Recommendations of the Editorial team
Admittedly, there is something subversive about standing here, somewhere near the German-Dutch border, in a place called Arnhem, a good hour away from Amsterdam. The sky is gray and cloudy, and the weather matches the mood in the air on the way to the GelreDome, the city’s soccer stadium. Everything is a little tense, no one seems to really know who and what awaits them here today. Kanye West, who today only calls himself Ye in the spirit of the new minimalism, is scheduled to perform in the evening. Anything but self-evident.
Not long ago, West was one of the world’s biggest superstars, a musical prodigy, a man who was single-handedly responsible for the evolution of modern hip-hop. He revolutionized the sound of the genre at least three times. Probably even more often. But as is often the case, genius and madness are close together. West suffers from manic depression, and his breakdowns have become so severe in recent years that he is now largely isolated in the scene. All of his advertising partners have long since dropped out; the musicians who previously asked for audiences with the master no longer want to be seen with him.
Not without reason. Last year, West attracted attention for his public display of Nazi love and radically formulated anti-Semitism. He released a song called “Heil Hitler” and sold T-shirts with swastikas and the model number “HH-01” in his online shop. West has now apologized numerous times for his failures, justifying them with his mental illness, but the damage has long been done. West is now experiencing this very clearly again. Almost all dates on his European tour were canceled. Either by the organizers themselves or, as in Great Britain, they were made impossible by entry bans. West was only able to play in Turkey and the Netherlands.
There is no us-versus-them feeling here
So what can you expect this evening? Once you get to the stadium, the tension drops significantly. The mood here is relaxed. Almost 40,000 people came, on average they are still quite young, they are fashionistas and cool kids whose clothes are dominated by brand names such as Dior, Fendi and Prada. The conversations here are not about politics, but surprisingly about Nirvana, David Bowie and the new Kanye record. This isn’t about rebellion, there’s no Böhse-Unkelz-typeshit “us against the world” feeling, more like the class reunion feeling of music nerds who want to have a good evening. Despite everything.
The good evening begins at 8:42 p.m. when a heavy and long-lasting bass sounds as the prelude signal. And then he’s actually there. Kanye West stands alone on a spectacular, meter-high globe that was built in the center of the stadium. An image that reveals a lot about West’s emotional world. It’s very lonely on the top of the world. Ye logically starts his set with “King” from his new album “Bully”. “This that feelin’ we need more of / The hatin’ just brought me more love,” he raps, no, preaches from his globe. Then a triptych of “Father Stretch My Hands,” “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” and “Ni**as in Paris” follows, and Ye has the stadium completely in his hands. There is mass hysteria and mosh pits on the mundane stadium ground in front of the globe. During “Lights On” the entire hall is cut up by razor-sharp lasers.
Visually, this is one of the best things you’ve seen on European stages in a long time. And no compromises are made musically either. In his set, Ye plays across his discography, giving each phase of his work its time and appropriate space. West doesn’t fall into the medley reflex, he plays out his songs, appreciates them, yes, it seems as if he’s not so much performing from his globe as presenting them. Listen, this is my work that I have brought to you.
“Drake delivers hits. West delivers mythology”
After just a few minutes you get lost in the stage design and laser show, and you forget where you actually are, you have the feeling that you are attending a holy musical mass. Everything here is absolute mega-star level. If you compare the show with Drake’s European concerts last year, you can see why Kanye West remained an exceptional figure despite everything. Drake delivers hits. West provides mythology.
The Schrödinger-Ye paradox
The set contains constant highlights, for example when Ye plays the previously unreleased but highly anticipated “Everybody”, which stands out with its striking Backstreet Boys sample, when he introduces “Good Life” with a snippet of Michael Jackson’s “PYT” or when the hall embraces during “Flashing Lights”. This night is not political in any way, it is a celebration of music in its purest form. Kanye West alone on a globe. This is a minimalist extremism that is rarely seen so consistently.
And yes, you think to yourself at this moment, it is of course strange. In this hall, Kanye is currently the biggest superstar in the world, while out there he has long been viewed as a faded star. Both are right and wrong at the same time. Maybe a paradox that can’t be explained, maybe this is Schrödinger’s Ye. The concert ends with “Runaway”. Then the globe goes dark and Kanye West disappears. For a moment, all that remains is the roar of the bass in the stands. Reality is waiting outside again, the scandals, the headlines, the debates.
Maybe that’s where the mystery of Kanye West lies. Hardly any artist has destroyed so much in recent years, and hardly anyone can still dominate a space so completely. In Arnhem that evening he seems simultaneously like a fallen man and like the biggest pop star in the world. And yet on this globe stands a man to whom the rules of pop apparently still don’t apply.