Last night I had the honor of experiencing Jay-Z and Kanye West's Watch the Throne tour. I have seen both Jay-Z and Kanye West in concert when they were headlining their own tours, and as soon as they announced the tour dates for their collaboration, I was on it.
I had been listening to Watch the Throne on repeat for the last three weeks. In the event that they played mostly tracks from the collaboration album, I wanted to know all the words.
I left work last night and headed to Bacco in the North End for dinner with my two concert going buddies. Bacco has become my pre-show spot for concerts at the TD Garden.
With full stomachs we headed toward the Garden. The tickets said the show started at 7:30pm. There was no opening act, and we didn't want to risk missing any of the show, so we arrived at 7:45pm. Our seats were in the top balcony, in the second row. We actually had a great view and were surrounded by friendly, enthusiastic fans.
The show didn't start until 9:10pm. I can tell I am getting old because with each passing minute I was feeling more and more anxious about how little sleep I was going to be getting. Shameful, but true.
Jay-Z and Kanye emerged on two stages at opposite ends of the arena. Those stages rose up from the ground to reveal TV screens. It was actually pretty incredible looking.
For the entire show Kanye was wearing a kilt and leather pants. Only he could get away with that outfit and still seem badass.
The duo played several songs from the new album including my favorite, Otis. Every number had crazy lighting and images on the big screens.
In addition to their joint numbers, each superstar performed many of their most popular tracks. Perez Hilton published the set list, which includes 36 songs! Yes, they really did that many. Below, a sampling of my favorites:
Jay-Z
- Big Pimpin'
- Hard Knock Life
- Can I Get A
- Jigga What, Jigga Who
- 99 Problems
- Izzo
- Dirt Off Your Shoulder
- On To The Next One
- Empire State of Mind
Kanye West
- Through The Wire
- Jesus Walks
- All Falls Down
- Gold Digger
- Stronger
- Good Life
- Flashing Lights
- Heartless
- Monster
I am telling you, I have never danced so hard or screamed so loud as I did at this show! I felt completely and totally alive. The entire crowd was electrified.
Toward the end of the show Jay-Z told the crowd that until tonight, Baltimore was the loudest city on the tour. He paused for a minute and then said, "tonight Boston, you blew them out of the water." As a thank you for the support and love during the show, for the encore they played the song Niggas in Paris six times! Each time they would start again the crowd exploded like it was the first time they were hearing those opening notes.
The Watch the Throne tour feels like three concerts in one. It is impossible not to feel energized and empowered after attending this show. If you have the chance to go, don't miss this!
As an added bonus, when I got in the car to drive home, Jam'n 94.5 was playing all the tracks from Watch the Throne! After any show all I want to do is listen to the music and re-live the memory, so a major shout out to the Jam'n crew for making that possible.
