Anthony Ruggiero
Feb 20
|19:35
Jay-Z played at Carnegie Hall on February 6 and February 7, 2012. The show was sold out. 2,800 fans filled the seats of Carnegie Hall to watch Jay-Z. Liza Minnelli and Yankees pitcher C.C. Sabathia were the notable celebrities in attendance.
The lights dimmed and the 36-piece orchestra entered followed by a loud "What's up?" from the man himself. He was wearing a white tuxedo top and entered to a standing ovation. It was something to be heard. Back in 2010 I also attended the Jay-Z and Eminem concert at Yankee Stadium and thought nothing could top it.
Carnegie Hall was just a different atmosphere. Every person in the building stood the whole night singing along to the music.
After singing You Don't Know the stage crew brought out a piano and the audience was thinking what song or who was coming out next.
Alicia Keys walked out to a loud standing ovation and everybody knew Empire State of Mind was next. Before the duo performed the song an image of the Super Bowl Champion New York Giants was shown and chants of "Let's Go Giants" started.
Alicia Keys is incredibly talented on the piano. Empire State of Mind is my personal favorite Jay-Z song and it sounded even more amazing in Carnegie Hall.
Like any other artist Jay-Z played to the hometown crowd. He said: "Is Brooklyn in the house?!" and the crowd cheered. It was an older, more sophisticated crowd which made the performance that much better. While Rihanna was not there her part of Run this Town came on and the show just kept delivering. With the Giants victory the spirit of New York was felt with Run this Town and Empire State of Mind.
Jay-Z performed some of this newer songs but the crowd really popped when the beats for his older songs came on. Dirt off Your Shoulder, Hard Knock Life and On to the Next One are classic hits. Each song had a different twist with a live orchestra.
The music was so much better without any auto-tuned, computer-generated sound. The orchestra brought a different element for a rap concert. It showed the cross-over capability of rap and classic music. Different genres of music take much work to co-exist. Only a mogul like Jay-Z can deliver and he did.
Beyonce and Jay-Z welcomed their first child, Blue Ivy Carter into the world earlier this year. He wrote a song, Glory that featured Blue Ivy crying on the track. Jay-Z performed Glory for an audience for the first time. After he was done he told the crowd: "I didn't think I was going to get through that one." He was extremley emotional after singing Glory.
The show closed out with Big Pimpin' and Forever Young. He changed out of his tuxedo and walked up into the balcony to close the show out with the fans. He closed with Money Aint'ta Thing and telling the crowd they looked "exquisite."
Incredible is the only word to describe this show. Just being in Carnegie Hall for the first time was something I'll never forget. I've never attended a concert like this. The music collaborations were just something that needed to be heard live.
You can tell Jay-Z was having a good time and he was feeding off the crowd. Each person in that crowd got their money's worth that night. Jay-Z puts on a show like no other. I strongly suggest that if you have the chance to see him perform live, jump on the opportunity.