform Jesus Walks (possibly for political reasons I'll give him that)

And the WORST part is a little birdy told me they saw him perform in Hong Kong and the audio was JUST AS BAD therefore...

I don't have the luxury to blame my disappointment on an inexperienced Chinese sound engineer.

...how the heck are you gonna fit that in there?

flagstaffaz's picture flagstaffaz Submitted by Guest on Tue, 11/04/2008 - 11:39

I have been to many, many concerts, and this was by far one of the worst. It was also my first concert in China so that may have been a factor as I am definitely not used to the assigned seating and lack of cursing, especially at a rap concert. Kanye seemed to have no invested interest in the show at all, didn't talk to the crowd at all and the show was over before 9 30!! And wasn't it the glow in the dark tour? I didn't see anything in the way of glow in the dark, even the light shows weren't that spectacular. The best part about the show was the short version of "don't stop believing" sung by his back up singer!!

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