With his appointment shrouded in controversy months before he had even hit the stage, it’s safe to say that Kanye West’s Glastonbury debut was one that many were anticipating… for a multitude of reasons.
Naysayers (and there were plenty of them, both in ‘that’ petition plus those in the audience too) were amongst the eager-eyed, and with a fair few hiccups, one would be forgiven thinking the ‘anti-Kanye contingent’ may have had a point.
From a stage invasion (by comedian Lee Nelson), to staggered, unnecessarily-long pauses mid-set, West’s show will no-doubt go down as a fairly hot-topic for many more years.
On the plus side, the rapper did belt out a host of classics from a gorgeous stage. Opening with Stronger to roars from the crowd, Kanye visited various avenues from his vast discography, old and new.
<iframe width=”100%” height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/Y00EqW1lWZk” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
Additionally not even the aforementioned Nelson could fault the rapper’s showmanship, flawlessly continuing through Blkkk Skinhead without even an inkling of the disturbance happening.
<iframe width=”100%” height=”315″ src=”//www.youtube.com/embed/a-5n2Uulm_E” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
There did seem a surprising ‘lull moment’ that may have continued far longer than it perhaps should have, with Yeezy, joined by Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, trawling through some heavily autotuned down-tempo edits. West however did show a slight pensive side, raw and emotional for him it may have seemed.
At one point it did seem Kanye had left his ego at stage-side, however a closure (Goldigger) was slightly sidelined thanks to his bold (and boo-worthy) proclamation as “the greatest living rockstar on the planet“, leaving many attendees almost angry at the remark.
There may not have been any special guests as hoped/rumoured, but it does take a fair whack of talent (or potential arrogance) to carry an almost two-hour set pretty much on your lonesome.
Overall, a strong stab at an impressively flawless catalogue. Headline performer? Absolutely. Headline performance? Questionable.
