| TourbyKanye West | |
 | |
| Location |
|
|---|---|
| Associated albums | Graduation |
| Start date | November 22, 2007 (United Kingdom) |
| End date | December 7, 2008 (Australia) |
| Legs | 5 |
| No. of shows | 61 |
| Box office | $30.8 million[a] |
| Kanye West concert chronology | |
| |
The Glow in the Dark Tour was the third concert tourbyKanye West featuring Rihanna, Lupe Fiasco, N.E.R.D, Santigold and Nas. It began on April 16, 2008 in Seattle, Washington and traveled to Latin America, Asia, Europe, New Zealand, and Australia through to early December. The tour featured some surprise special guest artists, including Gnarls Barkley and Jay-Z. Chris Brown also appeared at some shows to perform his remix of "Umbrella" with Rihanna, and as a dancer for N.E.R.D. For the New Zealand and Australian leg of the tour special guests Nas and New Zealand rapper Scribe replaced Lupe Fiasco and N.E.R.D, as N.E.R.D toured these countries separately. Vanness Wu performed as the opening act on the Asian leg of the tour and performed "Good Life" with West during the show. A book named after the tour, authored by Kanye West with photography by Nabil Elderkin, was published by Rizzoli USA in October 2009.
The tour grossed $30.8 million from 49 shows and was by the end of 2008 the second-highest-grossing rap tour. Direction, production, and lighting design were handled by; Es Devlin, Kanye West, Martin Phillips, John McGuire, and Simon Henwood.[2]
On September 5, 2007, West announced his Glow in the Dark Tour in promotion of his third studio album Graduation. The tour was set to run from November 21–26, spanning seven dates across the United Kingdom.[3][4] The first show was supposed to be a two-night concert at Hammersmith Apollo in London, until West moved it to the city's O2 Arena on the night of November 22, 2007, as a result of heavy demand.[5] West was precise in rehearsals for the tour, which was rumored to have caused problems in his relationship with Alexis Phifer.[6] On January 30, 2008, Kanye posted to his blog that he would be embarking on the tour for this year across North America, in the wake of the UK stint's success and the death of his mother Donda West. He announced the support acts of fellow rapper Lupe Fiasco, band N.E.R.D., and Barbadian singer Rihanna.[7][8][9] Kanye West and Lupe Fiasco had previously collaborated on the 2007 song "Us Placers" with Pharrell Williams under the supergroup Child Rebel Soldier, while the two rappers and Rihanna were among the award recipients at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards.[9][10] West teased his tour set-up to his US audience at the ceremony by wearing a flashing LED jacket and luminous shades, with neon lighting covering the stage.[9]
In February 2008, West's label Def Jam announced the North American tour dates from April 16–May 30.[9][10] The label also issued a statement that Rihanna would be absent from the shows in Las Vegas, Nevada and Albuquerque, New Mexico during April 2008.[9] That same month, West revealed that he enlisted Jim Henson's Creature Shop, the company whom built the Muppets, for production of the set.[11] For the tour's first US show at KeyArena in Seattle, Washington on April 16, 2008, Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna, and N.E.R.D. had 30 minute sets each, succeeded by West's 90-minute set.[12] In August 2008, West announced dates across the UK for November.[13] Following a show at The O2 Arena, the rapper wished for normalcy rather than being "under scrutiny and paparazzi" on the tour, expressing that he missed his mother and had "sacrificed real life" for his career.[14] From October 17 to December 7, 2008, West visited Mexico, Australia, South America, and Europe for the Glow in the Dark Tour. He was supported by the likes of Mr Hudson and the Library, Consequence, Tony Williams, and Kid Cudi for the leg across Europe.[6]
For the concept of the Glow in the Dark Tour's concerts, a space opera theme was used.[15][16][17] West came from an elevated platform that transformed into a spaceship named Jane that he piloted,[18][19][20] embarking on a mission to "bring creativity back to earth".[16][21] He traveled through the universe in his spaceship as smoke and flashing lights follow,[19][21] before becoming marooned and hitting a meteor storm.[15][20][22] The spaceship crash lands on an unknown planet covered by dry ice,[20][21] alongside colored lights and swelling smoke in the landscape.[18] Jane woke West up and informed him this was not his first crash,[23] leading into the rapper performing songs from his first three albums. West reviewed his weaknesses and tried to escape by finding his way home to Earth,[6][16][20] after which Jane's computerized voice told him that he is needed as "the brightest star in the universe".[15][17] The music was also used for the story of him seeking love, knowledge, and recognition.[21] West's music was re-arranged by his tour band to sound melancholy rather than victorious, incorporating drumbeats and reverberated minor chords that were succeeded by pop hooks.[18] West rapped for an hour and a half uninterrupted as he played a hero under a skyline dominated by asteroids, whirling clouds, bursting stars, and moonscapes, failing to break out to connect with others.[12][16] For the second half of the November 2008 concert at The O2 Arena, West moved away from the space theme into freestyling about venturing to heaven and if his sacrifices for fame were truly worth it.[17] The rapper sought more power at the end of performing during his concerts and asked Jane where to "get more power", to which she replied he would be needed for the power and he also briefly performed Journey's 1981 single "Don't Stop Believin'".[21][24] West appeared with Lupe Fiasco for his encore at the concert in New York City's Madison Square Garden, making his return home.[18]
West deployed a minimalist stage set-up for the tour, appearing alone besides his live pit band who played in the dark. He also brought in landscapes on a LED screen, including deserts and a giant moon.[23][25]
Using two blog posts in January 2008, West revealed the poster for the Glow in the Dark Tour. The first post was titled "Get Ready!" and simply featured portions of a digitally enhanced tour poster, while the second one was named "The End of the World as You Know It!!!" and depicted West as a multi-color robot in the poster's full frame.[8] West collaborated with Japanese artist Takashi Murakami on the tour's merchandise and it was also made by Virgil Abloh, marking one of his first projects with the rapper.[26] At merchandise stands, $10 plastic replicas of West's shades were available.[27]
In February 2008, West made a sponsorship deal with Absolut Vodka for the tour's US stint, dubbed as "The Glow in the Dark Tour Ignited by Absolut 100". The deal was part of the brand's "In an Absolut World" campaign, with them sponsoring after-parties in each city where the rapper performed. West issued a statement honoring how Absolut had collaborated with "the pre-eminent artists of the 20th century", including his inspirations Andy Warhol, Tom Ford, Keith Haring, and Helmut Newton.[28] In July 2008, West and Absolut shared a comedic one-minute commercial entitled "Be Kanye" to bekanyenow.com. Produced by TBWA/Chiat/Day, the video is set in a 1980s retro format with loud colors and humorous sound effects. West promotes the "Be Kanye" tablets that give users the "famous superstar power" to be him for four hours and he asks how often they have told themselves, "I feel famous and powerful on the inside, but nobody sees it that way on the outside?"[29][30] A person also onlooks in confusion as a man in a club takes one and transforms into West while the rapper himself exits a bathroom stall; the ending shows a toll-free number for orders and the price of $19.95.[29][30] A spokeswoman for Absolut said that their logo is shown once in the commercial on purpose for their audience to have their own experience rather than "telling them what it is", while they had the intention of capturing those spending more time online and consuming news media.[30] The tablets were also advertised on bus stops, subways, and websites.[30] In April 2018, West shared a trailer of his unreleased Tobias Spellman–directed documentary What Doesn't Kill Me that showed backstage scenes of him and his team on the tour. Although there was no reason disclosed for the lack of a release, the documentary has rarely been mentioned and this indicated the reason to be it being done secretly.[31]
The Glow in the Dark Tour was met with generally positive reviews from critics. The staff of the Financial Times wrote that the set for the tour's first UK date resembled "a Star Trek set designed for the Pet Shop Boys", featuring violinists next to sleek white pyramids and a band with body armour who looked like riot police.[32] They were also taken aback by West's costume invoking Wesley Snipes's look in Blade (1998), although felt that the progressive rap beats "grew samey and portentous" at the challenge of running through a stadium show and concluded that if West did miss "his supernova ambitions, he made a rocket-fuelled attempt".[32] Writing for The New York Times, Jon Pareles saw the tour's New York stop as hip-hop's "most daring arena spectacle" and partially its best with West's rapping, the beats, and "the narcissism".[18] Pareles highlighted its sci-fi theme and the momentum of West's stamina mixed with his lone self-determination, while he felt that he pushes hip-hop's boundaries alongside the support acts, despite the music's "less triumphal and more melancholy" rearrangements being held back by the concert's instrumentation.[18] Patrick MacDonald from The Seattle Times thought that West met his promise of being the greatest hip-hop star in Seattle on the tour's first US stop with "a magnificent, thrilling, uplifting, sensory experience" not done for any artist's concerts before.[19] He lauded West's new visions for the show's design and message through his tall set, invoking "the uneven surface of another world" with a spaceship-like elevated platform.[19] MacDonald finalized that West comes back to Earth "with the hard-won wisdom that life is a gift and every day a miracle", accompanied by three of hip-hop's most talented and versatile acts that gave strong performances.[19]
Reviewing the show for the Los Angeles Times, Ann Powers called it West's space opera version of Gotterdammerung (1876) and saw obvious references to anime, Will Smith in the 2007 film I Am Legend, and IMAX shows about planets. He wrote that West continues his hero character by confronting terror, doubt, and "filial grief" to carry his braggadocio "into the realm of myth itself" with images that "saturated the stage floor" while escaping their boundaries.[16] Powers believed the innovative imagery elevated the standard for tours to the highest since U2's 1992–93 Zoo TV Tour with their comic book style, while he hailed West's independence as a performer for wandering vast stages on his own. To conclude, Powers said that the impressive backdrops brought excitement beyond the rapper's performances for the first time on his tours and his "romantic power" as a hero, further noting the support acts have his "forward-thinking attitude about hip-hop, as well as his showiness".[16] At the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Travis Nichols pointed to the concert as West's self-love fest primarily focused on him, a reputation he has even within "the narcissistic echo chambers of hip-hop".[21] He said the rapper "got wide berth" and his impressive effort felt like "watching Kobe Bryant pour in 64 points just so the Lakers could lose by two", although he highlighted the space narrative and West's artistry through both his musicality and stage setting.[21]
After 49 concerts, the Glow in the Dark Tour grossed $30.8 million from 507,853 fans, standing as the third highest grossing hip-hop tour of 2008.[1] In retrospect, Corbin Reiff of Rolling Stone described the tour as a "case study in sensory overload".[33] On October 9, 2009, West announced Australian photographer Nabil Elderkin's book Glow in the Dark that was designed by graphic team Base and chronicles the tour's events.[34] The rapper blogged fondly of Elderkin's documentation of his experiences and felt emotional touring, although his pain "brought my greatest creation to date".[35][36] Elderkin said that West was enthusiastic for him to join the project and found the musical score with his sets to be "a bold move", offering to also focus on the rapper as a person.[35] The book includes West's sketches, photos of his performances, and behind-the-scenes shots, with a bonus CD that features live instrumentals.[34][35][37]
The below set list was performed by West throughout the Glow in the Dark Tour.[6] West would also incorporate work from his fourth album 808s & Heartbreak at concerts in 2008, including the lead single "Love Lockdown".[18][17]
| Date |
Location | Country | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| November 22 | London | United Kingdom | The O2 Arena[b] |
| November 24 | Brighton | Brighton Centre | |
| November 25 | Bournemouth | BIC | |
| November 26 | Nottingham | Nottingham Arena | |
| December 21 | Cardiff | Cardiff International Arena | |
| December 26 | Plymouth | Plymouth Pavilions |
| Date | Location | Country | Venue | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 16 | Seattle | United States | KeyArena | |
| April 18 | Sacramento | ARCO Arena | ||
| April 19 | San Jose | HP Pavilion at San Jose | ||
| April 20 | San Diego | San Diego Sports Arena | ||
| April 21 | Los Angeles | Nokia Theatre | ||
| April 22[40] | ||||
| April 24[40] | Tucson | McKale Center | ||
| April 25 | Las Vegas | Red Rock Casino | ||
| April 26 | Albuquerque | ABQ Journal Pavilion | ||
| April 27 | Denver | Pepsi Center | ||
| April 29 | Oklahoma City | Ford Center | Lupe Fiasco did not perform due to illness. | |
| April 30 | Austin | Frank Erwin Center | ||
| May 1 | Dallas | SuperPages.com Center | ||
| May 2 | The Woodlands | Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion | ||
| May 4 | Duluth | The Arena Gwinnett Center | Chris Brown & rapper Bow Wow appeared as dancers for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |
| May 5 | Tampa | Ford Amphitheatre | ||
| May 6 | Miami | American Airlines Arena | ||
| May 8 | Charlotte | Verizon Wireless Amphitheater | Chris Brown and rapper Lupe Fiasco appeared as dancers for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |
| May 9 | Raleigh | Time Warner Cable Music Pavilion | ||
| May 10 | Bristow | Nissan Pavilion at Stone Ridge | Chris Brown appeared as a dancer for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |
| May 11 | Virginia Beach | Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre at Virginia Beach | ||
| May 13 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | Chris Brown appeared on stage to sing a duet remix of "Umbrella" with Rihanna. | |
| May 15 | Mansfield | Tweeter Center | Chris Brown appeared as a dancer for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |
| May 16 | Hartford | New England Dodge Music Center | ||
| May 17 | Camden | Susquehanna Bank Center | Chris Brown appeared as a dancer for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |
| May 18 | Scranton | Toyota Pavilion | Chris Brown appeared as a dancer for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |
| May 20 | Montreal | Canada | Bell Centre | Chris Brown appeared as a dancer for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." |
| May 21 | Toronto | Molson Amphitheatre | ||
| May 22 | Auburn Hills | United States | The Palace of Auburn Hills | |
| May 23 | Chicago | United Center | ||
| May 24 | Chris Brown and rapper Common appeared as dancers for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |||
| May 25 | Fargo | Fargodome | ||
| May 26 | Winnipeg | Canada | MTS Centre | Chris Brown appeared as a dancer for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." |
| May 27 | Saskatoon | Credit Union Centre | ||
| May 29 | Edmonton | Rexall Place | ||
| May 30 | Calgary | Saddledome | Chris Brown appeared on stage to sing a duet remix of "Umbrella" with Rihanna and as a dancer for N.E.R.D's "Spaz." | |
| June 2 | Vancouver | General Motors Place | ||
| June 3 | Portland | United States | Rose Garden | |
| June 5 | Reno | Reno Events Center | ||
| June 6 | San Jose | HP Pavilion at San Jose | ||
| June 7 | Los Angeles | Staples Center | ||
| June 8[41] | Glendale | Jobing.com Arena | ||
| June 9[42] | West Valley City | E Center | ||
| June 11[42] | Minneapolis | Target Center | ||
| June 12[43] | Moline | iWireless Center | ||
| June 14[44] | Manchester | Bonnaroo Music Festival | Kanye West appeared alone, and took the stage two hours after the posted time, using a modified Glow in the Dark Tour set. | |
| July 4 | New Orleans | Essence Festival | ||
| July 25 | Stratford-upon-Avon | United Kingdom | Global Gathering Festival | |
| August 1 | Cincinnati | United States | U.S. Bank Arena | |
| August 3 | Chicago | Lollapalooza Festival | ||
| August 5 | New York City | Madison Square Garden | ||
| August 6 | Lupe Fiasco was the only guest scheduled for this show, however N.E.R.D performed anyway. Also Jay-Z made a special on-stage appearance singing "Jockin' Jay-Z (Dopeboy Fresh)."[45] | |||
| August 7 | Ledyard | MGM Grand at Foxwoods | Gnarls Barkley performed as a special guest opener at this show.[46] | |
| August 10 | Baltimore | Pimlico Race Course | Held for the Virgin Mobile Festival | |
| October 17 | Mexico City | Mexico | Palacio de los Deportes | |
| October 18 | Monterrey | Arena Monterrey | ||
| October 22, 2008 | São Paulo | Brazil[47] | Ibirapuera Park | |
| October 24, 2008 | Rio de Janeiro | Marina da Glória | ||
| October 29, 2008 | Kallang | Singapore | Singapore Indoor Stadium | Performed live recording of ‘Pinocchio Story’ that appeared on 808s & Heartbreak |
| November 1, 2008[48] | Beijing | China | Workers Indoor Arena | |
| November 3, 2008 | Shanghai | Shanghai Indoor Stadium | ||
| November 8, 2008[49] | Belfast | United Kingdom | Odyssey Place | |
| November 9, 2008[50] | Dublin | Ireland | RDS Simmonscourt | |
| November 11, 2008 | London | United Kingdom[13] | The O2 Arena | |
| November 12, 2008 | Estelle performed "American Boy" with West.[17] | |||
| November 13, 2008 | Newcastle | Newcastle Arena | Mr Hudson & The Library, Melanie Fiona, Kid Cudi, Consequence and Tony Williams Supported. | |
| November 15, 2008 | Birmingham | NEC Arena | Mr Hudson & The Library, Kid Cudi, Consequence, Melanie Fiona and Santogold supported. | |
| November 16, 2008 | Glasgow | SEC Centre | ||
| November 17, 2008 | Manchester | MEN Arena | Kid Cudi, Consequence with Tony Williams, Melanie Fiona, Mr Hudson & The Library and Santogold supported. | |
| November 19, 2008 | Oberhausen | Germany | König-Pilsener-Arena | Das Labor, Consequence with Tony Williams, Melanie Fiona and Mr Hudson & The Library supported. |
| November 20, 2008 | Paris | France | Palais omnisports de Paris-Bercy | The Roots opened, Consequence with Tony Williams, Melanie Fiona and Mr Hudson & The Library supported. |
| November 21, 2008 | Brussels | Belgium | Forest National | Consequence with Tony Williams, Mr Hudson & The Library and Santogold supported. |
| November 24, 2008 | Prague | Czech Republic | O2 Arena | Cancelled |
| November 26, 2008 | Rotterdam | Netherlands | Rotterdam Ahoy Sportpaleis | Mr Hudson & The Library and Santogold supported. |
| November 28, 2008 | Hamburg | Germany | Color Line Arena | |
| Australia/New Zealand Leg Support acts for this leg were Nas, Scribe, Kid Cudi and Consequence. | ||||
| December 1, 2008 | Auckland | New Zealand | Vector Arena | |
| December 2, 2008 | Wellington | TSB Bank Arena | ||
| December 5, 2008 | Melbourne | Australia | Rod Laver Arena | |
| December 6, 2008 | Sydney | Acer Arena | ||
| December 7, 2008 | Brisbane | Brisbane Entertainment Centre | ||
A brief controversy emerged when during his performance in Sacramento, West accidentally referred to the city as Seattle, the latter of which he performed in only two days prior. West quickly admitted his mistake and made an apology to fans on his official blog.[51]
West's scheduled time at the Bonnaroo Music Festival was changed from 8:00 pm to 2:45 am to accommodate the light show for the Glow in the Dark Tour. This marked the first ever late night show on the big "What Stage" in Bonnaroo's 7-year history.[52] Pearl Jam ended up playing 50 mins over their allotted time, leaving less time for the setup of West's stage props for the Glow in the Dark Tour. A message on the monitors stated that the show would start at 3:30. When that didn't happen, the crowd grew restless and started chanting "Kanye Sucks". Once West came out on stage at 4:25 am most people quieted down. The delay was reportedly due to complications in the set up of West's elaborate glow in the dark concept concert after the Pearl Jam set. Graffiti was found throughout the festival ranging from "Fuck Kanye"[44] to "Jay-Z Would Have Been on Time". West later wrote an outraged post on his blog, expressing his anger at the crowd's response and at Superfly's mismanagement.[53] Following West's concert at the Newcastle Arena on November 13, 2008, he was arrested on suspicion of assault at Newcastle upon Tyne's Tup Tup Palace. A spokesman for the nightclub said that West was a guest from 1am to 2am and booked the entire VIP area; he was subsequently released without charge.[54] The rapper ranted on his blog against the paparazzi after the incident as he decried "the monster" they made him out to be and expressed that there should be a law of asking to photograph someone, citing how "the paps killed Princess Diana".[55]
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