Jay-Z + Kanye West played the Izod Center

The reigning titans of Hip Hop are in the midst of their first joint tour in support of their recent classic Watch the Throne and dropped by the Meadowlands Saturday night for the first of four NYC-area shows. With no opening act, the lights went down at 9:00 before the two stars rose on two towering platforms on opposite ends of the arena and launched into "H.A.M.", the first taste from the Watch the Throne project. For this effort, the duo are keeping things minimal. The backing band is shrouded in darkness, Mr. West and Jay stick to their all black everything attire, and simple spotlights shown over minimal beams of light keeping all the attention on the hosts of the evening. For over two hours the two traded classics after classics in a non-stop attack of the biggest hip hop songs from the past decade. Such a presence and command over an audience was delivered in a way in which only these fellas are capable. Towards the middle of the evening, the champs broke things down and took a rest in the middle of the stage and swapped stories from the past while Hova weaved in a stellar "Hard Knock Life" into "Izzo". The two stuck to the classics, delivering what will soon be known as a legendary show as the audience seemed to only be more enthralled after each song. While Kanye kept thing fresh with recent favorites "Power", "Monster", and an ever impressive "Runaway", Jigga went old school with "Big Pimpin", "Nigga What, Nigga Who" and the epic stadium shaking "99 Problems". It was an evening of two friends trading tricks and showing off their skill with nothing but ease; this is them in the most simple of settings and natural talent running wild. The ultimate example of "less is more", these men are kings of the game, but on stage they keep it to best friends.

Setlist:
01 H.A.M.
02 Who Gon Stop Me
03 Otis
04 Welcome To The Jungle
05 Gotta Have It
06 Where I'm From
07 Nigga What, Nigga Who
08 Can't Tell Me Nothing
09 Jesus Walks
10 Diamonds From Sierra Leone
11 Public Service Announcement
12 U Don't Know
13 Run This Town
14 Monster
15 Power
16 Murder To Excellence
17 New Day
18 Hard Knock Life
19 Izzo
20 Good Life
21 Empire State of Mind
22 Runaway
23 Heartless
24 Stronger
25 On To The Next One
26 Dirt off Your Shoulder
27 Touch The Sky
28 All of the Lights
29 Big Pimpin'
30 Gold Digger
31 99 Problems
32 No Church in The Wild
33 Lift Off
34 Niggas In Paris
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35 Encore
36 Made In America
37 Why I Love You

[photo via The New York Times]