My Ye Experience Come Outside: Field Notes
My Ye Experience
Come Outside: Field Notes
Kanye West returned to New Orleans after 13 years since his last performance in the city, and the show was nothing short of phenomenal.
Ye's latest project, Bully 2, lives in a visual world that feels monochrome, brutalist, dystopian and minimal—high fashion meets anti-fashion, with something distinctly post-apocalyptic about it. Bully reminds me a little of Yeezus, but airier.
And the audience got it.
The Superdome was full of fans dressed in black. Black boots. Black sunglasses. Wide-leg pants. Oversized shirts. Bikinis. Black, black and more black.
We all understood the assignment: post-apocalyptic, sexy and chic.
The Music
Picking a favorite performance is almost impossible, but the one that immediately comes to mind is "Blood on the Leaves."
The red glow. The red lights.
And when that beat dropped? It went crazy.
Then there was "Power." A record that still sounds enormous inside a stadium. And "Father," with Ye declaring goodbye to the old self and hello to the new.
There were too many moments to name them all, which is probably the best problem a concert can have.
The Globe
The stage production was nothing short of amazing.
Ye performed on top of a globe.
Literally.
There wasn't a flat surface beneath him. The stage was the globe, with Ye harnessed for safety and stability as he moved across it throughout the night.
The globe changed colors. At certain moments, the lighting and production created the illusion that it was actually spinning.
And strangely enough, the shape of the stage solved one of the biggest problems with stadium concerts: the view.
Because the globe was the stage—or shall I say, because the stage was the globe—there really wasn't a bad seat in the building. In some ways, the higher you were, the better you could take in the full production.
More than 60,000 people filled the Dome that night.
I've heard plenty about the beaucoup tickets that were given away.
And to that I say: beautiful.
The concert happened one day before the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I take no issue with an artist making it possible for more people in New Orleans to experience a night like this.
Actually, I think more artists should follow suit.
At a time when buying a concert ticket can mean paying an almost absurd amount in additional ticketing fees, there is something refreshing about an artist simply opening the doors wider. Whatever the economics behind it, thousands more people got to be there.
And I'm glad they were.
The Girlfriend Part
I spent the night with one of my closest girlfriends, Ieshia Charmaine who happens to be celebrating a birthday this coming week.
We both enjoy Ye.
And somewhere between getting dressed, making our way to New Orleans, watching the Dome turn red, screaming lyrics we've known for years and witnessing a man perform from the top of a glowing globe, I was reminded of something.
Sometimes the experience isn't only about what you went to see.
It's about who was standing beside you when you saw it.
There will always be another concert. Another restaurant. Another city. Another reason to buy the outfit, make the reservation or get the ticket.
But some of the sweetest parts of a well-lived life are simply being able to call your girlfriend and say:
Get dressed. We're going see Ye.
And then actually going.
Thank you, Mr. West, for the ultimate concert experience
— India Banks, Founder + Editor
Girlfriends & Mimosas
