Reviews

The key moment in Kanye West's show Thursday night at Superpages.com Center arrived when he crash-landed on a distant planet and met a female space alien.

"Of course we know who you are," the foxy alien told him. "You're the biggest star in the universe."

At least in his own mind he is. Mr. West has never hidden his raging ego, and during "Jesus Walks" he jokingly promised to "stop spazzing out at awards shows" – a nod to his boorish outburst after losing at the MTV Europe Music Awards.

But merely admitting a problem doesn't make it go away. As energetic and visually stunning as his one-man show was, it also felt like one long love letter to himself.

Not that fans cared. An adoring crowd of about 13,000 danced itself silly throughout the show.

Yet the concert lacked the emotion of his 2005 tour, when he meshed with a live band, complete with string section. This time, he was the sole figure onstage as he rapped over backing tapes for 80 minutes and pretended to be lost in space.

The intergalactic theme seemed hopelessly dated, considering E.L.O. and Parliament/Funkadelic were flying space ships into arenas back when Mr. West was in diapers.

At least the fog-covered moonscapes and glowing orbs were fun to look at – as was the rapper. He was a nonstop blur of jittery limbs and spastic foot work.

But he was clearly dancing with himself. Mr. West seemed aloof onstage – an all-too-typical stance for male rappers these days – and he's even gone so far as to bar the media from photographing him on this tour, lest they publish any unflattering photos. Lost in space, indeed.

The Barbados-born singer Rihanna preceded Mr. West with a 30-minute set full of choreography and costumes. She strutted onstage in tight hot pants – her back to the crowd so all could admire her derriere – and quickly changed into a form-fitting day-glo outfit.

Her voice had much less pizzazz. Rihanna's low-key singing may be better suited to clubs than 20,000-seat amphitheaters.

But what she lacked in lung power she made up for in range as she hopped from throbbing dance tunes ("Don't Stop the Music") to M.I.A.'s gangsta-flavored "Paper Planes" to her own infectious confection "Umbrella."

N*E*R*D preceded Rihanna with an equally far-ranging set. The trio expanded to a 12-piece onstage and journeyed from hyper drum duels to funk rock to a blistering remake of the White Stripes' "Seven Nation Army."

Band member Pharrell Williams couldn't carry a tune, but the point was moot: When a dozen guys are pogo dancing in unison, who needs vocal dexterity?