Kanye West at Revel

Kanye West played the first of two back-to-back sold out shows at Ovation Hall at Revel resort and casino in Atlantic City on Friday night.

The rapper, producer and dater of Kim Kardashian - who, yes, watched him seemingly adoringly from the same box stage-left box where Michelle Obama sat for Beyonce in May - kicked off the show by rising above the crowd on a crane on "Dark Fantasy." (Could he get much higher? No, he couldn't.)

Over two hours later, West finished with the sweetest moment of the night: "Hey Mama," in tribute to his mother Donda West, who died in 2007. In between, he dropped wicked a cappella verses from his recent singles, "Cold," "Mercy" and "New God Flow," sang a handful of auto-tuned ballads from his 2008 album 808s and Heartbreak and performed almost all of 2010's terriffic My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, all with the help of a DJ, two musician programmers and 12 ballet dancers.

"I'm not perfect," West said. "But my music is!"

Steve Nash was the most buzzed about non-Kardashian celebrity sighting of the night. Pusha T. came on stage to rap during "Runaway." An almost-in-focus picture of Kim Kardashian that I took with my cell phone is here. West plays another sold out show at Ovation Hall on Saturday night.

A full review will be up online on Philly.com on Saturday.

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