Get a scissors and cut out this story. (Print a copy if you're reading it on the Internet.) Then take the article into a room, turn off the lights and the review will glow in the dark. Trust me, it will.

Kanye West's Glow in the Dark Tour that visited Target Center on Wednesday was the best arena hip-hop show ever. Forget those memories of Jay-Z, Eminem, Nelly or -- if you're old enough -- M.C. Hammer.

Kanye performed with the kind of urgency and intensity summoned for someone's last performance. He was as vein-poppingly passionate as Bruce Springsteen, as dramatically over the top as Bono, as powerfully graceful as Savion Glover and as gloriously sweaty and hard-working as James Brown.

The 31-year-old Grammy-winning superstar's show was really more like an extravagant one-man hip-hop opera than an arena concert. In sort of a collision of Close Encounters and Wizard of Oz, he took 9,998 fans on an intergalactic journey into the center of his hyper-creative mind. His spacecraft crash-landed on an unknown planet and his only companion was the spaceship's computerized voice, Jane. He tries to get home to Chicago.

OK, the story line is a little hokey and egomaniacal ("You're the biggest star in the universe," Jane tells him at one point), but Kanye's performance made up for it. With his band in the orchestra pit, and surrounded by stunning visuals, he tore through songs from his three hit albums, especially the current "Graduation." The peppy "Champion," buoyed by a Steely Dan hook, was gripping and triumphant as Kanye combed the stage with a dancer-like strut. "Good Life" was roof-raisingly uplifting. Old favorites sparkled, too, including the energetic "Gold Digger," the dramatically sanctified "Jesus Walks" and the personal and vulnerable "Hey Mama," in honor of his mother, who died unexpectedly in November.

Kanye stepped out of the narrative only once, chiding a concertgoer for tossing a glow stick onstage. "It throws me off," he explained. "I'm trying to do something different." And he did -- glow-in-the-dark different.

Befitting the ambition of Kanye's Glow in the Dark Tour, he enlisted three powerhouse opening acts. N.E.R.D., the middle opener, rocked the house with its amped up rap-rock. Sounding like Parliament-Funkadelic on steroids, this oversized ensemble led by superproducer Pharrell Williams galvanized Target Center with the rumbling funk of "Brain" and the bouncy, celebrative "Everybody Nose"

Chicago rapper Lupe Fiasco, who opened the evening, was almost as impressive, with his creative and versatile combination of beats, rhymes and sounds (from vocal jazz to pop). Minneapolis vocalist Matthew Santos joined him for four songs, including the smash hit "Superstar."

At this point, the review isn't going to glow anymore because Rihanna, the best known opener, was a disappointment. The popular 20-year-old hitmaker failed to light up the stage with her voice or personality. Looking hot isn't enough. (By the by, her famous bob is gone, replaced by a Beatles-like bowl cut.) She needs to give the crowd passion, not merely attitude. The fans sang along with "Umbrella," an emotional highlight, and the potent ballad "Unfaithful."

Fade to black.

For set list and fan comments, go to www.startribune.com/poplife.

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719