Glow in the Dark Tour

Glow in the Dark Tour

Tour by Kanye West
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
Kanye West concert chronology
Touch the Sky Tour (2005–06) Glow in the Dark Tour (2007–08) Fame Kills: Starring Kanye West and Lady Gaga (2009–10) (canceled)

The Glow in the Dark Tour was the third concert tour by Kanye 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 that Billboard had ever tracked after the Heart of the City Tour.^[1] Direction, production, and lighting design were handled by; Es Devlin, Kanye West, Martin Phillips, John McGuire, and Simon Henwood.^[2]

Background

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 02 Arena on the night of November 22, 2007, as a result of heavy demand.^[5] 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.^[6][7][8] 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.^[8][9] Wesr 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.^[8]

Using two blog posts, 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.^[7] In February 2008, West's label Def Jam announced the North American tour dates from April 16–May 30.^[8][9] 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.^[8] 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.^[10]

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.^[11] 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?"^[12][13] 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.^[12][13] 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.^[13] The tablets were also advertised on bus stops, subways, and websites.^[13]

Set list

This set list is representative of the show on April 16, 2008, at KeyArena in Seattle, Washington. It is not representative of all concerts for the duration of the tour ^[14]

1. "Good Morning"
2. "I Wonder"
3. "Heard 'Em Say"
4. "Through the Wire"
5. "Champion"
6. "Get Em High"
7. "Diamonds from Sierra Leone"
8. "Can't Tell Me Nothing"
9. "Flashing Lights"
10. "Spaceship"
11. "All Falls Down"
12. "Gold Digger"
13. "Good Life"
14. "Jesus Walks"
15. "Hey Mama"
16. "Don't Stop Believin'"
17. "Stronger"
18. "Homecoming"
19. "Touch the Sky"

Tour dates

Tour controversies

Sacramento/Seattle mix-up

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.^[18]

Bonnaroo controversy

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.^[19] 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"^[20] 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.^[21]

See also

• Glow in the Dark (book)

References

External links

• LA Times review
• Entertainment Weekly review
• New York Times review
• Perez Hilton review
• The Observer review