Kanye West performs at The Dome in Johannesburg. Picture: GALLO IMAGES
KANYE West lives in a bubble. All 10 000 people that packed into the Dome in Northgate were treated to a somewhat emotional, yet mesmeric one-man theatre show.
As he did in his show in Abu Dhabi a couple of days earlier, the 35-year- old donned diamond-encrusted face masks, a straitjacket and a feathery white mask and had a massive, 95- metre-wide 3D screen behind him.
From the time he emerged to open the show with Cold, he hardly said a word to the enthusiastic crowd as he writhed on the stage, sometimes as if he was about to bellow in agony.
The lighting throughout the almost 90-minute show was moody, often dark, which left photographers and videographers upset.
But virtually minutes in the fans, especially those in the golden circle area, who had been booing after being made to wait until 11.17pm, had forgotten all about their sore feet and were eating from his hand.
Early on, the giant screens projected glaciers and the blowers above the crowd and his stage released paper snowflakes, which fit the theme of the night – the Sub Zero Experience.
He rattled through songs including Clique, All Falls Down, All of the Lights, Runaway, Stronger and his ridiculously long verse on a remix of Rihanna’s Diamonds hit.
He occasionally danced. Sometimes ran across the stage. He yelled. He never smiled. It was all business.
