Kanye West & Jay-Z

'Watch TheThrone' Review

On the opening night of ‘Watch The Throne’ Kanye West modestly said “I guarantee this will be the greatest concert of your life”. Four days into the o2 tour, after I witnessed the 3 hour show myself, I concluded Mr West was not at all far off the mark.

'Watch The Throne' was far more than a concert, it was a celebration and union of 2 of the greatest Hip Hop artists coming together to share their booming music catalogue with a sold out o2 arena.

The tag team approached show begun with Jay-Z and a head to toe leathered Kanye West rising on two platforms covered in videos of slow motioned rottweilers and sharks as they rapped ‘H.A.M’ and ‘Who Gon’ Stop Me’.

As the two rappers rose 20 feet above their adoring fans on their platforms the pair held their positions and soaked in the screaming from the packed out arena as a sea of 20,000 hands rose towards the rappers like magnets throwing up the infamous Roc sign.

From that moment on and throughout, the 3 hour enthralling set delivered nothing but back to back hits combining their own classics such as Jay-Z’s “Izzo” and Kanye’s “Through The Wire” with more current collaborative efforts from their Watch The Throne album such as “Otis”.

Kanye West put his heart and soul into his solo performances sweating from his eyeballs, although this could have been down to all the leather. On the other hand, Jay-Z worked the crowd effortlessly without a sweat bead in sight as he oozed charisma with every stride he took on stage.

Right before Kanyes solo piece of ‘Runaway’ and ‘Heartless’ he bought out his pint sized, high profile girlfriend Kim Kardashian, holding hands as the crowds turned into a frenzy, frantically tweeting of her presence. Well, perhaps the frantically tweeting part was just me. Other than that moment, I did not look at my iphone once as I was completely captivated by the show from start to finish and amazed by the overwhelming pyrotechnics and laser visuals.

I would argue Kanye’s songs were much better suited for a show of this magnitude, particularly the songs from his latest album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, such as “Power” and “Monster”.  However, Jay-Z is without a doubt, the more experienced and accomplished performer with a presence on stage that is second to none as he boldly filled the arena with ease. Jay-Z’s best received solo performances were ‘Big Pimpin’ ‘Empire State of Mind’ and '99 Problems'

The banter and ‘spontaneous’ chat between Kanye and Jay-Z felt a little rehearsed and forced, however this is about the only complaint I could find of the mammoth show.

As soon as the screen read N****as In Paris the arena went insane and the song was encored a whopping 6 times. Somehow, the energy stayed strong throughout the reruns and the excitement intensified everytime Jay-Z demanded ‘Again’.

The 40-song strong show was an experience and truly criminal to have missed out on the hottest ticket in town. Jay-Z and Kanye own the Throne and everybody is watching.