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Kanye West Announces ‘Yeezus’ Tour

By Erin Coulehan

Erin Coulehan

Kanye West is taking Yeezus on the road this fall with a seven-week North American tour simply dubbed “The Yeezus Tour.” The run kicks off in Seattle starting October 19th and marks West’s first major return to the road since 2011’s Watch the Throne tour with Jay Z. Kendrick Lamar will support most dates.

Reader’s Poll: The 10 Best Kanye West Songs

“The Yeezus Tour” will mark the first time fans get to hear a bulk of the rapper’s critically acclaimed material in a live setting, but that’s not to say he hasn’t been prepping for the moment. West made headlines earlier this week for performing last weekend in Kazakhstan at a wedding of the Kazakhstan president’s grandson. He appeared at the MTV VMA Awards last month and delivered a hallowed  performance of “Blood on the Leaves”  and in May, performed “Black Skinhead” and “New Slaves” on the season finale of Saturday Night Live . 

Tickets go on sale on September 13th. 

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Full tour dates below: 

10/19 Seattle, WA –  KeyArena  10/20 Vancouver, B.C. –  Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena  10/22 San Jose, CA –  SAP Center 10/23 Oakland, CA –  Oracle Arena 10/25 Las Vegas, NV –  MGM Grand Garden Arena  10/26 Los Angeles, CA –  Staples Center  11/1 Salt Lake City, UT –  EnergySolutions Arena  11/3 Denver, CO –  Pepsi Center  11/5 Minneapolis, MN –  Target Center  11/7 Chicago, IL –  United Center  11/10 Detroit, MI –  Palace of Auburn Hills  11/12 Toronto, Ont. –  Air Canada Centre  11/14 Montreal, Que. – Bell Centre  11/16 Philadelphia, PA –  Wells Fargo Center  11/17 Boston, MA –  TD Garden  11/19 Brooklyn, NY –  Barclays Center  11/21Washington, DC –  Verizon Center  11/23 New York, NY –  Madison Square Garden  11/29 Miami, FL –  AmericanAirlines Arena 11/30 Tampa, FL –  Tampa Bay Times Forum 12/1 Atlanta, GA –  Philips Arena  12/6 Dallas, TX –  American Airlines Center  12/7 Houston, TX –  Toyota Center

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• Performances

The Yeezus Tour

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The Yeezus Tour was a concert tour by Kanye West in support of his sixth solo studio album, Yeezus ( 2013 ). The venture served as West's first solo concert tour in five years. Kendrick Lamar , A Tribe Called Quest, Travis Scott , and Pusha T served as opening acts on select dates. [1]

The tour started at Seattle in October 19, 2013, and concluded in Brisbane on September 15, 2014.

• 1.1 Fighting
• 1.3 Falling
• 1.4 Searching
• 1.5 Finding
• 2.1 Opening acts
• 4 References

Set List [ ]

The tour told a story of redemption through its five categories: Fighting, Rising, Falling, Searching, and Finding. During the shows, Ye performed every track from Yeezus , as well as some of his greatest hits. [1]

Fighting [ ]

• I Don't Like
• Black Skinhead
• Can't Tell Me Nothing (Remix)
• Coldest Winter

Falling [ ]

• Hold My Liquor
• Blood on the Leaves

Searching [ ]

• Lost in the World
• Street Lights

Finding [ ]

• Through the Wire
• Jesus Walks
• Diamonds From Sierra Leone
• Flashing Lights
• All of the Lights

The tour also featured the unreleased track " I Am Not Home ," which was used as an opener for the sets, as was a shortened version of Mozart's "Lacrimosa."

Below is an abbreviated list of stops the tour had, adapted from Wikipedia [1] :

• Seattle (October 19, 2013)
• San Jose (October 22, 2013)
• Oakland (October 23, 2013)
• Las Vegas (October 25, 2013)
• Los Angeles (October 26 & 28, 2013)
• Philadelphia (November 16, 2013)
• Boston (November 17, 2013)
• Brooklyn (November 19 & 20, 2013)
• Washington, D.C. (November 21, 2013)
• New York City (November 23 & 24, 2013)
• Nashville (November 27, 2013)
• Miami (November 29, 2013)
• Tampa (November 30, 2013)
• Atlanta (December 1, 2013)
• St. Louis (December 2, 2013)
• Kansas City (December 3, 2013)
• New Orleans (December 5, 2013)
• Dallas (December 6, 2013)
• Houston (December 7, 2013)
• San Antonio (December 8, 2013)
• Phoenix (December 10, 2013)
• Anaheim (December 13, 2013)
• Chicago (December 17 & 18, 2013)
• Auburn Hills (December 19, 2013)
• Toronto (December 22 & 23, 2013)
• University Park (February 13, 2014)
• Baltimore (February 14, 2014)
• Newark (February 15, 2014)
• Montreal (February 17, 2014)
• Hamilton (February 18, 2014)
• Albany (February 19, 2014)
• Uncasville (February 21, 2014)
• Atlantic City (February 22, 2014)
• Uniondale (February 23, 2014)
• Perth (September 5, 2014)
• Adelaide (September 7, 2014)
• Melbourne (September 9 & 10, 2014)
• Sydney (September 12 & 13, 2014)
• Brisbane (September 15, 2014)

Opening acts [ ]

Adapted from Wikipedia [1] :

• Kendrick Lamar (stops 1-3, 5-24)
• E-40 (stop 2)
• Pusha T (stops 4, 35-39)
• Travis Scott (stop 4)
• A Tribe Called Quest (stops 8, 10)
• Busta Rhymes (stop 8)
• No opening act (stops 25-28, 30-32, 34)

Members [ ]

The following individuals were members of The Yeezus Tour [1] :

• Noah Goldstein
• Renelou Padora
• Elon Rutberg
• Virgil Abloh
• Vanessa Beecroft
• Izvor Zivkovic
• Matthew Williams
• Alex Rosenberg
• Jerry Lorenzo
• Tracey Mills
• Dan Gleckel
• Mano (tour DJ)
• Ricky Anderson
• Sakiya Sandifer
• Justin Saunders
• Pascal Duvier

References [ ]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yeezus_Tour
• 1 List of unreleased albums
• 3 Like That (Remix)

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Event starts {{ data.showing_start_time }}, kanye west - the yeezus tour, with kendrick lamar.

Kanye West – 21-time Grammy Award®-winner and 52-time Grammy® nominee – brings “The Yeezus Tour” with Kendrick Lamar to The Palace of Auburn Hills, Dec. 19 at 7 p.m.

The November 10 Kanye West show at The Palace of Auburn Hills has been postponed. The show has been rescheduled to occur on December 19.

Fans should hold onto their tickets, as tickets for the November 10 show will be honored on December 19.

Tickets at $89.50, $59.50 and $39.50 reserved are on sale now at Palacenet.com, The Palace Ticket Store and all Ticketmaster locations, including The Locker Room Store at Great Lakes Crossing. Tickets may be also charged by phone to American Express, Discover, Visa and MasterCard by calling 800.745.3000.

The seven week, 23-city North American tour presented by AEG Live - in support of his gold album Yeezus, the most critically acclaimed new album of 2013 and the sixth consecutive #1 album of his storied career. West – a legendary live performer - combines state-of-the-art staging, production, and lighting design with his unmatched aesthetic, visionary creative mind, and an increasingly impressive catalogue of hits spanning his decade-long career. To date, West has sold over 30 million albums and over 78 million digital tracks worldwide.

Joining West in exclusive support on “The Yeezus Tour” will be Top Dawg Entertainment’s own Kendrick Lamar, who has emerged as one of the-brightest young talents in hip-hop today. Lamar’s debut album good kid, m.A.A.d city, released last October, was recently certified platinum by the RIAA.

“The Yeezus Tour” is West’s first major itinerary since his “Watch The Throne” tour with Jay Z in 2011 - the highest grossing tour in hip-hop history – and his first solo tour since 2008’s critically acclaimed “Glow In The Dark” tour. Recently, the Washington Post hailed West as “a visionary who’s managed to tweak the serial rhythms that dictate so much of our pop culture diet. He doesn’t do cliffhangers. He jumps off…We gasp, gawk and wonder, ‘Where will he land?’”

West’s recent effort Yeezus has been hailed by critics as the album of the year; The New York Times raved “the album is one long, efficient, inventive kick in the head,” while the Daily News agreed that YEEZUS was “punk in attitude, genius in execution.” Rolling Stone argued the album was “a brilliant, obsessive-compulsive career auto-correct…This isn’t just a way to stay ahead of the competition; it’s a way to stay ahead of himself.” The New Yorker echoed the sentiment, proclaiming YEEZUS as “technically breathtaking…Twenty years from now, West’s previous records will remain important, but a new generation may first gravitate to the lean vibrancy of this one.” USA Today weighed in with “…a polarizing, multi-layered body of work that probably will be debated all summer. Who does that besides Kanye West?” Entertainment Weekly summed things up with “Kanye West has gone rogue again. Did you expect anything less? The job of an innovator, of course, is to keep innovating… …he pushes the envelope aesthetically.”

West again pushed the envelope at the 30th anniversary 2013 MTV VMAs, with his visually stunning, silhouetted performance of “Blood On The Leaves,” from Yeezus. The performance made VMA history, marking West’s seventh showcase at the awards spectacular, tying him with Madonna as the two artists with the most number of VMA performances. West has delivered some of the most visually stunning and memorable - and controversial - performances in the annals of the MTV VMAs.

West now readies his powerful, innovative live performance for his first major solo tour in five years.  

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INTERIORS: The Yeezus Tour

• Written by INTERIORS Journal
• Published on December 23, 2013

Interiors is an online film and architecture journal, published by Mehruss Jon Ahi and Armen Karaoghlanian . Interiors runs an exclusive column for ArchDaily that analyzes and diagrams films in terms of space. Their Official Store will carry exclusive prints from these posts.

The Yeezus Tour, Kanye West ’s solo tour, which coincides with his sixth studio album, Yeezus , kicked off in Seattle, Washington on October 19, 2013 and ends in Toronto, Canada on December 23, 2013.

The show is theatrical, cinematic and operatic in its structure. It merges together all of Kanye West ’s interests in the the visual and performance arts, creating a powerful experience that transcends the concert format.

Kanye West is known for collaborating with artists from various mediums, including fashion designers, artists and architects. In 2007, he collaborated with contemporary Japanese artist Takashi Murakami, who designed the album artwork for his third studio album, Graduation . In 2008, the special edition vinyl of his fourth studio album, 808s & Heartbreak, was designed by New York artist KAWS. In 2010, contemporary visual artist George Condo designed the album artwork for his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy . In 2011, fashion designer Riccardo Tisci designed the album artwork for his collaborative album with rapper Jay Z, Watch the Throne .

Kanye West first experimented with architecture and set design in 2008 with his critically acclaimed world tour, The Glow in the Dark Tour. In 2011, he collaborated with Es Devlin, award-winning stage and costume designer, on the stunning visual display and stage design for the Watch the Throne Tour. Kanye West and Es Devlin joined forces again in 2012 for three shows in Atlantic City.

In the summer of 2012, Kanye West launched his own design company, DONDA , which is focused on “content, product and experience.” Virgil Abloh, who currently serves as the creative director of DONDA, has a background in architecture and has been the leader of its design. In May of 2012, DONDA produced a seven-screen pyramid-shaped pavilion at the Festival de Cannes, where his film, Cruel Summer, premiered. The project was designed by the New York branch of OMA , with project architect Oana Stanescu, in collaboration with DONDA and 2x4, Inc. Cruel Summer was filmed with a custom seven-camera rig in Qatar and was designed as a project that would immerse its audience in a cinematic space. In addition to this unique experience, Kanye West has recently been linked to architect David Benjamin, co-founder of the design and research studio, The Living, on a project that reimagines the movie theatre experience.

In his career, Kanye West has referenced architects including Le Corbusier, Antoni Gaudí and Rem Koolhaas – each of whom were accused during their careers for not following the conventional norms of architecture and design. These architects were revolutionary in the ways in which they were able to combine architecture with the fields of industrial design, sculpture and fashion, respectively. In an interview with The New York Times , he stated that the sound of his sixth studio album, Yeezus, was inspired by architecture. “You know, this one Corbusier lamp was like, my greatest inspiration”. Le Corbusier, known for completely rejecting style in favor of minimalistic design, is today respected as one of the founders of modern architecture.

Kanye West’s efforts in film and architecture have been faced with criticism due to his assumed lack of knowledge and experience. There have also been those who have applauded his efforts and have celebrated him for taking these fields in new directions within today’s social consciousness. In the same way he was able to bring the worlds of high fashion into popular culture, he has been able to do the same for architecture and design. Kanye West has stated in many interviews that DONDA ’s ten-year plan includes designing amusement parks, churches and films that go along with the idea of intelligent design and creative experiences for the masses.

Kanye has said that the initial vision for The Yeezus Tour came from imagining the end of the world. The visuals of explosions, fire, mountains, masked beings, creatures and God all make their way into the experience of the show.

Vanessa Beecroft, known for her incredible performance art involving the female body, designed the scenography for the tour. West and Beecroft previously collaborated for an art installation for 808’s & Heartbreak . Vanessa Beecroft was also the art director of Kanye West ’s 35-minute film, Runaway , in 2010.

In addition to the dance and film elements, The Yeezus Tour effectively combines elements of fashion. Fashion house Maison Martin Margiela and Kanye West worked together to curate the fashion pieces and outfits associated with The Yeezus Tour. Kanye West and Margiela went into their archives to obtain the spirit of the iconic fashion house. The wardrobe for The Yeezus Tour is composed of 10 couture pieces, 20 ready-to-wear pieces and an exclusive pair of sneakers, as well as several head-encasing masks. KANYE WEST also wore his Nike Air Yeezy 2 shoes, also known as the “Red Octobers”, that he helped design, for the majority of his tour.Even the stage’s catwalk, which Kanye West uses when he walks his Maison Martin Margiela pieces, resembles that of a fashion show.

The show features 12 female dancers, or “disciples," as many have called them, who play an integral role in the show. They wear skin-tight, see-through outfits made of nylon as well as masks that obscure their faces. They not only provide choreographed routines, but they physically interact with Kanye West during certain songs.

During his performance at the Barclay's Center In Brooklyn, New York, on November 19, 2013, Kanye West expressed that Alejandro Jodorowsky’s film The Holy Mountain (1973) was an important touchstone for the design of the tour. The Holy Mountain is about a Christ-like figure who wanders through bizarre scenarios filled with religious imagery. The man meets a guide, as well as seven influential people, and all nine embark on a journey seeking “The Holy Mountain.” There are various aspects of the show that are influenced from the film, including the stage, which includes a mountain, the choreographed installation of nude women, masks and inclusion of a holy figure. In the opening minutes of the film, a thief’s face is covered in black flies, a visual reference for one of Maison Martin Margiela’s masks, designed for the show.

The influence from The Holy Mountain , however, is more thematic than visual. The film, much like the show, is an experience and asserts its focus on a biblical redemption story; similarly, Kanye West ’s show is focused on a similar journey, one of self-realization and self-discovery, as evidenced through the five chapters of the show: Fighting, Rising, Falling, Searching and Finding. These chapters are used to separate the set list and also as a slight break for wardrobe changes.

The stage design for The Yeezus Tour features a mountain, which many have labeled Mount Yeezus, which is approximately 50-feet high. The mountain is connected to a catwalk, which is about 30-feet long. The catwalk extends from the center of the mountain onto a secondary sage or lower stage, which is approximately 35-feet long and in the shape of a triangle.

There is a circular LED screen, about 60-feet tall, above the mountain that is angled (about 30 degrees), providing fans a closer look of the show, along with two additional circular screens, about 10-15 feet wide, that are placed above the mountain and parallel with the stage. The large LED screen, along with the entire sound system, is held up with custom metalwork. The screen provides information about the chapter breaks, as well as stunning visuals and atmospheric displays of nature for certain songs, such as “Heartless”, “Coldest Winter" and "Blood on the Leaves." There is a camera that is directly above the lower stage, which syncs to the circular screen to provide an overhead view of the choreography during certain songs. 

The mountain and lower stage also include areas for small pyrotechnics and fire displays during some songs, such as “Blood on the Leaves” and “All of the Lights.” The explosions take palce along the ramps in the front of the mountain. In some instances, images are projected onto the mountain from above as a way of changing its texture. In one particular instance, the mountain changes its appearance into a volcano. “Blood on the Leaves” transforms the stage into a pyrotechnic show. The fire bursts come from the mountain and explosions erupt from the lower stage. The mountain also splits in half in the middle of the show to allow a religious procession through and Jesus, himself.

The lower stage is capable of bouncing up and down as it’s being jumped on. In addition, this lower stage was lifted above the ground (about 30 degrees) during “Can’t Tell Me Nothing" and "Coldest Winter". The stage also houses a Microsoft Xbox Kinect sensor on the south corner. This sensor is used during the performance of “Black Skinhead,” as motion capture is used on the screen behind him. In addition, spotlights directly above him and strategically placed around the arena direct more light onto him. In addition, his mirrored mask for “Stronger,” complement the unique light effects because of the spotlight above him.

The majority of the show is performed on the lower stage. The fact that the stage can be bounced up and down and lifted adds a new dimension to the performance because the entire arena feels engaged. Kanye West further connected to the audience during “Runaway,” one of his most heartfelt performances.

Kanye West performs only one song from behind the mountain (“Power”) on an electronic lift that carries him up. Jesus also stands there at the end of the show before Kanye West walks off stage.

The Yeezus Tour was postponed for 18 days when one of the trucks holding part of the 60-foot LED screen was in a car wreck. The LED screen and metalwork were damaged beyond repair. The equipment had to be reconstructed in a short amount of time; as a result, several shows were postponed or completely cancelled because of routing logistics. The show, however, carried on and retained its artistic sensibilities, despite its challenges.

Interiors attended two shows of The Yeezus Tour , his second show (San Jose, California) on October 22, and his 24 th show (Anaheim, California) on December 13, 2013. The set list and visual displays changed slightly, but the main framework stayed consistent.

The three main parts of the stage (mountain, catwalk, and lower stage) were all used during the concert and all were given the same amount of attention and focus. The drawings and graphical data were done by analyzing photographs and tour information, as well as using Kanye West ’s height of 5’8” as a scale factor.

The diagrams we designed for The Yeezus Tour emphasize specific moments of Kanye performing various songs. The mountain elevation diagram depicts his performance of “Power.” The lower stage elevation diagram depicts his performance of “I Am a God.” The full stage diagram depicts his performance of “Bound 2.” These specific moments and songs are significant to the show itself. The Yeezus Tour will be remembered for its seamless balancing of all elements of the arts, while Kanye West himself will be known as the architect of this creative endeavor.

These diagrams, along with others, are available for purchase in our Official Store .

Architectural Drawings and Graphics were created by INTERIORS ( www.INTJournal.com )

Outline Silhouettes of Kanye West were created by artist, MBROIDERED ( www.mbroidered.com )

Interiors is an online journal, published on the 15th of each month, in which films are analyzed and diagrammed in terms of space. It is run by Mehruss Jon Ahi and Armen Karaoghlanian . Check out their Website , Issuu Site and Official Store and follow them on Facebook and Twitter .

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Review: Kanye West's 'Yeezus' tour at the Wells Fargo Center

Kanye West stood on the Wells Fargo Center stage Saturday night with his face covered by a stylish executioner's mask that made him look like a high couture Mexican wrestler, and attempted to explain himself. In so doing about two-thirds of the way through his grueling, boldly unorthodox 2 hour and 20 minute 'Yeezus' tour, the proudly provocative rapper, producer and fast food eater - he had dinner at Wendy's on 15th and Chestnut with fiancee Kim Kardashian on Friday - talked about "the Willie Lynch theory" of keeping African Americans in order by punishing them in public.   "They beat that slave till he behave," West said during an improvised interlude in "Runaway," from his 2010 maximalist masterwork My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. "But I don't want to behave. I just want to be me." By any measure, he succeeds in that endeavor. Just as Yeezus , the album, ignored commercial considerations  by valuing noise over rhythm or melody, the Yeezus tour largely put aside crowd pleasing conventions in order to pursue its auteur's peculiar vision. Love him or hate him, Kanye is relentlessly committed to being true to Kanye.     Opening up with a barrage of confrontational Yeezus assaults - "On Sight," "New Slaves," "Send It Up" - West came out swinging in the first date of the tour since several shows were canceled or postponed after the stage set was damaged in a truck accident. Dressed like a Roman gladiator, he wore a bejeweled mask that was the first of four head coverings he would don throughout the evening.  He was frequently joined by up to a dozen women dressed in nude body suits or flowing robes, flanking him in eerie processionals on the arrowhead shaped stage which extended onto the floor of the not sold-out house. He had other companions - a red eyed Yeti for one song, and for "Jesus Walks," an actor dressed as the son of God for a Yeezus-meets-Jesus moment which finally enticed West to pull off his balaclava and meet his audience's gaze. And besides the rapper himself, the other big star in the room was a faux Himalayan peak that reached to the Wells Fargo rafters, brazenly begging comparison to Spinal Tap's Stonehenge. The concert-cum-performance art piece was organized into five sections: Fighting, Rising, Falling, Searching and Finding, as our hero sought meaning in a mythological landscape, rife with Biblical symbolism. Those with the patience of Job - in my section, several people walked out before the finish - would watch as his faith was eventually restored: The concert ended with West and companions kneeling on stage, gazing upwards at Jesus, bathed in light atop Mount Kanye. But before he could find that redemption, West would have to sink to the lower depths. That was represented by the severe "Coldest Winter," which he revealed was written about the death of his mother Donda in 2007. Along with "Heartless," it was one of two songs that West sang  (rather than rapped) from 2008's 808s & Heartbreak that proved to be at the Yeezus's show emotional core.      All of this grandiose spectacle was fascinating to watch, but a struggle to endure.  A few older hits like self-aggrandizing "Power" and self-critiquing "Can't Tell Me Nothing" came early in the show, but mostly West made his people wait for gratification, backloading the set with inviting tunes such as "All Of The Lights" and "Bound 2" (the most atypically inviting Yeezus track.)  With one punishing set piece after another, the show had little momentum and felt much longer than its running time,  seemingly taking forever to get to the fun parts. Los Angeles rapper Kendrick Lamar warmed up for West, rewarding fans who showed up early with hard hitting set drawn largely from 2012 good kid, M.A.A.D. City, one of the strongest rap albums in memory. Lamar spat rhymes over crushing beats played by a too loud band that sometimes obscured the intricacy of his flow, and also offered gentler grooves on "Sing About Me, I'm Dying of Thirst," in which he compellingly portrayed the path from the streets of Compton to rap stardom as a life or death struggle.

Previously: Kanye West set list Follow In The Mix on Twitter