A man alone in the world. When Kanye ‘Ye’ West emerges from the Gelredome on Saturday evening, he will be standing on a meter-high stage in the shape of a globe. Projections show the Earth as West calmly walks around. He doesn’t have much room to move on the ball, which he doesn’t leave for the entire concert. The distance between him and the audience is great and will not decrease for two hours.
West’s concerts were canceled in many other countries (United Kingdom, Italy, France, Switzerland and Poland), while in the Netherlands the judge and cabinet saw insufficient grounds to refuse him due to his previous anti-Semitic and pro-Nazi statements. Arnhem mayor Ahmed Marcouch invited the rapper last-minute to a visit to the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, but did not discuss this with the museum – which did not want to participate in the visit at all.
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The American rapper will perform in the Netherlands for the first time since 2013. West, who now calls himself Ye, hardly speaks to the audience during the performance and makes no reference to the commotion beforehand. There is little public interaction anyway; very occasionally he says something general. He works through his set list of more than thirty songs at a rapid pace and the audience responds enthusiastically from the start. Groups of men fall into each other’s arms and shout along, thousands of telephones go into the air to make videos. Ye’s fans – about 80 thousand spread over two concerts – clearly felt the need to see him again.
The performance goes off without incident, the song ‘Heil Hitler’ does not appear. West performs songs from his latest album Bully a broad selection from his oeuvre. A section with old songs in which warm soul samples play a major role is done with some haste. On to the next one, he sometimes says. The large stage is impressive, but because West is far away, he remains a shadow to a large part of the audience.
The performer’s own energy is low for almost the entire show, mostly just shuffling around and waving his arms. Yet the power of songs like ‘Power’ and ‘Stronger’ is still great, as you can tell from the audience. An exuberant laser show during ‘All of the Lights’, one of West’s prize songs, excites the audience even further. After about two hours he finishes with the song ‘Runaway’, in which he sings:Let’s have a toast for the assholes / Let’s have a toast for the scumbags.”
In conversation withLoyal fans of Ye
Outside the Gelredome it is busy early on Saturday. Fans wait outside the arena doors as loud music blares across the square. In the merchandise stall there are T-shirts with the concert dates and the text ‘Fuck Bipolar’ – a reference to the mental illness that Ye referred to last year in an ad in the Wall Street Journal asking for forgiveness for his anti-Semitic comments. The merch is popular, around half past four there is a line of dozens of meters.
Alexandre Simard (29) is from Montreal. He has been a fan of West for years. “I was very insecure, guys like Kanye and Kendrick Lamar gave me self-confidence.” He says about the fuss: “It feels a bit like having a family member who is off track, you still love that.”
Alexandre Simard.
Photo John van Hamond
Elena and Esther (right) van den Bosch.
Photo John van Hamond
From left to right: Simon Blekkink, Roberto Udo, Vince van der Pal.
Photo John van Hamond
From left to right: Leolu Herkules, Amélie Schwab, Max Schwab.
Photo John van Hamond
A few hundred meters from the catering area is a group of several dozen demonstrators from various Jewish organizations. Large red banners show anti-Semitic statements by West with the text ‘Warning. We thought you should know this’. The demonstration is co-organized by the CIDI (Israel Information and Documentation Center). A spokesperson for the lobby organization emphasizes that today is not about Israel, but about anti-Semitism. There is hardly any tension between fans and demonstrators. However, there were two arrests for ‘disturbing public order at a demonstration’ and the police sent away a group of far-right conspiracy theorists who stood in front of the demonstrators.
Fred de Leeuw (80) is one of the initiators of the demonstration by Jewish organizations. He says that he felt called to organize something because some of his friends could not demonstrate because today is the Sabbath, the Jewish day of rest. He does not understand why other countries have denied West access, and the Netherlands has not. “I want to draw a line in the sand, this far and no further.”
Friends Roberto Udo (29) and Simon Blekkink (28) are drinking a beer with Vince van der Pal (22). Udo would like to see more understanding for West, Van der Pal adds that he thinks there is too little attention for the mental health of men. “That is just not taken seriously.”
Elena (17) is there with her mother Esther van den Bosch (42). For Esther, Kanye West is part of her childhood, for daughter Elena it is her very first concert visit. They are mainly here because Elena is a big fan. Elena’s grandfather did not agree with their visit, says Esther. “He thought we were crazy for going. But we are here purely for Ye’s music, of course we do not support what he said.”
Leolo Herkules (28), Max Schwab (35) and Schwab’s daughter Amélie have traveled from the south of Germany. Leolo and Max have been fans for years. Herkules: “His statements are terrible, we are certainly not fans of that. That would also be something as Germans.” But Schwab and Herkules believe that you should separate the art from the artist.
Kanye West will be here again on Monday, on his 49th birthday.
An anti-Ye demonstration is held at the stadium.
Photo John van Hamond