SAN JOSE — The evolution of religious symbolism in Kanye West's music took another step forward Tuesday at the SAP Center in San Jose.
He arrives supporting an album named Yeezus, as if that wasn't a clue.
West played every track from the record Tuesday, his second stop on his first solo tour in half a decade. The two-hour show worked both to the Ye devotees who wanted to shake their booties as well as those looking for something deeper.
The show functioned as a performance art piece with its own story. During the opener, "On Sight," West struck a Jesus Christ pose with his arms outstretched for multiple sides of the crowd, a flock of female dancers in white robes feet from him in choreographed fluidity.
From the time he hit the stage until near its conclusion, West wore some sort of mask — white, red, a black one that looked like cloth chainmail, becoming part of his own light show with the face covering for Graduation's "Stronger."
The set was grimy early, working up a sweat with West shouting the end of "New Slaves" and preaching "Power" from atop a four-story tall mountain structure: "No one man should have all that power."
It was his own Mount Sinai. He descended from it to perform for the hoard of thousands at the Shark Tank.
By the end of the night, he and the dancers bowed to a Jesus figure which took West's place atop the mountain.
The setlist supported some sort of tone or story — the gritty early 45 minutes was torrid and danceable, dropping bombs such as "Cold," "Can't Tell Me Nothing," the aforementioned "Power" and a shocking cover of Chief Keef's "I Don't Like."
In keeping with the religious overtones, as "Black Skinhead" faded out, the Chicago-born rapper fell to the stage on his back, a lone spotlight illuminating him. His lifeless body sprang upright when he sang the next song's title, "I Am a God," suggesting a divine presence. His dancers swirled around him in flesh-colored suits.
If the dirty early section represented sin, the sagging middle was repentance. West transitioned into a lower gear with "Coldest Winter," an 808s and Heartbreak track he told the crowd he penned after his mother's death, as well as Yeezus cuts "Hold My Liquor," "I'm in It" and "Guilt Trip."
Though some of the Yeezus tracks — "Black Skinhead" in particular — crackle in the live setting, these needed the fine tuning that comes from road testing.
The final section served as an inspirational testament of faith. Even 'Runaway," a "toast for the douche bags," read as uplifting with West repeating "anything is possible" and "we can be free."
After "Runaway," the mountain split, resembling a volcano as fog filled the arena.
A divine presence was felt no stronger than when West was joined on stage by "White Jesus" (right), a costumed crew member whose words went unheard thanks to a faulty mic. It served as a springboard for "Jesus Walks," West's Grammy-nominated hit from his debut album, a quiet reminder that West's faith has played a major role in his material throughout his career.
It was poignant when West finally removed all facial coverings to face White Jesus, the show's apex of self-acceptance and the presence of a higher power.
If West was playing a character throughout, it marked the moment of self-discovery.
If this narrative is imagined, projected onto the show, well, credit West for thinking beyond a live hip hop show's requisite demand for booty shaking.
Opener Kendrick Lamar delivered a dominant 45-minute set to start the night, leaning heavily on last year's incredible Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City. He also invited Vallejo-born rapper E-40 to join him for multiple songs.
Set
On Sight
New Slaves
Send it Up
Mercy
Power
Cold
I Don't Like
Black Skinhead
I Am a God
Can't Tell Me Nothing
Coldest Winter
Hold My Liquor
I'm in It
Guilt Trip
Heartless
Blood on the Leaves
Lost in the World
Runaway
I Wonder
Street Lights
Hey Mama
Stronger
Through the Wire
Jesus Walks
Flashing Lights
All of the Lights
Bound 2
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