Lollapalooza, Day Three: Kanye Rules Chicago -- He'll Tell You So Himself

Photo: Grabowski/Retna

“Is this what you’ve waited for all weekend?” said Kanye West in his trademark ego-has-landed fashion (but without his trademark louvered glasses), midway through his headlining set Sunday night at Lollapalooza. The gathered throng dutifully hollered back in the affirmative, and the show went on. West, a local hip-hop kid made good – and one of several Lolla bill-toppers with ties to Chicago – proffered an expensive-looking, crowd-pleasing stage extravaganza that effectively showcased his inarguable gifts as a mass-audience pop entertainer. From the strikingly Broadwayesque sequenced light bars that illuminated his airplane hangar of a stage to his evidently populous (but largely invisible) backing band, Kanye’s production was big-bigger-biggest and then some. West even incorporated Chicago’s sharply etched skyline into his visuals -- especially effective when a shot of the illuminated, diamond-shaped Smurfit-Stone Building was used to preface “Diamonds From Sierra Leone.” His generous set was smoothly paced and heavy on the favorites (“Gold Digger,” “Jesus Walks,” “Flashing Lights”), and by the time West closed with a brawny version of recent hit “Stronger,” the crowd was too sated to ask for more. -- MOIRA McCORMICK