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Video: Kanye West Under All Of The Lights At MoMA's Garden Party

Ben Yakas

Published May 11, 2011

Modified May 11, 2011

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Ben Yakas

Published May 11, 2011

Modified May 11, 2011

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Last night the line outside the door of the Museum of Modern Art on 53rd Street stretched around 5th Avenue all the way to 54th Street, where a group of high-heeled, impatient Europeans tried to bribe a guard into letting them into the MoMA's annual Garden Party, one of their fanciest, shmanciest nights of the year. The well-dressed men and better-dressed women didn't put up with the delays in order to pack into the beautiful Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden just for the open bar: they were there to see Kanye West.

Wearing a white t-shirt and hoodie, West performed an exuberant hour-plus long set in front of the glittering, black-suited crowd of around 1500 (they raised over $4 million during the night), utilizing smoke machines, auto-tune, and a whole lot of angst. Flanked by three backup musicians, all-clad in white, Kanye started the evening with a cover of Stevie Wonder’s “They Won’t Go When I Go,” as cell phones were raised above every head in the garden. He proceeded to bounce around the stage energetically, performing all his biggest songs, including "Power," "Can't Tell Me Nothing," "Flashing Lights," "The Good Life," "Gold Digger," and "Monster." Highlights included a thundering "Jesus Walks," and a long, extended take on "Runaway," during which he went on an auto-tuned rant, with lines like “Do you know what it feels like to be hated, do you know what it feels like to be degraded?”

The NY Times thought he was in a grumpy mood: "For most of the 45 or so minutes that he’d been onstage, Mr. West had been moody, dour, even irritated at points, a star who enthralled even at low wattage." While he did seem to be having some troubles with sound levels in the intimate locale, he looked like he was in control, and having mighty fun, from where we were standing. Admittedly, he did seem his happiest during the final two songs, when he brought out Jay-Z as a surprise guest to perform their collaboration “H·A·M,” and end the night with a joyous “Empire State of Mind.”

From the gold-chain sporting bald men grinding with their young arm candy, to noted superfan Aziz Ansari, we doubt anyone in the crowd was disappointed with the intimate performance. If Kanye really was having as bad a night as the Times seems to think, we wish we could twirl with half the enthusiasm he did when we are feeling that lousy.

Tagged

garden party

jay-z

kanye west

moma

Music

rap

video

Ben Yakas

Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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