There were hardly any staged effects beyond smoke and coloured strobe lights flashing around. But it did not matter as special effects were not what the 4,000-strong crowd of young adults and teenagers had come for at the Kanye West Touch The Sky concert on Sunday.

The 29-year-old hip-hop/rap superstar had the crowd eating out of his hand as he performed tracks from his debut album The College Dropout and sophomore production Late Registration.

At 8.15pm, those who managed to get into the stadium had the pleasure of watching Malaysian hip-hop rap act Too Phat, comprising Joe and Malique, along with DJ T-Bone and DJ Goldfish, warming up the crowd with an energetic 25-minute performance.

However, the audience was kept waiting for more than half an hour after the warm-up performances ended. It was not surprising that restlessness began to set in as stage equipment was fine-tuned and after a while, scattered boos were heard from the audience.

Still, it was well worth the wait when the show finally got underway at 9.20pm as West came on stage with an all-female seven-piece musical ensemble and two Afro-American dancers/backup vocalists.

Keeping his shades on throughout the concert, West constantly danced from one end of the stage to the other as he worked to pump up the enthusiasm of the audience.

West never remained in one spot for more than a few seconds, thus making it tough for fans to capture good shots with their camera phones or digital cameras.

West kept the momentum going practically non-stop, and the audience really got into the spirit of things, singing along with the artiste, cheering exuberantly, waving their arms in the air and dancing to their hearts' content.

A group of young Japanese men, who were packed with other concertgoers at the arena area in front of the stage, were rapping loudly and shouts of 'konichiwa' (good day/hello in Japanese) were heard occasionally.

When the stage darkened at 10.40pm after 100 minutes of fun and enjoyment, there was no encore performance despite the shouts of "We want more!" from the audience.

"I am a social artiste. I don't follow politics. I am quite emotional and like to express whatever I feel at that particular time," West told reporters during a press conference held at The Ritz-Carlton, Kuala Lumpur before his debut concert. Also present were Universal Music Malaysia managing director Sandy Monteiro and Pineapple Concerts Sdn Bhd managing director Razman Tan Sri Ahmad Razali.

"It will be a big and scary jump. Also, it will reprise many of the guest artistes from my previous albums. No surprises there," said the 29-year-old, who gained fame by producing hit singles for major hip-hop/R&B artistes such as Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Janet Jackson, Eminem and Ludacris.

West also said work on the album was not easy. "Every album I make is more of a challenge than the previous one," said West, adding that among his favourite songs were Heard 'Em Say, Touch the Sky and Gold Digger from his previous album Late Registration.

"Every time I perform those songs, they have a big impact on the audience," said West, who is also developing his own line of designer clothing.

West sees his passion for both music and fashion as part of being an artiste."It is all for designing and bringing art to the world for people like Karl Lagerfeld. It can be clothing, car, watches, music or home furnishing," said West, who pointed out that he once studied fashion design.

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