The show kicked off with “Where I’m From” and “Brooklyn Go Hard,” Jay-Z accompanied by a band which included two drummers hitting the hell out of their kits in alcoves at the top of the gleaming panels. Tonight would be a homecoming show to end all homecoming shows, at which Jay-Z was not merely paying tribute to Brooklyn-he was Brooklyn, wearing a Nets shirt ("Brooklyn" on the front, "Carter" on the back), Nets cap and great coils of gold chain around his neck. Light streamed through a doorway in the middle of the stage, Hove’s silhouette was visible at the end of a tunnel, and 19,000 fans screamed. In the countdown to Jay’s actual arrival, a video montage was beamed onto a sleek slope of reflective panels on the stage, chronicling Brooklyn’s evolution from tiny Dutch enclave (called Breuckelen) to densely populated cultural mega-hub the images sped up, the crowd roared as the Notorius B.I.G.’s face briefly beamed down-and then it was time. As far as the rapper and mogul’s myriad successes go, Friday night was a peak among peaks: as we noted in our preview, Brooklyn boy Shawn Carter is now part-owner of the Nets basketball team, whose new home ground is the Barclays Center the team’s move to Brooklyn means that the borough has a major-league sports team for the first time since 1957. This was the first night of the star’s eight-show run, which marked the official opening of the Barclays Center. The build-up to Jay-Z actually coming onstage on Friday night was as delicious as it was excruciating.
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