Kanye to Host His Own Chicago Benefit
Kanye West will return home to Chicago to perform at the House of Blues on August 24 as part of a benefit for his own Kanye West Foundation, a nonprofit that provides music production and creative arts education for students in underserved communities.
Most of the money raised from the Chicago show, the foundation's first benefit concert, will go toward establishing the Loop Dreams Teacher Training Institute in Chicago next spring. The goal of the institute is to train Chicago Public Schools teachers in using hip-hop to liven their curricula and inspire students to stay in school.
A few surprise celebrity guests will join Kanye on the House of Blues stage, where he will perform material from his forthcoming Graduation (the release of which has been pushed up to August 21) and preview his Glow in the Dark tour, which kicks off this fall.
True to the foundation's mission, Kanye will host about 200 kids at a Pre-Show Sound Check Bash where they will get the chance to see how the MC prepares for his performances.
Before the Chicago show, Kanye has a few UK and European dates as well, the first of which is August 11 in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Speaking of surprise celebrity guests, there's a rumor going around that Kanye and Radiohead's Thom Yorke recently hit the studio together in New York City. God we hope that's true.
Oh, and that awesome art up there? That's the cover of the "Stronger" single.
Dates:
08-11 Gothenburg, Sweden - Way Out West Festival
08-16 Edinburgh, Scotland - Edinburgh Corn Exchange (T on the Fringe)
08-18 Chelmsford, England - Hylands Park (V Festival)
08-19 Staffordshire, England - Weston Park (V Festival)
08-24 Chicago, IL - House of Blues (Kanye West Foundation benefit)
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