Kanye West - MEN Arena - 02/12/07 by James Ellaby

"If this is the greatest show you've ever seen in your lives, make some noise!" shouts Kanye West at one stage, a typical slice of braggadocio, but by the time it finishes at around 11.05, it's difficult to disagree with all those who screamed and cheered in response to his request. Heck, it's such a awesome show that a surprise cameo appearance by Jay-Z is barely even one of the major highlights, and there were certainly no signs of an artist going through the motions after the death of his mother last month.

A great support slot from Common gets things nice and hot in the Arena before West's arrival, and the sell-out crowd near frenzy levels when the lights go down and the Daft Punk sample from Stronger is played while his band come on stage, all dressed up like extras from a low-budget sci-fi film. Instead of leading into that recent single though, the show kicks off with Good Morning, the opening track from Graduation, Elton John sample and all, and it's a fantastic opener that has the crowd in the palm of his hand.

Most of Graduation is played, which means that the show has some highs and lows as it is a slightly inconsistent album, but the highs are so very high that the crowd barely get a pause for breath for the first half hour, particularly as one of the only things West says is a demand for everyone to stand up because sitting down would be disrespectful to all the fans who couldn't get tickets. He needn't have bothered, because so few people are sitting down anyway, but that number rises slightly when the show starts to sag slightly towards the middle.

The ratio of songs to strange noises starts to go in favour of the noises while West seems to be disappearing off stage with alarming regularity, and when he returns on stage with a remote control and a female 'android', no-one seems to know quite what to make of it. Spaceship seems like it will perk things back up again, but as he uses to introduce the band and the string section (who have already been introduced in pre-credits on the big screen during the intro) it feels like it runs on for about half an hour. Something is needed to stop everything drifting listlessly towards a tired conclusion.

That sudden burst of adrenaline comes with Touch The Sky and from then on in, West never lets up, with a run of awesome tracks like All Falls Down, Gold Digger, Good Life and Diamonds From Sierra Leone, all of which have every arm in the room up in the air and waving. The audience may have more middle-class white people than a mass audition for Pimp My Ride UK, but they certainly don't hold back and for most of the show watching the crowd is almost as entertaining as watching the stage, in a good way. Big Brother, West's tribute to hip-hop legend Jay-Z ends the run of hit singles, but goes down just as well, particularly when the man himself suddens bursts on stage.

Needless to say, the crowd go wild at seeing both Kanye West and Jay-Z on stage rapping together at the same time (in Manchester!) and they run through a riotously-received version of Encore before the guest star leaves. However, there's no time to stand slack-jawed, as the band launch straight into the stunning Jesus Walks. Who was that guy who was just on? Who cares! One thing you don't often get from a hip-hop show is a moment of genuine emotion, but Hey Mama is certainly full of that, with a spotlight shining down on West as he sings a tribute to his late mother, quite evidently still raw with pain, while the crowd offer spontanous cheers and applause throughout.

It's genuinely touching and affecting, even if his band's version of Don't Stop Believing by Journey (another tribute to his mother) only serves to confuse people. And then, it's back to the start again for the grand finale. The Daft Punk sample starts up again and Stronger is belted out with both West and crowd in perfect unison, and the buzz when he seems to disappear off stage and races back on again to launch into another chorus is practically explosive. West, almost more than any other hip-hop star, understands what it takes to be a real showman and this is a real show...