This past Tuesday Tempo posse moved en Mas to Manhattan’s posh Capitale venue to document the capstone event of the Hennessy Artistry concert series with a little program we call Top Shelf Vibes. Touted as an experiment in “the Art of Global Mixing,” the all-star line up delivered in the form of NY rock stars The Strokes, UK’s finest Goldfrapp and Midwestern rap idol Kanye West. Even in the middle of a torrential downpour, a party like that is the time to call in guestlist favors so the place was literally roadblocked with corporate high rollers, movie stars and the kind of mogglin’ types that Sean Paul keeps threatening to deport. Our man Hector did his thing on the red carpet--a tableau of velvet ropes and wet celebrities that looked like Oscar night in monsoon season—and then proved he’s a man of the people by scooping up two fans out of the assembled crowd to accompany him inside to a wonderland of bottomless henny-bottles and endless networking opportunities. The crowd included not just the big Hollywood names like Kirsten Dunst but also the kind of celebs you really want to trade small talk and business cards with; grown and sexy crooner Sleepy Brown, comedian Tracy Morgan, and boriqua bombshell Rose Perez all got the Tempo treatment. On the main stage Goldfrapp and the Strokes both did their respective thing (stylish electro-rock and jangly guitar rock) with an epic soundsystem and lightshow that kinda makes you understand why so many people love rock concerts. But the highlight of course was Kanye, who took his time building up the energy in a heartfelt set of his best tunes. His performance was tightly orchestrated enough to keep his rap on time with both an 8-piece string ensemble playing the melodies of his famous soul samples and world champ DJ A Trak destroying vinyl on the hooks…but spontaneous enough to include a freestyle session with surprise guest Pharrell Williams of Neptunes fame. Pharrell crooned the hooks from his hit “Frontin’” before the DJ rewound the track to let Kanye drop some original verses over the opening drums…the kind of you’ll-never-hear-it-again musical moment that we at Tempo live for, but was lost on some of the glitterati. Celebs and execs both came alive at the high point of “Gold-digger” however, when Kanye gave them the opportunity to bawl out “we want pre-nups!” Finally, something they can lick shots for.
