Jesus Walks - Live Performances

Live Performances

Thanks to its fervid sound and widespread popularity, "Jesus Walks" has since become a crowd favorite and Kanye West has performed it on numerous occasions around the globe. West included the song within the set list of his School Spirit Tour that took place in early 2004. An early live performance of the song occurred in his hometown of Chicago at a concert with Dilated Peoples held in the House of Blues on May 5, 2004. West provided a performance of "Jesus Walks" for the opening of the 2004 BET Awards, in which he stood behind a pulpit and was accompanied by a choir, drumline and gospel singer Yolanda Adams. While serving as the opening act for Usher's The Truth Tour, West performed "Jesus Walks" as his finale. West opened the 2004 MTV Video Music Awards with a theatrical performance of "Jesus Walks." He led a 32-member choir around an arena filled with audience members holding artificial candles and had stained glass windows descend from the ceiling as he joined John Legend, Chaka Khan, and Syleena Johnson onstage. During his appearance at Dave Chapelle's Block Party in September, West performed "Jesus Walks" accompanied by a Central State University marching band. He provided a performance of "Jesus Walks" during his brief appearance at Brixton Academy in London on November 24.

West performed "Jesus Walks" at the 47th Grammy Awards ceremony just prior to his receival of the award for Best Rap Album. This performance, which featured West's mother Donda West, was joined in a sequence with Mavis Staples and John Legend's rendition of "I'll Take You There" and a performance of "I'll Fly Away" by the Blind Boys of Alabama. At the conclusion, the performers encircled and covered West, who eventually emerged donning an all-white suit with large angelic wings. That July, West played the song during his set at a Live 8 show held in Philadelphia's Museum of Art, where he was backed by an eleven-piece female string orchestra decked out in black masks and garments. As he played, Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff danced to the song backstage. Accompanied by a seventeen-piece, all-female string orchestra, West performed "Jesus Walks" live for an exclusive concert held at Abbey Road Studios in London, England on September 21. The performance was recorded and later released on a live album entitled Late Orchestration. He included "Jesus Walks" within the setlist of his Touch the Sky Tour that took place in late 2005.

Wearing a Detroit Pistons jacket, West performed the song for a pre-game concert held during VH1's Pepsi Smash Super Bowl Bash on February 2, 2006. He played "Jesus Walks" near the end of his concert at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on February 12. The following week, West performed the song once again at the Manchester MEN Arena with DJ A-Trak, two backing vocalists, a nine-piece female string orchestra and a harpist. The performance concluded by displaying an image of the Cristo de la Concordia on a gigantic monitor. West played "Jesus Walks" during his appearance at the first day of Coachella 2006 in Indio, California, where he later on had A-Trak spin A-Ha's "Take on Me" while he danced onstage to the delight of the audience. On June 22, West performed the song while attending a benefit held in New York staged for the non-profit Foundation for AIDS Research.

Kanye provided a performance of the song during his set at Live Earth 2007, before joining The Police and John Mayer onstage to perform "Message in a Bottle" for the concert's finale. West performed "Jesus Walks" live for the Concert for Diana held at Wembley Stadium on July 1, 2007 to a crowd of over 63,000 people. An estimated 500 million people watched the event in over 140 countries worldwide. The very next day, West performed the song as the finale of his gig at the Manchester Apollo for the Manchester International Festival. "Jesus Walks" was included within the setlist of West's conceptual Glow in the Dark Tour that first took off in late 2007. During the concert, an LCD screen seated behind him displayed a skyline filled with lightning bolts while fumes billowed from the stage on the hook. That August, West played "Jesus Walks" at the Exdo Event Center in Denver for a private show at held for Bono's humanitarian organization ONE. West gave a performance of "Jesus Walks" before an audience of 3,000 students during his free Stay In School benefit concert at Chicago Theatre on July 11, 2009. He performed the song in Hyde Park, London while headlining the second and final day of the 2009 Wireless Festival.