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TMZ.com: There was some debate as to whether it was right to perform on 9/11 — but whatever your opinion on the matter, there is no debating that Jay-Z tore the roof of Madison Square Garden last night. Jigga performed dozens of his hits, including the … Read more
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More than any rapper and more than most pop stars, Jay-Z knows the significance of a moment.
The Brooklyn MC’s career is practically defined by them. There’s his Summer Jam obliteration of Mobb Deep’s Prodigy back in 2001, the same year he brought out Michael Jackson for Hot 97’s annual concert. There was his retirement show at Madison Square Garden captured in the documentary Fade to Black. And then there was his Radio City Music Hall show to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Reasonable Doubt. And who could forget the Best of Both Worlds fiasco with R. Kelly that turned into the celebrated Jay-Z and Friends jaunt. He’s even transformed festivals into his personal showcases, with his appearance at Glastonbury last year and All Points West this year.
But when Hov announced he’d be headlining a September 11th benefit show, to not only coincide with the anniversary of his classic album The Blueprint but also to mark the release of his latest effort, The Blueprint 3, one had to wonder if this ambitious slate reeked of opportunism.
It did not.
Last night at the Garden, Jay-Z delivered a carefully orchestrated and riveting show striking the the impossibly difficult balance of serving the cause and seizing another night that will stand out in his long list of historic performances.
“We celebrating life tonight, we having a good time,” Jay-Z told the sold-out audience, which included Diddy, Justin Timberlake, Katy Perry and Chris Rock, among other celebrities. “But let’s not forget in 2001 when the first Blueprint came out terrorist attacked New York. They thought they would weaken us. They were sadly mistaken. We stand here even stronger. This is our town. We run New York City. We run this town.”
And with that, the blaring Rihanna’s wailing voice boomed over the sound system. The “Umbrella” star then appeared under the spotlight decked out in a dominatrix-like black outfit. “We are, yeah I said it, We are, This is Roc Nation, pledge your allegiance,” Jay-Z rapped.
Kanye West joined the pair toward the end of the song, completing the triumvirate as he jumped from the stairs on the middle of the stage. ‘Ye stuck around for a few more songs, diving into “Can’t Tell Me Nothing” before asking Big Brother if he can keep going.
“Let’s do it,” Jay replied.
“Good Life” then came on, sans T-Pain, and an animated West — complete with a new ‘do, with zig-zag lines cut into his hair — fumbled a few of his lines but saved himself with an impromptu freestyle. “I fucked up the flow, but everybody know, I gotta give a shout out to my big bro,” he spit, drawing a smile from Jay.
The parade of guest appearances continued with Pharell Williams, Swizz Beatz and Mary J. Blige joining Jay-Z. John Mayer also popped up to play guitar for Jay-Z on “D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune).”
Throughout the set, Jay-Z dipped into catalog but also performed new songs from his recently released BP3. Upstart Kid Cudi arrived onstage to assist Hov on “Already Home,” where the legendary rapper eviscerates mouthy MCs who say Jay-Z’s tenure on top is in the way of their rise to fame.
“These niggas want me to go, don’t they know that I’m gone/ They know that I’m space shuttle level, they need oxyggggon/Don’t they know that I yawn/ Only time they exciting is when they mentioning Shawn,” he rapped.
The Timbaland-produced “Venus vs. Mars” was another new tracked Jay-Z performed. He closed the song out with a new freestyled verse at the end where he name-checked Kanye’s lady friend Amber Rose and financial villain Bernie Madoff. Seconds after he finished, Beyoncé, featured on the song’s chorus, emerged from the bowels of the Garden rising up through a trap door to perform “Diva.”
The star wattage was bright but the greatest applause of the night came in honor of the service men and women who protect our country on this tragic date eight years ago.
As “Young Forever” spilled out over the arena speakers, a beautiful montage of firefighters and police officers who lost their lives on 9/11 eight years ago appeared behind Jay-Z on a huge screen. “Make some noise for those that lost their lives so we could live ours,” Jay-Z said.
Tags: Benefit Show, Best Of Both Worlds, Celebrating Life, Chris Rock, City Music Hall, Fade To Black, guitar, Having A Good Time, Hot 97, Jay Z, Jay Z And Friends, Madison Square Garden, Mobb Deep, Music, Obliteration, Opportunism, Pop Stars, Radio City Music, Radio City Music Hall, Reasonable Doubt, rihanna, Summer Jam
Photograph by Alex Reside for RollingStone.com
Moody, intricate and introspective metal isn’t necessarily the natural choice for a festival headlining slot, but over the course of their bleak and riveting 90-minute set New Jersey’s All Points West Festival Saturday night, Tool proved that sometimes mystery is more compelling than stridency.
(Check out photos from All Points West: Tool, Jay-Z and more.)
On a bill loaded with indie rock, Tool seemed initially distinguished by their popularity. They were the only band on Saturday’s bill to have a platinum record, and the only performers to have won Grammys, and the only ones with enough starpower to sell out arenas on their own. And yet despite their high profile, Tool hardly behave like a mainstream band. Saturday’s set was an exercise in atmosphere — a dark, riveting performance that minimized the members of band while foregrounding their stranger sensibilities.
(Read our report on the rest of Day Two’s All Points West lineup here.)
Visually, the show was stunning. Tool perform to a series of bleak films mostly created by the artist Adam Jones, and beamed out giant-size across Liberty State Park they seemed more imposing and unnerving than ever. Opening with the sinister, twisting “Jambi,” the group slowly worked its way through a set that spanned its small catalog. Part of what makes Tool concerts such visceral experiences is the band’s peerless sense of control and release. Songs start with icicle drip guitars and rolling, tribal percussion, steadily building to perfectly timed explosions of sound. When paired with Jones’ frightening films, it became more like a theater experience than a concert. At times it was remarkably easy to forget there was a band onstage at all.
Which, in a way, seemed like part of the intention. Frontman Maynard James Keenan remained near the back of the stage for much of the set. Positioned up near the drum riser, he contorted his rail-thin body into a series of strange, unsettling positions. He was more shadow than flesh, and his spindly silhouette seemed downright demonic, twisting and twitching in front of the digital images. He’s an odd, willfully enigmatic frontman — at once sinister and threatening — and his strained croon gave Tool’s songs a sense of both agony and urgency. It seemed baffling that Tool’s fans reacted with such hostility to My Bloody Valentine, because in a way, the two bands have fundamental similarities. Both deliver willfully detached, remote performances, maximizing on bludgeoning volume and masking raw sentiments in razor-sharp sheets of sound.
Whether visually or lyrically, Tool seem obsessed with the notion of human grotesques. The film played during “Stinkfist” depicted aqua-colored men inhabiting an odd, grimy sub-basement, existing either in a state of perpetual shunning or punishment. During “Schism,” a zombielike man worked his way through a cramped hallway, seeming driven not so much by a need for escape as by simply the need to move. The protagonists in Tool songs are perpetually unfit to occupy the same space as the rest of us, and so they’re either locked down or chained up for their own good, or to spare us the awkwardness of having to deal with them.
In a larger sense, all of this serves as an elaborate metaphor for emotional isolation — hardly the bread-and-butter of a festival set — but Tool’s knack for coiled tension somehow made the whole thing work. Near the end of the night they brought out session drummer Frank Ferrer — hardly anyone’s idea of a “surprise guest” — to provide auxiliary percussion on “Lateralus.” Ferrer has no bona fides to speak of, but his playing was fluid and potent — a fitting ending to a performance where the musicians seemed to be the least important element.
Set List:
“Jambi”
“Stinkfist”
“46 & 2″
“Schism”
“Rosetta Stoned”
“Flood”
“Aenema”
“Lateralus”
“Vicarious”
More All Points West ‘09
• Jay-Z Breaks Out Blizzard of Hits, Pays Tribute to Michael Jackson at All Points West
• Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Vampire Weekend Rescue Rainy All Points West With High-Energy Sets
Photo: Boyd/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty
• Rihanna Returns On New Jay-Z Single
• Drugs, Computers Taken In Jackson Raid
• Phish Announce Festival 8 In California
• Blink-182 Play First Night Of Reunion Tour
• First Looks at New Moon, Avatar, Parnassus
• Weekend Rock List: Phish Cover Wish List
• Van Halen Recovering After Hand Surgery
• Jane’s Addiction Cancels Australian Tour
• Video: Juliette Lewis Goes Acoustic
• Video: Art Brut Unplug “Emily Kane,” More
• Jackson’s Nurse Served With Subpoena
• Brendan Benson on My Old, Familiar Friend
• Madonna Readies Celebration Hits Collection
• Jay-Z Replaces Beasties at All Points West
• Inside Michael Jackson’s Comeback
• Hear How the Clash Wrote “Rock the Casbah”
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Tags: Beasties, Blink 182, Brendan Benson, Clash, First Night, Full News, Hand Surgery, Jay Z, juliette lewis, Kane, michael jackson, New Moon, Phish, Readies, Reunion Tour, Rock The Casbah, rolling stone, Subpoena, Van Halen, Video Art
