Kanye West courted controversy with his third ‘Donda’ event, bringing out both DaBaby and Marilyn Manson in the show’s opening moments.
It’s been a full month, and the tale of Kanye West’s ongoing “Donda” listening events continues. On Thursday night, West — or “Ye” as he legally petitioned to change his name earlier this week — rented out another gigantic venue to play what many hope (but few expect) to be the final version of his tenth studio album, “Donda.” However, instead of continuing his residency in Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Arena, West went home, both literally and figuratively, by recreating his childhood house in the center of Chicago’s Soldier Field. And in many ways, the event brought back the brash, trolling Kanye of recent years: The showed opened with a song apparently titled “Jail” that featured a fiery verse by Jay-Z — but on Thursday, Jay’s verse was replaced with an entirely new one by DaBaby, who addressed the firestorm of criticism leveled against his recent homophobic comments. As if that weren’t enough, a few minutes later Marilyn Manson, who is accused of sexual assault or misconduct by multiple women, joined West on the “stage” — basically the porch of the house — for much of the concert. And the event ended with West staging a mock-marriage to a woman who was apparently his soon-to-be-ex-wife, Kim Kardashian West. Oh, and he also set himself on fire. Yet the show also featured heavy themes of religion and impassioned calls for prison reform. Such is the dichotomy of Kanye West. With a capacity of 61,500, the stadium appeared full, even over a digitized Apple Music livestream. Like many things Kanye, the road back to Chicago for his third “Donda” listening event has been as confusing and complex as the album’s development. “Donda” has gone from an unfinished collection of rough raps played for a small audience in Las Vegas to three different, ever-evolving, seemingly completed albums in just over a month. From the storylines of coproducer Mike Dean getting harassed on social media to the reignition of public animosity between Drake and West, the rollout for “Donda” has nearly diluted the content that was meant to come out of it. Yet, there we were and here we are, still listening and watching. Regardless of the circus around it, a side narrative is how lucrative the events themselves have been. According to estimates by Vice, Billboard and others, West is grossing millions in merch and ticket sales and streaming revenue from each event, although the increasingly elaborate staging — Thursday’s event also featured hundreds of dancers and three dozen-ish cars and trucks — is likely to make a significant dent in those earnings.
