Shelby Kiger has been listening to Kanye West since she was in third grade, and she said she’s been following his work ever since.
On Thursday, AMC Showplace Bloomington 11 screened the live premiere of both West’s latest album, “The Life of Pablo,” and the third season of his clothing line.
Although there was a fairly positive reception to the album, poor organization and technical difficulties at the premiere’s end left Bloomington viewers confused and wanting closure.
Erin Libby and Kiger, IU sophomores who attended the screening together, wore matching “Yeezy Taught Me” T-shirts. Libby said she had high expectations of the event.
“For me, it’s all about the experience,” she said. “I’ve been listening to Kanye since ‘Yeezus,’ but I think the new album will sound like ‘808s & Heartbreak.’”
West’s event happened at Madison Square Garden and was streamed in select theaters around the world. Once inside, viewers silently waited as they watched footage of the crowd filing into the stadium.
Upon entering, viewers were told to head to theater 10.
Because AMC was not running the event, viewers checked in with Teal Strabbing, a Fathom Events employee who was monitoring access.
“I had no idea what event it was when they announced it,” Strabbing said. “They kept it a secret, so they didn’t tell us.”
Although the theater holds 292 viewers, Strabbing said the event sold roughly 100 tickets, which she thought was a good turnout for a Thursday afternoon.
Jonathan Rightsell, a Bloomington resident, said he was looking forward to the event because of how confidently West had been promoting the album.
“For me, it’s going to be an experience,” he said. “Musicians don’t normally do things like this, so he must be confident in himself.”
Being notoriously late, West started the event 20 minutes later than scheduled.
After viewers watched footage of Kim Kardashian West and her family being seated, West arrived with a laptop in hand and played “The Life of Pablo” in its entirely from the laptop.
Hidden underneath a large tarp in the middle of Madison Square Garden were the models wearing West’s latest fashion line. As his songs played over the speakers, the cameras focused on various outfits.
Throughout the event, contrasts were made between the models, whose dystopian, bleak outfits and cold stares were presented against West, who was dancing and singing along with close friends and album contributors.
Audience members gasped, laughed and applauded at various lines and surprise cameos throughout the album.
But once the album ended, the event slowly simmered out.
Viewers sat in awkward anticipation as West unplugged his laptop from the auxiliary cable to plug in an iPhone.
Several songs from the album were played twice.
At one point, West unveiled sneak footage from “Only One,” a video game he created that tells the story of his late mother ascending into heaven.
After the first screening, West immediately played it a second time, explaining how difficult it was to create.
After multiple hiccups, the live stream cut out. Following a few seconds of silence, a technical difficulties title cued viewers to leave the theater.
Steven Leonard, an IU student, said he liked the music but was looking forward to listening to the album independently from the visuals.
Yuvraj Duggal, who attended the event with Leonard, said he was confused when the event would actually end.
“Don’t get me wrong, I liked the music,” he said. “It was just pretty unorganized. It was a bad presentation and was aesthetically unpleasing.”
