Attending a concert in Los Angeles during the week may not seem like an intelligent thing to do attending a concert during midterms seems worse, but I did it, for Kanye West.
I also bought my tickets a bit later than recommended, meaning I paid double the price for Kanye West.
I anticipated the Saint Pablo Tour. I was been a big fan of Kanye throughout high school.
His first few albums resonated with me and I enjoyed his album production.
But now, I wouldn’t put Kanye anywhere near my list of top favorite artists. His music varies in quality and he is enjoyable to listen to, so I wanted to finally experience him live.
His personality and antics make him seem like a “jackass” or narcissist in the eyes of many people, but I always found his attitude and behavior hilarious and entertaining.
For me, he mastered the balance of making really good music, and saying idiotic things.
Come Thursday, Oct. 27 I found myself out of time.
I couldn’t finish a paper by the time we had to leave, so I promised myself I would finish it when I got back.
It was 3 p.m. and my friend and I had already made our first mistake.
Four hours were we on the road, in rush hour, through Irvine all the way to Long Beach.
My bladder could not hold it any longer. I pleaded with my friend to stop for a bathroom break, but it was nearly impossible to exit traffic without losing precious time.
The concert was scheduled for 8 p.m. and we were still on the freeway by 7 p.m. San Diego traffic in no way even compares to Los Angeles traffic.
After finally relieving the pressure inside my bladder, we exited the heavy congestion and arrived in Inglewood, the city that housed the former home of the Lakers – The Forum.
We walked to the Forum no longer distressed by the long wait. Enthusiastic and excited, we had no clue we had to wait another two full hours to see Kanye in person.
“A diva,” said the young guy sitting next to us, describing Kanye’s attitudes when it came to performing.
The guy had told us he had attended Kanye’s previous concert and that after a modest 45-minute performance, Kanye quickly left without ever engaging with the crowd.
“I am giving him a second chance,” the guy said.
My friend and I looked at each other, wondering if we drove four hours and used a full tank of gas to experience a mediocre concert. Prove us wrong Kanye, I thought to myself.
The Forum wasn’t even halfway full and my stomach was starting to digest itself.
As per usual in a venue event, a burger and a cup of water amounted to more than $20, but hey, at least it’s not as much as Kanye’s clothing line.
Our seats were located in the far back side of the Forum. Not our preferable seats, but that was the price for forgetting to purchase the tickets early.
The inside of the Forum was full of artificial fog. It was hard to see the far side of the arena.
After two hours, suddenly the lights turned off. The background music was silenced.
The hype was paying off, as people were screaming and chanting “Kanye! Kanye!”
A floating platform was lowered and from the distance we saw a silhouette mounting the platform.
Kanye was lifted up on the platform. It was hard not to imagine that platform falling on top of the people, or Kanye falling off of it, but thankfully that never happened.
“Father Stretch My Hands Part 1” was the first beat that dropped.
The whole venue went nuts. The next hour and a half was eventful to say the least.
‘Yeezy’ lived up to the hype and he was as energetic and lively as we hoped. The platform moved from place to place, that way everyone could get a good look at him.
Aside from that, four screens facing all of the sides of the venue gave us a better glance at him.
He sung classics like “Jesus Walks”, “Power”, and “Good Life,” but he also went through the complete The Life of Pablo album. He sang everything from critically acclaimed tracks to debatable trash.
We even witnessed a spectacular light show that went hand in hand with his performance.
The beat made everyone jump and stomp the floor. At times I thought the whole venue might come down.
The most awkward moment came when he randomly showed us a videography of early moments in Kim Kardashian’s life.
I’m not a great fan of the Kardashian family, so I found it a bit annoying.
More disappointing than that was the fact that he didn’t rant throughout the whole show. Something fun about Kanye is seeing him dissing or randomly ranting about other people or things during concerts.
The accumulation of body heat required us to take our sweaters off. The odor of weed and beer filled the venue.
A guy in front of us offered us and everyone around him a hit of his blunt.
“No thank you,” we said. He kept insisting, becoming a nuisance to us. Later on that same guy slipped down the wet stairs as he left the arena. He was fine, but it was funny.
Thankfully, Kanye lasted more than 45 minutes and then it was time to leave. People left the venue in hordes.
Whenever attending a massive event, it is imperative to leave the Bluetooth in your car on, or at least remember exactly where you left your vehicle.
Unfortunately this was not the case with us.
After walking around the Forum trying to figure out exactly where we left my friends car, we sat on the sidewalk.
I cursed at my friend about our current situation.
After calming down, we did the old “tracing our steps” maneuver and we finally found our car.
Getting out of the parking lot took us another 30 minutes.
Being stuck in traffic again, made me wonder if there was such thing as a God of Academics, who was punishing me for being irresponsible with my studies.
Even after leaving, the streets were blocked by men trying to sell unlicensed Saint Pablo merchandise.
‘“No! Get away,” we would scream at them.
Luckily the way back was smooth. However, it was almost two in the morning and I had class the next day.
I spent the rest of the night finishing my homework, only able to give my internal clock three hours of rest. I don’t even think I even did a great job on my assignment.
Moral of the story if there even is any, finish your homework before you go out to a Kanye West concert.
