Kanye Explodes At Apollo, London

Kanye West set Hammersmith alight with a giant performance on the second London date of his Touch The Sky UK tour.

Hitting the stage just after 9pm on a chilly Monday night, the rap superstar was quick to defrost all the cold hands and noses in the room, launching immediately into Diamonds From Sierra Leone, looking sharp in a white shirt, shades and just a hint of bling.

As the fat beat rang out, West introduced his now trademark, all female, all beautiful, orchestra who attacked their strings like a classically trained, significantly more attractive incarnation of Arctic Monkeys. Particularly the lead violinist who, dressed in an elegantly flowing white ball gown, danced like Missy Elliot for the entire set.

Kanye got all his hits out, romping through Heard Em Say, All Falls Down, Through The Wire, an enormous Jesus Walks and a rendition of Gold Digger, complete with spasmodic-shoulder dance moves, that received deafening applause, screams, and the desperate click of camera phones trying to capture the moment.

There were a couple of slight diva moments, one of which saw Kanye approach his impressive turntabalist A-Track and press stop on his decks, seemingly because he didnt fancy doing that song.

That didnt kill the party mood though. Minutes later Kanye nipped off for a jacket change, leaving his orchestra to belt out the Beatles classic Eleanor Rigby, complete with harp contribution, followed by The Verves Bittersweet Symphony, before returning and ordering A-Track to drop some party sh*t.

The audience was then treated to Al Greens Lets Stay Together, Princes When Doves Cry, Michael Jacksons Rock With You, and wait for it - AHAs Take On Me, complete with Carlton-from-Fresh-Prince eighties dance moves.

Approaching the end of the show, Kanye rapped his way through an album track while insulting reviews of some of his live shows and albums were projected onto the screen behind him. The best read Kanye is the most obnoxious egotistical hip-hop artist in the history of obnoxious, egotistical hip-hop artists. The quote projections ended with one from Kanye himself, saying how he believes he was robbed at the Grammy Awards and probably wont come back next year.

This led Kanye nicely into some pre-climax beef-venting. First up, The BRITs. So I get up on stage and do my acceptance speech, says West, thanking all the people that have been there for me from the beginning. Then I watch it on the television and they cut the whole thing! Oh dear.

Next up, journalists. You sit down with these f*cking journalists... and the second you say what you think, they use it against you. I say yeah, I like porn, then its all: Kanye West: Sex Addict...

He added: Before I dropped the second record, I thought the media had made you hate me. But the fact that this show is sold-out for three nights tells me that thats not how it is.

Then as the crowd went ballistic in agreement, the dirty little porn addict erupted into his new single Touch The Sky to bring the show to an epic finish.

It was an outstanding and clinical set from West. I only feel sorry for any other rappers that were in the building; Kanyes performance must have had them shaking in their diamonds.

DL