Key Takeaways
- Kanye West turned his second Soldier Field homecoming show into a three-hour, 59-song celebration spanning his College Dropout roots through the Bully era.
- Chief Keef, Common, Lupe Fiasco, Twista, Rick Ross, Travis Scott, Don Toliver, and Young Thug powered a guest-heavy set that honored multiple generations of Chicago rap and included a “Free Durk” tribute.
- Ye and Kid Cudi delivered the night’s emotional peak by reuniting onstage for the first time since 2019, embracing and performing “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1,” “Ghost Town,” and “Pursuit of Happiness.”
Since launching the Ye Live Concert Tour with a series of shows in Los Angeles back in April, Ye (formerly known as Kanye West) has been on a globe-trotting run. He's taken his career-spanning setlist and massive Earth-inspired stage set all around the world, from Istanbul, Turkey to Almaty, Kazakhstan. On Thursday (Sept. 3), he returned home for a pair of shows at Soldier Field in Chicago.
I was in attendance for the second LA show. And as someone who also saw the second night of his SoFi shows—when Lauryn Hill came out to sing “Mystery of Iniquity,” the sample used on “All Falls Down”—I can honestly say Ye’s homecoming shows cleared that experience. This is, in my experience, one of the great rap shows of the last 10 years, guest starring a collection of rappers that helped make Ye Ye.
During a set that went for over three hours and included nearly 60 songs, Ye pulled out all the stops—considerably one upping the performance he put on night before. Forget “old Kanye” vs. “New Kanye”, this was a show for all the generations of fans, balancing stars from his College Dropout and Late Registration days—like GLC and Common—with the stars from his most recent Bully era, like Don Toliver.
Donning an all-red leather fit that was reminiscent of Shotaro Kaneda’s Akira look, Ye took over Chicago for one more night and made it one for the books. Here is everything that happened during Kanye West’s epic Chicago homecoming performance.
The show was also a homecoming for Chief Keef
After playing a few opening tracks, like “Ni**as in Paris” and “Homecoming,” Ye brought out Chief Keef. Only 15 minutes into the show, and here was Ye bringing out one of the greats of Chicago. Sosa performed “I Don’t Like” and “Love Sosa,” with the crowd moshing like crazy.
In a perfect world, the two would have also done the Yeezus standout “Hold My Liquor” but nothing wrong with keeping it to the hits for a show like this.
Various generations of Chi-Town legends were honored
It wasn’t just Keef. Ye also brought out much more Chicago rap royalty. Really Doe came out for “We Major,” while Twista joined Ye for “Slow Jamz” and “Overnight Celebrity.” GLC even graced the stage for “Spaceship,” a track we have not seen the duo perform live together since 2014.
Two of the best appearances were Common, who took the stage solo to perform “The Light,” and Lupe Fiasco, who rapped his verse on “Superstar” a cappella, with the urging of Ye.
Ye and Kid Cudi finally bury the hatchet publicly
After a very public falling out in 2022, the duo that gave us Kids See Ghosts seemed irreconcilable. However, back in July, Kid Cudi teased on X that the two had overcome their differences, saying they were “rebuilding” their relationship. This came to fruition in the final moments of the show. The two started by doing the Life of Pablo classic “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” and then continued on to “Ghost Town,” with the appearance marking their first union onstage since Coachella 2019. The emotion throughout the crowd was palpable—I saw few faces in tears.
At one point the two embraced and then Cudi yelled out, “Make some noise for my big brother Ye!” before performing “Pursuit of Happiness.”
As this was happening,Travis Scott was by the entrance where Ye walked in singing along to “Pursuit of Happiness” while trying to capture the entire moment on his phone.
Rick Ross gave a flawless rendition of “Devil in a New Dress?”
Around the midpoint of the show, Rick Ross emerged from the stage. His appearance was not all that much of a surprise, as fans on social media had tracked his private jet to Chicago. When he hit the stage he delivered an outstanding rendition of his verse on “Devil in a New Dress” before then doing his classic street record “B.M.F. (Blowin’ Money Fast)”
The "Free Durk" moment
As Lil Durk’s fate hangs in the balance, Ye has been publicly supportive, showing up to court in a gesture of support. So it’s not surprising that he would give him a shout at the show, playing a pre-recorded message where Durk said: “Ay Ye, I appreciate you, brother. Let’s go up tonight. Show them people what we doing.”
He capped off the moment by playing Durk’s “All My Life” and then brought out Young Thug, who performed“Lifestyle.” The moment felt almost like a tribute to Durk, and Thug made sure to make it clear, too, yelling “Free Smurk!”
Cactus Jack and Yeezy ties are still strong
Cactus Jack was in here heavy as both Don Toliver and Travis Scott pulled up to the show performed. Don popped out for “OK” and “E85,” with the energy in the room instantly shooting through the roof.
Travis came next and he brought his usual adrenaline-filled energy as he came out to “FE!N,” before going into Bully standout “FATHER.”
André Troutman was lowkey the MVP
As Ye’s music director, André Troutman is a major part of Ye’s live shows handling the setlist and live embellishment of the music. We actually spoke to him after the show about how the historic night came together.
“We added so much new music and artists literally hours, even moments, before showtime, and to see all the love Ye received from the fans and these iconic artists he hasn’t performed with in years was incredible,” he said.
Another part of his role is handling the transitions on an ever-changing setlist. He and his whole band of live musicians—Liston Gregory on main keys, Carrice Whitley on aux/keybass, Nkenge on FX, and his co-MD and playback, Vancil “Coop” Cooper—all helped add these live elements to the tracks.
One part of Ye’s new shows that has been intriguing is his shift to more live-sounding music that André and his live band help put together. For example, on “Heartless,” he adds this whining talk-box melody as a droning bass rumbles through the stadium, while Ye directs the crowd to scream the chorus with no backing track.
When asked about his approach to the show, he said he considers these concerts like “a movie.”
“As Music Director my job is to work alongside Ye and Aus Taylor (Ye’s creative director) to craft the Soundtrack to match the Director/Artist, Ye’s, vision,” he added. “For this Homecoming Chicago show, I feel like we executed it perfectly. We made history.”
Is this Ye’s greatest show ever?
After a 59-song saga over the span of three hours, it is hard to argue that this was not one of Ye’s best shows of all time. Some fans could argue that the show may not have included enough solo Ye moments onstage, as he had a guest list over a dozen people deep.
However, the kicker was the show’s underlying tone of unity that the guests brought to the stage. This allowed him to bring out some of Chicago’s biggest rappers, perform with Rick Ross, and reunite with Kid Cudi, just to name a few moments.
These moments made the show something that could not be replicated anywhere else, and Night 2 felt like a one-of-one show where Ye took a big step toward earning forgiveness from his peers, fans, and the world.
