Girl Gone Globetrotting

Watching the Throne

On Monday night I was a part of the spectacle known as the Kanye West/Jay-Z Watch The Throne concert. And it blew my mind. J and Ye are performers to the max. They tricked out Staples with two square stages which elevated (like the first picture) to reveal video screens on all four sides playing videos of animals, mostly sharks and dogs (your guess is as good as mine), and in one very cool instance made Jay-Z look like his very own iTunes commercial; and a bunch of insane pyrotechnics.

The two superstars looked like they were having a great time together, smiling and taking in their massive success. They played most (probably all) of the songs from their Watch The Throne album and made cameos in each others’ biggest hits - Kanye helped Jay-Z out in 99 Problems and vice versa on Gold Digger.

I wish I knew more Jay-Z songs because he is so stellar to watch. He captivates the crowd with personality and talent, it’s not hard to see why he came out of “retirement.”

This was the first time I’d seen J and the second I’d seen Kanye. Oh Kanye, his songs are so catchy and he samples other songs with the best of ‘em. Like Jay-Z, he also takes over the arena with talent, passion and personality, however his personality is a twinge more abrasive than J’s. Anybody who knows anything about Kanye knows he’s talented and, boy, does he know it. At one point in the middle of the show, he slipped on his preacher’s collar and went to work preachin’ the gospel of Kanye. He actually said, “Everybody’s always telling you to be humble, be humble. How often do people tell you to be great? Be awesome!” Didn’t know I was getting free therapy with my concert ticket, thank you Kanye.

In all, this was one of the best concerts I’ve been to. Though I could have lived without the encore being N****s in Paris eight times. Yes, eight times. Glad I wasn’t at Staples the next night when they played the song 10 times. Although they did film the video for the song that night, so that might’ve been pretty awesome.

Photography by me. December 2011.

A tourist takes a picture on Wilshire and Western, behind him is the Wiltern Theater in Koreatown, L.A.

The roof of the entrance to the Wiltern Theater in L.A.

Photography by me. Sept. 2011.

Just a couple pictures of Ray LaMontagne and The Greek Theatre.

This outdoor amphitheater made me wish I lived in the times of the Greeks when every performance was done outside. Can you imagine the great Greek tragedies while sitting along the Aegean drinking wine and eating grapes? Sounds like heaven. Amazing venue, but it does get a bit chilly so don’t bother looking cute, go for the warmth. Blankets might be necessary if you’re cold blooded like me.

Brandi Carlile was LaMontagne’s opening act and she was great, a perfect primer for Ray’s folksy stylings. She closed her set with “Forever Young,” which is always a crowd pleaser. So much so that the audience joined in to finish it out.

Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs were beyond. Usually I’m one of those people who gets bored at concerts when they don’t know all of the words to the songs (which I’m sorry to say, I don’t know all of LaMontagne’s songs by heart). But La Montagne pulled me in to his words with every song and I was so impressed with how he and the band sounded live. The highlight was when he pulled out a harmonica, played it, then started singing into it (there was a mic attached).

You don’t see that at a Britney or Bieber concert, do you?

Photography by me. Sept. 2011.