photos by Brian Ach/WireImage
"It was 09.09.09, a date burned into the popular consciousness as an almost astrological convergence of music and technology marketing. The date had been set, the branding tie-ins had been tied in, and the product was all set to go on sale to a salivating public.
No, not The Beatles: Rock Band. And not Apple's latest iTunes tweaks, either. Rather, it was time to promote "The Blueprint 3," the latest release in the ever-expanding franchise known as Jay-Z.For the occasion Jay-Z performed a guerrilla show on Wednesday night at the Blender Theater at Gramercy, a 600-capacity club on East 23rd Street in Manhattan, with help from MySpace Music and DJ Hero, a new video game that adapts the Guitar Hero model for hip-hop. It wasannounced barely 24 hours before, and 250 fans were given free tickets. (The other 350 or so in attendance were assorted V.I.P.'s from the companies involved, and from the news media. They didn't pay, either.)Jay-Z's 74-minute, 25-song set, played with a 10-piece band that included two drummers and a three-part horn section, was a muscular, virtuosic and totally satisfying performance, both in older hits like "Big Pimpin'" and "99 Problems" that are now hip-hop standards, and in material from "The Blueprint 3." But that was only part of the experience. Before his set the audience was held captive to a demonstration of DJ Hero -- its controller resembles a turntable and crossfader, and the player scratches virtual vinyl..." [NY Times]
More Jay-Z show pictures below...
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