Music

Watch the Throne – Jay Z Kanye West review

One night is all it took for me to decide that this would possibly be the best night of my life, so far.

The night in question was June 13th that saw Birmingham play host to two of the biggest rappers in the universe in the epic Watch The Throne.

Jay Z and Kayne West blew the roof off the LG Arena located in Birmingham National Exhibition Centre (NEC) with  a two and half hour set that needed no stage gimmicks or fancy set, just pure talent and a fantastic audience.

As the show opened with H.AM , the two rappers appeared on separate cube rising from either end of the arena. The audience did not know where to look or that the show was starting so they flipped as they caught a glimpse. Right there, I knew the show was going to be worth the £65 ticket money and so much more.

The cubes were illuminated by different coloured lasers and had showed their shadows on. The cubes then sunk into the floor then Jay and Kayne appeared on the catwalk- like stage accompanied by two gigantic screens either side showing song titles, different background according to song and showed them performing.

With an American flag draped from the roof, Otis, got the crowd bouncing. The ROC boys then came from under it and worked the arena. The concert just seemed to get better from there on.

The  40 song set list consisted of album tracks (Watch the Throne) blended with the individual hits with Kanye performing everything from Gold digger, All of the lights to Jesus Walks and Jigga masterfully performing  99 Problems, Big Pimpin’ to On to the next one. Each track, whether collaborated or not made everyone go crazy. If you were seating you’d be standing, and if you were standing you’d be bouncing. They worked the crowd and the arena buzzed. The pair oozed rap royalty.

Not content with showcasing their brilliance, Jay and Kayne blessed us with five encores of Niggas in Paris that got crazier after each one. The Arena chanted for them to get back on stage so they did, Jay wanted mosh pits so the audience created them. Niggas in Paris turned into a song that hallmarked the concert and made five encores sound better every time.

Playing at Birmingham was their 18th date of the Watch the Throne tour from playing a pervious of five dates at the O2 and a number of European venues. They then went onto Germany, Paris and back to the UK to finish off back at Birmingham.

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