Kanye West - On Top Of The World

Despite years of recent controversy surrounding the infamous Kanye West, upon arrival at SoFi Stadium the atmosphere was already electric. Merchandise lines stretched as far as the eye could see and curved around the stadium, while a mixture of fans young and old poured through the gates. The anticipation of finally seeing one of our era’s most unique artists was palpable.

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Inside, a large round curtain obscured the main stage from view. With no opening act, there was little to do but wait, and as the stadium continued to fill, the anticipation only grew.

Then the lights went dark.

The stadium was suddenly pitch black. Slowly, the curtain began to fall, revealing an enormous globe of the Earth sitting in the centre of the stadium floor. Smoke billowed around it and, from somewhere beneath the stage, Kanye West rose into view until he was standing alone on top of the world.

The freshly released “KING” rang out through the stadium as he performed his first song of the night.

It was an entrance that could only really belong to Kanye.

For an artist whose career has always existed somewhere between music, art and spectacle, the staging was remarkably simple but enormous in scale. There was no band filling the stage, no troupe of dancers and almost nothing to distract from the lone figure standing high above tens of thousands of people as the Earth slowly moved beneath him.

From there, the opening stretch moved between new material from BULLY and the songs that have defined different eras of his career. “THIS A MUST” gave way to the unmistakable opening of “Father Stretch My Hands, Pt. 1”, before “Can’t Tell Me Nothing”, “Mercy” and “Praise God” began turning the stadium into one enormous singalong.

And that was perhaps the most striking part of the night.

For all that has happened around Kanye West in recent years, the music has never entirely disappeared beneath it. Standing among 70,000 people shouting back lyrics from songs released across more than two decades, it was difficult not to be reminded just how much of modern hip-hop he has helped shape.

“Black Skinhead” and “On Sight” brought the abrasive energy of Yeezus, while “Power” sent another roar through the stadium. “Bound 2” followed, before the opening notes of “Say You Will” and “Heartless” shifted the atmosphere again.

The show felt less like a conventional tour through a new album and more like a journey through Kanye’s catalogue — one that constantly reminded you just how many distinct versions of the artist have existed.

Then came the first major surprise of the night.

Travis Scott emerged through the smoke to join Kanye for “FATHER”, instantly lifting the energy inside the stadium again. They ran the song back for a second time before Scott launched into “FE!N”, with the floor below erupting into movement.

It would not be the last guest appearance.

CeeLo Green later joined Kanye for “BULLY”, while André Troutman’s talk box added another dimension to several moments throughout the night. Then North West appeared alongside her father for “TALKING” and her own “PIERCING ON MY HAND”.

For a production operating on such an enormous scale, some of the most memorable moments were unexpectedly personal.

But the biggest surprise was still to come.

As the show moved into its latter stages, another figure emerged through the smoke.

Lauryn Hill.

The reaction was immediate.

Hill joined Kanye high above the stadium for “All Falls Down” — a particularly fitting reunion given that her “Mystery of Iniquity” had originally inspired the song more than two decades earlier. Seeing the two of them standing together on top of the globe felt like watching two different chapters of hip-hop history suddenly collide.

Kanye then disappeared, leaving Hill alone to perform “Lost Ones” and “Doo Wop (That Thing)”, before he returned for “Believe What I Say”. Her sons Zion and YG Marley also joined her, briefly turning a Kanye West concert into something closer to a celebration of musical lineage.

From there, the night became increasingly nostalgic.

“Jesus Walks.”

“Through the Wire.”

“Good Life.”

“Homecoming.”

“All of the Lights.”

“Flashing Lights.”

“Stronger.”

Each opening note seemed to trigger a new wave of recognition around the stadium. Songs that had once belonged to completely different periods of life were suddenly being played one after another, and the sheer depth of Kanye’s catalogue became difficult to ignore.

There are few artists who could move through that many eras in a single night and still leave major songs untouched.

Yet the spectacle never became overly complicated. The globe remained the centrepiece, transforming beneath Kanye as lighting, smoke and projections shifted its appearance from Earth to moon to something altogether more abstract. At times he appeared almost impossibly small against the scale of SoFi Stadium; at others, the staging made him seem like the only person in it.

It was grandiose, strange and occasionally surreal.

In other words, it was Kanye West.

By the time “Ghost Town” arrived towards the end of the night, the concert had moved well beyond a showcase for BULLY. It had become something closer to a retrospective — more than 20 years of music condensed into one evening.

And then came “Runaway”.

A single piano note rang through the stadium.

Few songs could have been more fitting.

For an artist whose greatest work has so often existed alongside his own contradictions, “Runaway” has always carried a strange weight. More than 15 years after its release, tens of thousands of voices sang it back to him as he stood alone above the stadium.

Whatever anyone may think of Kanye West beyond the music — and there is now plenty to reconcile — inside SoFi Stadium that night there was no escaping the scale of what he has created.

His career has been brilliant, chaotic, innovative, self-destructive and, at times, deeply controversial. But across nearly three hours in Los Angeles, the songs told their own story.

From “Through the Wire” to “Stronger”, “Heartless”, “Power”, “All Falls Down” and “Runaway”, they have become part of the soundtrack of an entire generation.

For one night at least, Kanye West was back where the evening had begun.

Standing on top of the world.