Kanye West joined his protégé Mr Hudson onstage at Camden‘s Roundhouse venue last night (July 7), performing three songs to rapturous applause from the packed audience.
Coming onstage for the encore of Mr Hudson‘s set, which was part of the iTunes Live: London Festival ’09 festival, West did not speak to the crowd at first, preferring to concentrate on performing instead.
Mr Hudson then kicked into West‘s track ‘Heartless’, taken from his latest album ‘808s And Heartbreak’. West and Mr Hudson mainman Ben Hudson hugged at the song’s end, and the London-based singer appeared to cajole his American friend into staying onstage for a couple more songs.
“Let’s give it a try, yeah?” Hudson said into his microphone, causing the audience, who had been chanting “Kanye!” throughout the night, to cheer louder. Hudson‘s seven-piece band, still joined onstage by West, then played ‘Paranoid’, the ‘808s And Heartbreak’ single that features Mr Hudson.
After finishing the track, West addressed the audience for the only time of the night.
“London, how you doing? Tonight is about a talented young man,” he said, pointing at Hudson. West then explained how he originally met Hudson – at an artist showcase, where the Londoner sang a track especially for the rapper and his girlfriend. He finished his tribute by saying “I think it’s his time to take off now,” as Hudson‘s band kicked into their new West-featuring single ‘Supernova’.
Earlier in their set, Mr Hudson were joined by another rapper, Kid Cudi, who performed on ‘Everything Is Broken’ and ‘Day And Night’.
Several members of the audience threw their drinks towards the rapper as he finished his final song, though he didn’t appear to notice. The remainder of the gig saw Mr Hudson showcase material old and new, with ‘Ask the DJ’ and new track ‘White Lies’ garnering particularly positive responses form the crowd.
Mr Hudson played:
‘One Specific Thing’
‘Lift Your Head’
‘Stiff Upper Lip’
‘White Lies’
‘There Will be Tears’
‘Everything Is Broken’
‘Day and Night’
‘Upon the Heath’
‘To Late Too Late’
‘Knew We Were Trouble’
‘Ask The DJ’
‘Cover Girl’
‘Heartless’
‘Paranoid’
‘Supernova’
Earlier, Manchester band Kid British supported Mr Hudson, showcasing tracks from their forthcoming debut album ‘It Was This Or Football’.