Kid Cudi wrapped up day one of Rock the Bells’ Los Angeles area date, but before he emerged from a cave-like structure on the stage, the crowd heard some ground rules first.
Kid Cudi wouldn’t allow pictures at Rock the Bells at San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore, so here is a poor drawing of his stage set instead. (Vanessa Franko/Staff)
Rule No. 1: No pictures or video of Kid Cudi’s performance allowed.
Rule No. 2: No throwing things onto the stage.
Rule No. 3: No pushing and shoving
Rule No. 4: Keep partying alive? (I think that’s what I heard, but it seemed way more Andrew W.K.)
I kept expecting number five to be “The fifth rule of Kid Cudi is to never talk about Kid Cudi” a la “Fight Club.”
I’m not sure about rules 2 through four, but number one was definitely broken by everybody and their cell phone. However, I squashed my inner rebel tendencies and instead of snapping a forbidden picture of the cave that could have belonged to an Austin Powers super villain, I drew the stage instead (see right and see why I write instead of draw).
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The cave was the predominant structure on stage. Rock shards shaped like obelisks lined the front of the cave. At the top of the cave there was a large white circle, with black concentric circles with dots and the outline of a man drawn inside. I have chosen to recreate that man with a stick figure. Kid Cudi even had a little row of low rocks in front. It was like a white picket fence fit for a caveman. Or, with the celestial space theme going on the screens, maybe it was a space cave?
Anyway, when I saw the stage, I had no idea what to expect when Kid Cudi appeared outside of it, but he was wearing a black ringer T-shirt with white 3/4 length sleeves with Pink Floyd on on the front of it. His pants were black leather with white panels and weird zippers on them.
As he moved around the stage, opening with the song “REVOFEV,” I kept noticing how wide and bright his smile was, which then just made me more confused about rule number one.
I heard him do “Down & Out” and “The Soundtrack to My Life” before I started making my way to the door to beat traffic and rest up for a second day of Rock the Bells fun, in which I might just speak to everyone in Wu-Tang Clan and ODB song titles.
I’ll be back here tomorrow and if I can get a signal, you can follow me on Twitter at @vanessafranko, too!