The ego landed Sunday night at Blaisdell Arena.

Call the ever-brash Kanye West full of himself. Call him arrogant. Or just call him mad self-confident. Love him or hate him, hip-hop's reigning superstar puts on an ambitious live show that leaves no doubt the critically-hailed, multi-Grammy-winning studio master is also a live performer to be reckoned with — hell bent on redefining what a live hip-hop show can and should be.

No stage-roaming posse or dancers were there to deflect attention from any potential shortcomings in the headlining performance, a la 50 Cent and Fabolous a couple of years back. West has too much confidence in his live stage prowess for that kind of nonsense, and rightly so. There was very little display of bling. And the show carried on for a whopping (by hip-hop standards, anyway) hour and 45 minutes, with little padding.

West's accompaniment? A seven-piece, all-female string section of cellists and violinists, a couple of backup singers and the stunning skills of multiple world-title-winning DJ A-Trak on the turntables.

Impressive as these artists were, however, each was clearly there only for support. West left no doubt from start to finish who the true star of his show was.

He opened with "Diamonds From Sierra Leone," making his appearance center stage under dramatic blue lighting. Sporting a powder blue jacket over a white dress shirt, loose faded blue jeans and white designer shades — he'd change jackets and eyewear three more times during the evening — West flashed an appreciative smile that seemed to say that, brashness notwithstanding, he needs an audience to make the whole package work.

Though filling only two-thirds of the arena, the audibly amped crowd let West know early on about its enthusiasm. From there, West just made sure his show touched on almost everything the crowd wanted from his two discs, "The College Dropout" and "Late Registration."

Working every inch of the stage, West didn't need any special effects to make it work. Every bit of lyrical flow from hits such as "Heard 'Em Say," "We Don't Care," "Through the Wire" and "Slow Jamz" arrived crisp and enunciated, the musical accompaniment sounding suprisingly clear in the usually muddled arena.

Some highlights: