First, apologies to non-NYC readers who don't know what is the Bowery Ballroom. I'm not sure if music fans are like sports fans who know the specs of every major venue around the world without having been to all of them (it's just something you know). In case "Bowery Ballroom" means nothing to you, I quote from a Brooklyn Vegan commenter, "it's basically just two bars and a microphone." I believe the polite term is "mid-sized venue."
Second, I'm going to skip most of the analysis of these videos. I wasn't there and, if anything, I am confused by these documents. Maybe there is something being lost in lack of depth of field, poor sound, whatever, but this concert comes off as incredibly... tame. E.g., look at the lethargic crowd response @1:20 in "All of the Lights" when Kanye tells the crowd to put their hands up. Looks like the weight of that plastic cup o' beer was too much for dude to the left of the camera. Regardless of your opinion of Kanye, he has complete domination of the cultural spotlight right now, so I would have imagined a far different energy in that room. Like people on a couple gallons of Four Loko loco. I mean, it's the Bowery Ballroom. Its capacity is around 500. Again, I wasn't there. And I understand that video (YouTube footage, no less) can't always communicate this. But someone needs to break down what happened last night.
Instead let's hear from people who were there. Please refrain from the I hate/love 'Ye comments. Only comments about the show itself. Brooklyn Vegan reports that Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Nicki Minaj, John Legend, Rick Ross, Teyana Taylor and all the non-RZA contributors to "So Appalled" were there. So, tell us what it was like, favorite/least favorite moments, crowd observations, etc.
More videos below and at Brooklyn Vegan:
P.S. A moment of note @1:56 when the crowd responds to Kanye's "MJ gone" with the line, "Our nigga dead." Throw that in the bag -- MJ belonged to all of us.
