By JACKSON WANG
Sports Editor
PUBLISHED NOVEMBER 15, 2011
The “Watch The Throne” tour arrived in East Rutherford, NJ at the Izod Center on Sunday, November 6. Jay-Z and Kanye West put on a show for the ages that lived up to all the hype that was built around it in the time leading up to the tour.
This past summer, Jay-Z and Kanye West released a collaborative album called “Watch The Throne.” Before the album came out, many people were talking about how great it was going to be. On Aug. 8, their album was released and met the high expectations.
Soon after, they also announced that they would be going on tour. Many people were excited about the concert and the pre-sale tickets sold out. This was going to be the concert of the year and tickets were hard to get. It got so popular that extra stops were added to the tour.
The concert opened with Jay-Z and Kanye West on opposite ends of the Izod Center on cubes that rose up. They opened to one of their most popular hits “H.A.M.” The first song they performed together on stage was “Otis,” a very popular song that was released before the album came out.
After the performance of “Otis,” Jay-Z and Kanye West introduced themselves and gave shout-outs to their hometowns.
Kanye West and Jay-Z performed many of their own songs. Kanye West performed songs like “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” “Jesus Walk,” “Strong,” and “Touch The Sky.” Jay-Z performed songs like “Public Service Announcement,” Run This Town,” Izzo,” and “99 Problems.”
Along with great music, their was also a great laser show going along with each of their performances, as well as smoke and fire for effects.
There was also great camera work to get nice shots of Kanye West and Jay-Z to be displayed on the big screens behind them.
Both Jay-Z and Kanye West put so much energy into the show and the fans definitely felt that energy. The 15,000 plus fans loved the show and were on their feet for the entire two and half hour performance.
Seeing how close the Izod Center is to New York, Jay-Z’s home state, Jay-Z showed a lot of love for his hometown by performing “Empire State of Mind” and showed off his Yankees hat to the crowd, most of which was from New York.
The place was rocking and everyone was enjoying themselves. Jay-Z and Kanye West knew that too, so they gave the fans a treat. They performed their number three song on the Billboard Top 100 for rap music, “In Paris,” three times. Twice to end the show and once for an encore. Before Jay-Z and Kanye West could leave for good, they ended the night with Jay-Z’s song “Encore.”
I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t heard the “Watch The Throne” album yet do so. It’s one of the best rap album’s I have ever heard and it’s a great example for future rap artists to use.
If anyone is interested in catching the “Watch The Throne” tour, the next nearby stop will be in Boston, M.A. at the T.D. Garden on Nov. 21. Tickets are expensive, but if you do have the opportunity to go see it, I highly recommend you go. It’ll be one of the best, if the best, concerts you’ll ever see.
