Kanye West just officially made his return to the stage, all thanks to Travis Scott, who like Ye, is very familiar with the masses turning against him.
via: Pitchfork
The show opened with the first three songs from Utopia in a row, ostensibly telegraphing that Scott would perform the album in its entirety straight through. Eventually, though, he interrupted Utopia with hits like “Highest in the Room” and “Butterfly Effect.” Scott wore shoulder pads and jumped atop a fake rock formation on a set in front of what appeared to be countless giant amps and speakers. The massive crowd in Rome could be heard singing the choruses.
for a performance of “Can’t Tell Me Nothing.” Scott offered this commentary: “There is no Utopia without Kanye West. There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West. There is no Rome without Kanye West. Make some noise for Ye.”
Later in the set, he performed his Weeknd and Bad Bunny-featuring single “K-Pop,” which he followed with the Beyoncé and Justin Vernon-featuring “Delresto (Echoes).” Scott wasn’t seen on stage while his DJ played “Delresto,” returning only for the very end of the song and a subsequent performance of “Lost Forever.”
He followed that with another pre-Utopia cut “Mafia,” which was released right before the 2021 Astroworld tragedy. Following its performance, he revealed that he cut the track from Utopia in favor of “I Know,” which he said was one of the last songs he recorded for the project.
Following a couple false starts after Scott brought a fan onstage for “Meltdown” and lectured him for his inadequate raging, Scott performed another Drake feature in “Sicko Mode.” He followed that with two other hits: “Antidote” and “Goosebumps.”
Scott had planned to perform at the Pyramids of Giza on the night of the album’s release, but the concert was canceled. He later promised that he had planned for other similar events before announcing tonight’s Circus Maximus performance. Scott recently gave his new movie Circus Maximus a theatrical release.
The moment Travis brought out Kanye in Rome pic.twitter.com/9BguYoMVCi
— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) August 7, 2023
