He repeated to the crowd. “AIM HIGH!”

That was Kanye West’s message tonight at the Honda Center in Orange County.  As Kardashians walked the corridors, a camera-happy Zac Effron bounced around, and drunk college girls dropped like flies around the stadium, the artist shouted out all the people who believed in him, including APC, Gary Schoenfeld of PacSun, and adidas.  He reminded us that as children, we could dream big and new with each morning.  Kanye held his tongue and restrained himself from calling out the L.A.-based agencies who asked him why he couldn’t just stick to music.

“AIM HIGH!” It was a demand, not an encouragement or a request.  AIM. HIGH.

It was the best part of his performance.

I’m a Kanye fan.  I love most his music. I really liked the latest album.  But for a musician who declared that his outsmarting the media was about us – the people – and not himself… I did feel a bit outsmarted by the show.  I’m appreciative of fashion, performance art, and theater, but even I was alienated at times to the point where I felt a disconnect with the music (The mask doesn’t help). It was not until he removed the guise and sank back into his library of hits – had he proven his point – and the performance swelled.

Here are some shots from my vantage point at tonight’s Kanye West concert.  From atop the most Instagrammed mountain of the year.