Jay-Z Triumphs At Glastonbury | A Performance Enough To Silence The Haters?
by 
Dave Parrack on June 29th, 2008
Jay-Z finally took to the stage last night to fulfil his headline slot at the 2008 Glastonbury Festival. The gig was one of the most talked about of the year before it even happened, with many people feeling that Jay-Z and hip-hop weren’t right for a traditionally indie music festival.
I wrote a long piece last weekend looking at the controversy surrounding Jay-Z’s booking as the Saturday night headline act, and asking what the reasons behind the hate were.
In the end, although some festival-goers did shun the performance, many loved it, the response Jay-Z got was fantastic, and he silenced his critics with a majestic show.
The BBC showed the whole set live, and so I was fortunate to be able to watch it from start to finish. The video embedded below shows Jay-Z’s explosive entrance on to the stage after being introduced by Zane Lowe.
Jay-Z first flipped the proverbial finger towards Noel Gallagher, one of the high-profile people who made their opinion about his place at the festival know, by doing a cover of Oasis hit Wonderwall, before launching in to his songs, starting with 99 Problems.
Jay-Z also spoke about the controversy while on stage, saying to the crowd at one point:
“So they say you guys didn’t want me here to be here tonight. They said you guys weren’t into hip-hop.”
“Thanks for all the love here tonight. This is a beautiful moment, I’m glad to share it with each and every one of you.”
The set comprised all of Jay-Z’s big hits, including Hard Knock Life, Girls Girls Girls and Encore. It also included a number of covers, with songs by U2, Estelle, Rihanna, Amy Winehouse and the Jackson Five adding to Oasis’ Wonderwall.
None of the rumoured guests appeared though, which was something of a disappointment. People were expecting at least one of either Beyonce, Chris Martin from Coldplay, NERD’s Pharrell Williams, Linkin Park, Rihanna and Amy Winehouse herself to appear on stage during the set, but none did.
In the end all that was needed to win over the Glastonbury crowd was Jay-Z and a microphone.
[Photo Source: i am guilty at Flickr]
Tags: Brit, British, Chris Martin, Festival, Glastonbury, Hip Hop, Indie, Jay-Z, noel-gallagher, Oasis, Rihanna, UK, Zane-Lowe| 2.5 |
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POSTED IN: Artists, Concerts, Festivals, Gigs, Hip Hop, Live, News, Op Ed, Videos
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