Kanye West hit Melbourne over the weekend, headlining the annual Good Vibrations festival and what a spectacular show he brought with him.
A huge band, a spectacular stage set up, complete with opening and closing credits on the screen and a set list full of hits from his three albums made the audience realise just why he is in a league of its own when it comes to hip hop.West isn't just a musical prodigy, it's his personality that makes the whole package great, complete with rants about how "Touch The Sky really was the best video" (in reference to his on-stage intrusion at a European award ceremony) and a heart-felt tribute to his recently deceased mother.
It is this cocky, arrogant, self-righteous man that by all rights should be hated that actually sucks you in to his make believe world and lets you be a part of it, if only for an hour and a half of live show.
So with the hits, the man himself, the great stage and weather that had finally eased up, why couldn't they get the sound right?
Melbourne's Myer Music Bowl is not known for it's sound quality, but this gig, even down under the canopy, sounded atrocious.
It wasn't just Kanye's fault. Cypress Hill's sound could be compared to a muffled battery-acid soaked boom box and the other stages weren't much better, with audience members chanting "turn it up" at Kanye's DJ A-Trak.
So sound problems aside, if you used your imagination just a little bit, the day presented you with plenty of hip hop delights and a headliner chosen by the gods. Kanye knows how a show should be done and he did all he could.
