JAY Z X LONDON O2 11/10/13 - MCWT

After wowing crowds in London in July at the Yahoo! Wireless Festival - Brooklyn born rapper Jay Z returned to the UK earlier this week and took the o2 arena by storm as part of his Magna Carta world Tour. 

The black and white set, simplistic yet effective draws your attention away from the strobe lighting and pyrotechnics seen at last years 'Watch the Throne' collaboration tour with rapper Kanye West and this probably says a lot about both men. Jay Z opened in darkness with the Just Blaze and Baauer hit single Higher as the stage filled with white light revealing the man himself: Jay Z. This was followed by U Don't Know another Just Blaze produced track from The Blueprint album in 2001. He then performed the first song from his new album Magna Carta Holy Grail - Jay Z's 12th studio album which was released on July 4th of this year - we were thrilled to hear some classics such as Dirt Off Your Shoulder and 99 problems from his 2003 The Black Album. Despite not having Kanye come out as a special guest, Jay Z excited the crowd as his band started the riff from Niggas in Paris.                                    
Just after he had finished up with Encore Jay Z stopped the show to give some acknowledgements and this time not to his band for helping him deliver an amazing and energetic show but to us - the audience. Jay thanked every single one of us and told us he appreciated everything we had done for him and it's easy to believe that his words are genuine. He then picked out a handful of people and thanked them personally, as it happens, I happened to be one of these individuals; he turned and pointed in my direction and said 'and my baby girl in the H.O.V.A cap.' Of course all I could do was scream and shout with excitement at the fact that he even noticed me never mind that he had called me his baby girl...I mean what?! Jay Z's baby girl? I thought that was only Blue Ivy! He finished the gig with the more mellow Forever Young featuring Mr Hudson.

Although Magna Carta Holy Grail received some luke-warm reviews the new songs were well received by

the crowd, it seemed that the fans knew Jay Z's 12th album well.
A lot of the criticism was that his music is no longer hardcore enough and more mainstream, but MCHG seems to have a harder edge to it than the critically acclaimed Blueprint 3. Jay Z's music has evolved with the 'man himself.'