This year was a big one for Kanye West, releasing his most recent album “The Life of Pablo” on Feb. 14, which had a huge amount of success. He is now touring around the U.S. on his Saint Pablo Tour.

With 39 dates all around the country, Kanye had six shows in Los Angeles at the Forum, and I went to the last show on Nov. 2. It was my first time seeing him live, and he did not disappoint. I was on the floor section, the ticket was $120 including the service fee, tickets were pricey, but they had nosebleed seats that went up to $35, so it was pretty affordable for anyone who wanted to see Kanye.

The Saint Pablo concert was nothing like a concert I’ve ever seen before; instead of the old routine of having the artist perform on the stage and being squashed between fans and metal bars just to see him up close, Kanye was on a small platform floating over fans that were in the floor section of the arena. The platform would float around the stadium bringing the concert close to many fans as he passed over them while they moshed or just hopped and danced around with the music. Under the platform were lights beaming down on fans, giving off an amazing view when passing over the stadium.

Kanye’s set just didn’t feel like a concert. After finishing a song, the whole platform that was hanging on top of the stadium filled with lights pierced through stadium smoke with orange, blue, and dark red colors with a space-sounding synth playing in the background synchronizing with the lights. I felt like I was in a spacecraft, seeing the future right in front of me, like how the first people who watched Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” must have felt.

The concert started with “Father Stretch My Hands Part 1” teasing the crowd using the full chorus of the song he sampled multiple times until a synth kicked off the song. Everyone was ready to hear that beat drop, and when it did, it got crazy in the floor section. As Kanye went over fans, he knew how to make a crowd move with no dancers, no band behind him, just him singing and rapping away, while he danced himself.

The set list was what made the whole concert an amazing experience. Naming it the Saint Pablo Tour, you’d think he’d only play his recent album in its entirety, but he went all over the place, with hits like “Stronger,” “Runaway,” and “Heartless” to featured tracks like “THat Part” and “Pop Style.” With each song, the lights would sync up with the music, setting up all types of tones, like when “Runaway” played, it was a dark red color all throughout the stadium.

Though the night for me was cut short due to Kanye having difficulties with his voice during his performance of “Only One,” it was still a good and touching performance, showing old home videos of him and Kim Kardashian when they were children with the instrumental playing in the background.

Kanye left after trying to sing that song but for most of the song it was just the crowd singing, while he just kneeled down. After the song ended, Kanye just says “my voice is so hoarse. I can’t finish the show, Turn the lights on. I’ll get y’all a refund. I have no f—ing voice, I can’t do the f-king show. Move the stage.”

Many fans including myself were puzzled on what was going on, if this was part of the show or if he was being serious. Many fans were upset and angry that he left, for me personally he was already on stage for at least an hour and a half and played almost all the biggest hits, so I was still pleased with the show. I ended up getting a refund for the show.

Kanye is a man who does everything differently and in an artistic way, and with this tour he set up a whole new bar on the idea of a concert with a stellar performance, the visuals, and the thought of not just people with money should be up close and personal with an artist having fun, everyone should be part of the show and have the best seats in the house no matter where you are at.

If it wasn’t for him, leaving early this would have been the perfect concert for me. I still had a lot of fun seeing Kanye West live and seeing him up close while he performed so much of his biggest hits.

(Four Stars)