NYC: JAY-Z in Brooklyn – The 4:44 Tour

Finally it happened! I’ve wanted to go to a JAY-Z concert for ages, but it has never worked out and after the On The Run tour, I was starting to fear that he had retired and that I would never get a chance to see him live. When he announced the 4:44 tour I therefore immediately clicked home two tickets, without even knowing who to go to the concert with, but I ended up having a fabulous night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, JAY-Z’s home ground.

First singalong was to Notorious B.I.G., who was also from Brooklyn. It didn’t take more than “It was all a dream..” to get the whole Barclays Center singing. Not just one, but two, verses of Juicy. Brooklyn, you know your lyrics!

Later, JAY-Z also performed Marcy Me from his new album. I haven’t seen that song on any other set lists from the tour, so it was probably a Brooklyn special, but Marcy Me is so fundamentally Brooklyn that it would have been strange if he hadn’t performed that one. It’s also one of my favorite songs from his new album.

It was a great concert, and my throat was sore for several days after all the singing and screaming. The most beautiful moment that night was when JAY-Z performed Numb/Encore as a tribute to Chester Bennington from Linkin Park, and thousands of mobile phone lights turned Barclays Center into a sky full of stars. Though everything that night was amazing, and no doubt the best concert I’ve ever been to. Personal, intimate and outright brilliant, JAY-Z, you still got it!