0 Jay-Z “ROC”s Madison Square Garden.

Sold out shows his whole career…

In commemoration of those firefighters, police and victims who lost their lives on September 11 due to the terrorist attacks, Jay-Z put on an “Answer the Call” concert in front of a sold out NYC crowd at Madison Square Garden. With a cast of superstars that made an appearance on stage with Hov, this benefit concert was probably one of the best put together shows ever performed by the 39 year old legend. Jay performed 30 songs from his previous 11 albums over the two-hour set that could’ve been seen live on Fuse TV.

It couldn’t get much more professional that how Shawn Carter did it though. He kicked off his show with the Pledge of Allegiance and right after was a stellar performance by the guitarist who performed a Jimi Hendrix like Star Spangled Banner. Then Hov showed his NYC crowd love by performing a handful of New York anthems. These included Empire State of Mind, Where I’m From and Brooklyn We Go Hard.

There’s no doubting that New York is Jay-Z’s town and that he has love for it like it does for him. The whole arena didn’t sit down once during the whole show and they chanted “HOVA, HOVA” ...
in between every song. His tributes to those fallen victims of September 11th were highly emotional and respectful. Jay-Z held a moment of silence three-quarters into the show, but the most emotional moment of the night came later when a montage of the faces of the men and women who died on 9/11 was shown.

The music itself was just another amazing aspect of the show that DIDN’T go unnoticed. All of the musicians played each song to perfection…and when Jay-Z performed Dirt Off Your Shoulders, artist John Mayer accompanied him on the electric guitar and rocked the stage. And that wasn’t the only collaboration that made Jay-Z’s performance a great one. When he dug into the box of classics, he pulled out one of his first hits, Can’t Knock the Hustle and brought out Mary. J Blige to perform it with him. When Pharrell came out, you already knew what it was…I Just Wanna Love You and Excuse Me Miss were among the songs that the friends did together onstage. Off his new Blueprint 3 album, he performed Empire State of Mind with Alicia Keys and Already Home with Kid Cudi.

And those weren’t even half of the stars that made an appearance onstage with Jay. Kanye, Rihanna, Memphis Bleek, Beyonce, Diddy, Santigold and Swizz Beats were all seen with Jay-Z during his show.

But it's the context of the show that gave all of his songs a deeper meaning. "We're here to celebrate life, to celebrate strength," Jay-Z said at one point. And with music this hard, he captured the city's character..

SETLIST: Pledge of Allegiance/Star Spangled Banner / Empire State of Mind / Where I'm From / Brooklyn Go Hard (w/Santigold) / Heart of the City (Ain't No Love) / Already Home (w/Kid Cudi) / Diamonds/Jigga My — / Izzo (H.O.V.A.) / Jigga What, Jigga Who / U Don’t Know (w/John Mayer) / D.O.A.(w/John Mayer) / Run This Town (w/Rihanna and Kanye West) / Kanye West - Can’t Tell Me Nothin’/Good Life / 99 Problems / Venus vs. Mars / Beyonce - Diva / Show Me What You Got / Give It to Me (w/Pharrell) / On to the Next One (w/Swizz Beatz) / I Know/Allure (w/Pharrell) / Dirt Off Your Shoulder / Can't Knock the Hustle (w/Mary J. Blige) / Mary J. Blige - The One / Money Ain’t a Thing/Excuse Me Miss/Feelin’ It/Can I Get A../ Big Pimpin’ / Hard Knock Life / Young Forever / Encore (w/Diddy)

Congrats HOV,

Stay F.A.D.E.D.

Bp

Jay-Z “ROC”s Madison Square Garden.