Recap & Photos | Ye (Kanye West) brings the Deep cuts, Hidden Gems, Flashing Lights & Lazers back home for an unforgettable concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field 

Have you ever wondered what would happen if you let Ye get into his zone? Well, the answer is two sold out shows in his hometown of Chicago with night 1 setting the bar for live music entertainment.

On this very humid summer Chicago night, Chicagoans and people from far and wide made their way to the historical Soldier Field for Night 1 of 2 for Ye Live. Getting to the venue was a challenge. Personally, I left for the concert about 45 minutes before the scheduled showtime of 8pm. I figured I had time to spare because my hotel was near Soldier Field. I was wrong. I arrived about 5 minutes before the show was set to kick off. Luckly this would work in not only my favor but others as well because the show did not start at 8pm, but rather 8:52pm on the dot. At about 8:22pm, Ye took to Instagram to show viewers his new mask for the Chicago date(s).

As the lights dimmed, “Homecoming” echoed threw the hollow halls of this historical building. Ye dressed in an all-grey outfit (Mask, Jacket, Pants) made his way to the stage. Once on top of the “world”, Yeezy would rock the crowd by performing Homecoming five straight times. It came as no surprise, but Ye was finally home and the audience let him know that with their loud appreciation.

YE LIVE IN CHICAGO – Night 1 – 9/3/26

With each tour, Ye ups his staging and stage presence to the highest degree. This time Ye performs on top of a circular dome that most of the night showcases the map of the world and the moon. Think of the dome as a half of a globe. As the night went on, the dome would highlight fans in the audience and even have a split screen of Ye and Andre’ Troutman when performing “All The Love”. With the stage being a huge dome, there’s not a bad seat in the house to watch this epic show. I was in section 336, row 5, dead center and the view was perfect.

Technically this would be Ye’s first time actually performing in Soldier Field, the last time could be classified as a live album listening session experience with theatrics for his 10^th studio album Donda, which is named after his mother.

Ye was in top notch form, almost every lyric was rapped/sung without a backtrack. This is what happens when you let Ye into his zone.

The effects, lighting and pyro was spectacular in itself. “All of the Lights” saw pyrotechnics shoot all the way up into the sky. When “Stronger” was performed the world would spin rapidly, giving off a cool illusion as if saying as the world continues to move in different unknown directions, Ye is still.

He performed tracks from most of his albums but three, Kids See Ghosts, Jesus is King and Vultures 2, however that could change come night two.

As a day one Ye (Kanye West) fan, I appreciated the deep cuts. Hearing “Heard’em Say”, “Champion” & “Love Lockdown” live was out of this world if you grew up listening to Kanye West. He has one of the greatest discographies in history of music that sometimes you forget some of the hidden gems in the vault.

I was also impressed that my all-time favorite album YEEZUS got a lot of love. Shockingly, the banger that is known as “Everybody” was performed. For an unreleased track, the crowd knew every word. The history behind this song and the sample it uses involves the Backstreet Boys and their label. Due to some controversies dating back to 2022, one would have to assume that was the Backstreet Boys’ label didn’t clear the sample because of said controversies, which is unfortunate. The song samples the Backstreet Boys 1998 single “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back)” and was originally set to appear on the album Vultures 1 before being scrapped.

When it comes to Ye and his deep discography, night one was the way to go. In my opinion, I honestly didn’t understand why people were so excited to see which artists would join Ye on stage when you brought a ticket to see the G.O.A.T. perform solo, but I digress. On earlier tour dates, Yeezy began to bring out special guests on select dates, the speculation on who would show up for the Chicago dates went into hyperdrive. Ye didn’t disappoint for Night 1 – Big Sean, 2 Chainz, Chicago’s own Twista, and Future all made their presence known. Back to back hits ranging from “Clique” to “Mercy” to “Slow Jamz”, to “Keep it Burnin”, kept the party in a frenzy. I feel a GOOD Music reunion could be on the horizon.

The crowd had a mix of age ranges, so there were a lot of confused faces and mediocre lip-syncing when Ye would take it all the way back to the eras of The College Dropout, Late Registration and 808s and Heartbreak. Some would call them “larpers” in today’s society, but it’s all love. There was even more confusion when Future performed “Fuck Up Some Commas” and “Slow Jamz” by Twista with the latter being the Kamikaze/The College Dropout version being performed and not the radio station version.

You could feel the floor shake and rock when certain songs would hit – maybe Soldier Field does need a remodel. It for sure didn’t feel safe.

With a strike of a single piano note hit, that could only mean one song. Ye would conclude with fan-favorite “Runaway” to bring his epic 2-hour plus showcase of music to a satisfying conclusion. In total 46 songs were performed.

As he descended into the world, he gave a salute to the hometown fans. On his way his way to the back up the entrance way, his mother’s voice could be heard congratulating her son and saying how proud she is of him.

Controversies aside, Chicago will always represent and show up for their own. Ye is a masterclass of what a performer is supposed to be.

Check out photos from the show below

– Journalist Without A Beat… Out!