Monday, November 16, 2009
The Spin Jay-Z at Vanderbilt's Memorial Gymnasium, 11/13/09
Posted by The Spin on Mon, Nov 16, 2009 at 10:54 AM
Check out the slideshows for more photos: Jay-Z; Wale.
The Spin had a crazy week--starting with a broken mirror, involving a body in a dumpster and ending with a clutch cable that was, er, not so clutch--which derailed our plan of listening to every Jay-Z album in chronological order before his show at Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym. We made it as far as his 1996 debut Reasonable Doubt, but as the man himself said, "In order to survive, you gotta learn to live with regrets." Our biggest regret, as of Friday night, was that we didn't factor in the number of chicken-head undergrads who would be pulling some bullshit like, "It's under my mom's boyfriend's little brother's neighbor's name" in the will-call line. So we missed the opening set by D.C. rap phenom Wale while stuck in line behind Johnny Ballcap and His Magic Disappearing Credit Card Number, but based on all the text messages we got while waiting ("Dudes, are you seeing this?!"), we can safely assume that Wale was off the chain.
By the time we made it to our seats, which, incidentally, were below the general admission area and in the amplification netherworld known as Way-the-Fuck-out-of-Phase Land, we were able to let the crowd's enthusiasm usurp our curmudgeonly demeanor. The house wasn't quite packed, but gawdamn were the kids ready to get unruly--we're guessing nobody else was disappointed that the frosty beverages they bought at the concession stand didn't come in Jigga-branded souvenir cups. When the video screens turned on and began counting down the final 10 minutes before showtime, the house went ape shit--seriously, thousands of people went nuts at the sight of a huge fucking clock. As the final moments wound down and Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die" cued us up for the one and only Mr. Sean Carter, it dawned on us how much we love Arena Rap. Sure, there's some bullshit to deal with whenever you try to get thousands of people through a handful of doors, but once you're there, it's on and on and on. The curtain went up, the band came out, and we saw that they had borrowed Queensryche's drum set and brought huge skyscraper-shaped video screens--we knew we weren't at Cafe Coco anymore. When the opening chords of "Run This Town" kicked off, we let go of our critical faculties and sat back to enjoy our generation's premiere entertainer.
The earlier part of the set was heavy on The Blueprint 3, which we'll admit we probably need to go back and listen to again, while the later part was heavy on the classics, including a heavy-as-fuck version of "99 Problems" that saw skyscrapers of Marshall stacks pop on the video screens. There are thousands of rock bands in garages across this country that wish they could melt face like that. When it was time for "Big Pimpin' " Jay wasn't about to let the crowd off easy, stopping the track at the chorus to remind us, "That's Big Pimpin'--that's a cultural phenomenon," before dropping it again for crowd bouncing and in-unison chanting. The Spin even uncrossed our arms! When he launched into "Hard Knock Life," The Spin's week from hell almost bit us in the ass, but Young Buck was standing right in front of us, and we thought better of it. Crying behind Young Buck would have been decidedly uncool, even for The Spin. As Jay-Z finished out the night with a rousing rendition of "Forever Young" (not the Rod Stewart song, hallelujah) we thanked the proverbial Lord for Arena Rap. Fat guys in sequined jumpsuits could never rock us like this.
Comments (11)
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Jay-Z: about to turn 40. I'm like six years younger than him and NOT a boomer, but really, this?
"'Forever Young' (not the Rod Stewart song)"
Which Rod Steward makes no money from because he admitted he plagiarized it. I don't even know very many boomer generation parents who owned a copy of Planet Waves when I was growing up, and it's a great record.
I am old enough, however, that as much as I like Jay-Z there was no way I would want to spend like four hours in the company of Vanderbilt brosephs.
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Rod Stewart still makes money off "Forever Young," he just has to give a portion of royalties to Dylan. While Stewart did plagiarize Dylan, his song is still a different song, technically. Therefore he still gets his own cut. I think that, under the Son of Sam law, Rod Stewart shouldn't be able to make money off even his compositions.
It's the Alphaville "Forever Young" anyway, a superior song in pretty much every way.
Missing Wale is definitely disappointing, I've been blasting Attention Deficit all weekend.
That isn't surprising for big name hip-hop shows in Nashville though. When the Roots came to town a couple years ago and played City Hall, the line was so long and so slow moving (due to the increased security measures put in place) that I missed all of Blackalicious. I was literally in line for more than a hour and heard a muffled version of their entire set through the wall. Which in many ways made things worse because I could tell that Gift of Gab was on fire, but I couldn't hear a damn thing he was saying.
I was sitting in the lower section of the middle seats. While I would liked to have been down in the floor crowd, once Jay-Z came out, the sound was amazing from where I was sitting. Possibly the best light show I've seen since radiohead. I don't own Blueprint 3, but it seems to be one of those that will stand up to Black Album.
Wale was good, we walked in on the middle of it. Had no idea who he was except that he was from D.C. His sound, and I understand this is how it is even with opening rock bands on big tours, was mushy and seemed to be too much stage volume not enough through the mains.
Guess I should pick up Attention Deficit?
So country music is not all there is to Nashville? There is so much more! Thanks for sharing!
@MixtaHuxtable Definitely pick up Attention: Deficit, I've been rockin' it for the last two weeks and it's insanely good. Some critics have complained that there's too much pop/record label influence on it but that's what I like about it. It's catchy as hell from beginning to end, funky and thought provoking (at times) Hell, it's so good that I'm even into the Lady Gaga cameo.
This show was my second hip hop show ever and my brother's first concert; he fell in love with the whole experience and I saw what was one of my top two [if that] shows of this year.
But then again, I'd hope so, with tickets that were $75 each and a view in which we couldn't see most of the screens due to the slant of the 2nd balcony above us. Would I do it again?
Of course. And with the even pricier tickets.
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