When Kanye West brings his Saint Pablo tour to the TD Garden in Boston next Saturday, September 3, he’ll be perched high above the crowd, just like all those Bruins and Celtics banners.
The rapper kicked off his North American tour last night at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana, and the stage set-up was pretty unique: an elevated platform suspended over the open arena floor, with fans surrounding him across the venue’s bowls and others crowded underneath. At some points during the show, where Kanye performed more than 30 songs and provided the life debut for many off recent album The Life Of Pablo, fans amassed under the elevated platform and moshed along as Kanye surfed, rapped, and raged over them.
At first, some fans walked into the Bankers Life Fieldhouse last night surprised that there was no “traditional” stage. According to the NME, Kanye’s visual collaborator Virgil Abloh says the idea is that “technically there’s ‘no stage'”, with the performer providing a direct and personal sightline to anyone who is in the arena.
Watch clips from the show below.