Concert Review: Lupe Fiasco At Club Nokia
Written by willshoob on Friday, 14 of November , 2008 at 10:30 pm
Only a couple of nights after Beck opened the brand new Club Nokia in downtown Los Angeles, Lupe Fiasco graced our mortal souls for a spectacular, sold out show. This was my fifth time seeing Lupe (so my expectations weren’t too high on seeing something new and spectacular), but something was different about this show. The way he controlled the stage was something he lacked the last time I saw one of HIS shows (the others were Lollapalooza ‘07 and ‘08, and the GITD tour). He has always had tremendous stage presence and energy, but he had a sense of control and confidence that I’ve never seen him display before.
The show started off poorly as the opening act Hey Champ, was treated to a “We want Lupe” chant as soon as they hit the stage. Being Lupe’s newest band, I figured that they couldn’t be that band. To say the least, I was pleasantly surprised. They seemed a little nervous at first, as the anxious crowd didn’t help calm their nerves. They got a lot more supporters as soon as they mentioned Barack Obama. Them being from Illinois, they said that their only connection to California, is that we both supported Obama. By the end of their set, everyone was eager for Lupe to come on, and they weren’t afraid to let Hey Champ know. The only time they got legitimately cheered, was when Mr. Fiasco was spotted at the side of the stage rocking out to the electronic glam rock, that is Hey Champ. At that point everyone decided to get really into the music, until Lupe left, that is. The standout of their set was “Cold Dust Girl”, which you can find below.
After a very short wait, Lupe’s band (absolutely amazing) hit the stage and immediately started pumping the crowd up. He had the same introduction at the House of Blues in 2007, but it still gave me the chills as soon as the music came on. He blasted into “Kick, Push” and didn’t look back the rest of the night. He played pretty much every song I expected him to, plus a few treats. He had a bit of a freestyle over Dr. Dre’s “Still D.R.E.” in which he screamed out “L.A. if you’re in the house, do me a favor and open your motherfucking mouths”, which really got the crowd into the show. He featured a few LUPE.N.D. freestyle/tracks, which the crowd really didn’t pick up on.
The whole show was absolutely thrilling and fantastic, but there were quite a few standout moments. Going straight from “Sunshine” to “I Gotcha” was absolutely bomb, and really got the crowd going, as “Sunshine” was the third song of the set. He then went into “Go Go Gadget Flow”, which was my favorite song of his set. There was one point where he just didn’t stop rapping and had an absolutely amazing flow. Make sure to check it out in the video below. Then going from his “Wake the fuck up speech” straight into “Daydreamin’” absolutely blew my mind. He always destroys “Daydreamin’”, but to essentially end the show with it, amazed me. The amount of energy he puts in throughout the whole show, to be able to put that much into one song, is ridiculous. I guess what amazes me most about Lupe’s live show is the fact that he re-arranges every song for live instrumentation. He really cares about the fans and entertaining them with new and exciting ways to showcase his music. Anyways, if you’ve never seen Lupe Fiasco live, hurry up and do it before he retires (although he’s said that he’ll still tour after he stops making albums)! It won’t disappoint you. Anyways, enjoy some videos and MP3’s below. Set list below as well.
Intro & Kick, Push… Make sure to watch the whole thing.
Dumb It Down
Go Go Gadget Flow
Daydreamin’
Lupe Fiasco- Go Go Gadget Flow
Lupe Fiasco- Daydreamin’ (Feat. Jill Scott)
Category: Concerts
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Comment by lilichou
Made Saturday, 15 of November , 2008 at 5:06 pm
You sure do love Lupe Fiasco. Ugh, I wish I was there too.
This blog is just wicked. You wanna affiliate? Cheers.
Comment by J.R.
Made Sunday, 16 of November , 2008 at 10:00 pm
As much as I like Lupe I just don’t think he delivered in this show. You mentioned the HOB appearance in 2007 and you have to admit that show was 100 time better. He pretty much went through both of his albums and told a story throughout. His set was almost two hours long and he even performed a couple of mixtape tracks in the beginning saying that it’s “how we met”. Don’t get me wrong, his performance was outstanding, but after seeing his HOB performance last year, I thought this show fell just a bit short with only about eight or nine full tracks performed.
Comment by lupethefiasco
Made Monday, 17 of November , 2008 at 8:49 am
I completely agree with you, but you have to take everything into account. For the circumstances he was put under, he definitely delivered. The house of blues show was in January of ‘07, a month after The Cool was released. He didn’t have to play certain songs for an audience who was there to see “Superstar” and “Paris, Tokyo.” Those songs weren’t big yet, so he didn’t have to put a show on for fans of his hits, he put on a show for his fans. He played for 2 hours at a venue without a curfue. His show at Club Nokia had to end at a certain time, so he had to choose his song selection wisely. As he even mentioned, the show wasn’t for him, it was a thank you to us. A thank you to the people who made “Superstar” the number one song for nine straight weeks, a thank you to all the people who made The Cool a gold album. He had to play for these people instead of his fans who would enjoy to see Lupe no matter what he played.
