2006年 07月 23日 日曜日 10:38

Earlier this week, I went to Stockholm, Sweden, to the yearly Stockholm Jazz Festival. Allthough I love jazz music, it was not the jazz that brought me to the festival area (Skeppsholmen, a peaceful island in central city). Not the jazz. It was solely my knowledge of the appereance of Kanye West.

Allthough my expectations were high, and I mean sky high, he fullfilled my demands more than needed. The show was scheduled at 10.00 PM. Ofcourse he would be late, I thought to myself. But as soon as 5 past 10, it begun to happen things on stage. I could not realy se what - but then I realized it was The Wired Strings (West's live orchestra assamble). Oh god damn, this must be a experience soon to forget, I said to my friend beside me. At the DVD back home, Late Orchestration, I'd got a preview of Kanye and his orchestra and how they co-operated on stage. If you don't have the DVD yet, I strongly recommend this purchase.

Soon another recognizeble personality entered the stage - the world champion DJ - DJ A-trak. This was the same DJ that Kanye had in is entorage at the concert in 2004, the last time he gave a show in Sweden. A knew by personal experience that DJ A-trak was no bullshit. Skilled like the world champion he is.

After about half an hour, The Wired Strings begun to play the familiar intro of Diamonds from Sierra Leone. The crowds expectations was fysicaly touchable in the air, and the buzz turned into a shouts. Everybody threw their hands up, showing the diamond sign, signficant for the Rocafella Records label. Now's the time. Kanye runs out on stage and the show is in full set.

He puts out a cavalcade of hits from his two albums in a high tempo. "I want to take you back to a classic" he states and the chords of Through The Wire is hitting the speakers. In the middle of the show plays some of his earlier productions, when he wasn't a rapper, just a producerer. He played snippets from tracks like Izzo (H.O.V.A.), You Don't Know My Name, Selfish. On the tracks were he had a verse himself, he spitted it out for the crowd. But when he came to a track he did with Janet Jacksson, he begun with a few words of the lyrics then he said: "Naaaw , stop it, stop it. This is a too old track, I don't remember the verse." He laughs and continues with the show.

The show continued at a high pace all through the evening. It was a really nice evening with a real nice show. Mr West isn't only a great musician, he's a great entertainer aswell.