The other formerly known as Kanye West’s first of two SoFi Stadium shows this week featured some lighting choices that clearly failed to meet his expectations.
As previously reported, Wednesday night’s shaw Ye giving fans a catalog-spanning performance, with everything from 2004’s studio debut The College Dropout to last month’s Bully represented in the setlist. North West, Don Toliver, and André Troutman were all on hand. Travis Scott, featured on Bully’s “Father” (and in its Bianca Censori-directed video), was not.
Performing atop a globe-like structure resembling Earth, Ye at multiple points expressed his disappointment with the production’s lighting. In one instance, he asked for the music to be stopped, arguing that the lighting didn’t match the stage.
“I don’t like when the lights move like that, like disco and shit,” he said. “It don’t go with the stage. Don’t do that. Stop doing that. Sorry, guys.”
“That shit’s corny, bro,” he later added.
After another pause, he jokingly wondered whether he was in “an SNL skit,” then pointed to apparent differences between rehearsal sessions and the final performance.
“Stop, stop. Is this like an SNL skit or something?” Ye asked. “Stop doing the vibrating Vegas lights, bro. Like, we went over this in rehearsal.”
Ye is set to return to SoFi Stadium on April 3. It’s unclear whether he will repeat the same stage design and setlist, or give attendees at the second show an entirely different experience.
The pair of Los Angeles shows comes after last month’s release of Bully, also featuring CeeLo Green and Peso Pluma. Two months earlier, Ye shared an extensive apology statement in the form of a full-page Wall Street Journal ad. In it, he spoke at length about his struggles with bipolar disorder, and more, as well as said he’s “not a Nazi or an antisemite.”
