If you’re anything like the good folks here at NewsOne, you missed Jay-Z‘s historic concert to re-open the Webster Hall venue in New York City on Friday night. The show was billed as featuring the business, man, only rapping from his vast catalog of his B-side songs, something he rarely has done throughout his decades-long career.
READ MORE: Jay-Z’s Ticket Prices Raise Some Eyebrows
That’s probably why tickets were fetching more than $1,000 on the resale market after they sold out in minutes last week. That fact alone kept tons of Jay-Z fans from the show. But, of course, with the internet being the great equalizer in the new millennium, fans could be forgiven for assuming that the show would at the very least be live streamed by Jay’s streaming service Tidal. But members found out quickly that wasn’t an option.
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So, in the 21st century, what’s the next best way to follow the show in real time? Social media, of course. Concertgoers had their phones working overtime, probably praying for their battery lives to last the length of the show so they could keep posting to their social networks of choice.
In this case, Twitter users came through big time for those of us who couldn’t make the show. Tons of photos and video footage from the show flooded timelines across the world to provide a glimpse of what seemed like the biggest show in New York City this weekend.
Nostalgia was reportedly in the air at Webster Hall, as shown by a gigantic chain spinning above the stage with the logo of Jay’s former record company, Roc-A-Fella. The presumption at first sight of that prop was that Jay would be performing songs during his time on the Roc and possibly bringing out former label mates like Memphis Bleek and Beanie Sigel.
Fans in the crowd made sure to post about how Nipsey Hussle‘s music was playing before Jay came out for his first song. That was fitting considering that 1) Jay and BeyoncĂ© attended Nipsey’s funeral earlier this month and 2) Jay paid lyrical homage to Nipsey and his entrepreneurial spirit with a brand new freestyle later during the show.
But then, it was time for the show to begin, with Jay emerging wearing a tuxedo in front of a live band that rocked his lesser-heralded hits that true fans recited word-for-word in between posting footage to social media.
The reported highlights of the night was when Jay brought guests out to perform with him. They included hip-hop luminary Nas as well as two of Jay’s other former adversaries, Cam’Ron and Jim Jones, in what may have been the trio’s first public performance together ever.
Scroll down to see those and other scenes from a legendary night for New York City rap and hip-hop overall.
