The elaborate reveal of Kanye West’s latest album, Donda 2, was live-streamed online and in IMAX theaters last night.
But for those who were there in person, last night’s show served up more than enough spectacle that said audio hiccups — if not the appearance by Marilyn Manson or questionable sample choices — could be forgiven.
Donda 2 is the latest in a long line of West albums to premiere through a semi-live concert component prior to being properly released. It’s a ritual dating back to 2016 when the hip-hop iconoclast invited audiences to Madison Square Garden and theaters to listen to an unfinished version of The Life of Pablo. But where that gathering was decidedly minimal, a testament perhaps to Kanye’s long-expressed aesthetic affinities, yesterday’s event ran with the template set by last year’s multiple Donda listening parties and offered imagery worthy of West’s grandiosity.