When the countdown clock hit zero and the lights flashed on, Jay-Z strode confidently out to the center of Bonnaroo's main stage. He rapped a couple verses, freely flowing over the live beat that would soon serve as the intro to "Run This Town." Before he started that hit, though, he took a moment to bask in the gigantic audience before him. That audience was no ordinary crowd - there were some special faces there. With a slight catch in his voice, an audibly jubilant Jay-Z finished his opening stanzas with a reference to the previous artist's statement to the audience that he would be staying to listen. "Wait until I tell my momma," Jay said with one arm raised, barely controlling his excitement, "that Stevie Wonder stuck around for my set!"
Following Wonder is no easy task, but if any showman is up for it, it's Jay-Z. The elder statesman of hip hop hasn't lost a step, and he brought out his A-game for the Bonnaroo mainstage. "I'd like to make this my second home," he said to the crowd before an ode to Brooklyn, his first home. The crowd roared in approval.
Jay's set pumped through the hits, from older classics like "Jigga What, Jigga Who" and "Hard Knock Life" to newer anthems like "Run This Town" and "Dirt Off Your Shoulder." Memphis Bleek joined Jay on stage for most of the set, providing a high quality hype man to add energy and volume to Jay's choruses. Not that he needed it - 50,000 throats sang along with almost every word. Bridget Kelly sang the hook on "Empire State of Mind," and a phenomenal live backing band rounded out Jay-Z's ensemble. It was a cracking live show, a living and breathing set that ramped up the energy on already banging tunes. At the end of the set, Jay gave a hat tip to the audience of the internet age, closing with the MTV-produced mash-up of "Encore" with Linkin Park's "Numb." My heart was racing for an hour and a half while Jay-Z was on stage. He made it look easy, and reminded me why he is very much still the king of hip hop.
Perhaps the coolest moment of the set came about two-thirds of the way through when Jay-Z took a pause after "Jockin' Jay-Z," caught his breath, and brought the house lights up. He looked out into a sea of faces and began to call people out one by one. "I see you with the Yankees hat, you there with the Blueprint shirt, you rockin the sign that says 'Brooklyn," he listed, pointing out into the crowd. "I see you with the Bob Marley shirt, one love, you with the Reasonable Doubt poster, you over there on your boy's shoulders with the hat on." It was an awesome moment, one of the biggest stars in the world calling out exactly what had brought him to the headlining slot at Bonnaroo - his fans. One young fan, a nineteen year old girl who was celebrating her birthday, was called up on stage. Jay gave the shell-shocked girl a hug and then led the masses in a singing of "Happy Birthday." If a forty-year old rapper from the heart of Brooklyn singing "Happy Birthday" to a nineteen year old white girl in the middle of Tennessee doesn't make your heart melt a little bit, I don't know what will. And if watching Stevie Wonder and Jay-Z perform back-to-back doesn't leave you euphoric, you must not be alive.
