MANSFIELD - The Tweeter Center got its first taste of flashing lights and pounding bass Thursday night as a veritable hip-hop and R & B all-star team took over the venue on opening night of its 2008 season.

Hip-hop luminary Kanye West was the main attraction on his "Glow in the Dark" tour, but he brought a few friends along for warmup duty.

Chi-town native and West protege Lupe Fiasco represented for hipster cool, garnering a strong response from a crowd that was still trickling into their seats as he rolled out "Kick Push" and "Daydreamin'." He doesn't have the radio recognition of the other artists on the lineup, but he's does have one of the crispest, energetic live flows in the business.

Granted, with West's mammoth set blocked off by a black curtain, Fiasco had only a small front portion of the stage to work with, but he worked it well.

The night's only exercise in pointlessness was the set from N.E.R.D, which turned into some kind of weird intergalactic dance party with a six-piece band onstage and R&B honey Chris Brown lurking in the shadows to perform some breakdance moves. For all the catchy beats they've sold to other people, they couldn't buy one onstage, instead focusing on a series of hard rock numbers - such as "Lapdance"- that got the crowd jumping but didn't sound all that appealing. And they played into the worst of hip-hop cliches by inviting a busty female who hasn't yet discovered the art of support garments onstage to play backup dancer. R&B songstress Rihanna delivered a space-ready set full of wardrobe changes, glow sticks and hits including "Pon de Replay," "Unfaithful" and "Breaking Dishes." The entire set felt like a buildup to her biggest hit, "Umbrella" and the grey slabs onstage that took about 20 minutes to load didn't seem to have a point, but Rihanna did give some entertaining nods to other artists with snippets of M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes" and Lauryn Hill's "Doo Wop (That Thing)."

Memorable as some moments were, all of the acts paled in comparison to Kanye West, who delivered probably the best rap set in recent memory.

The storyline was this: West was deserted on an unknown planet, with his talking spaceship his only companion. Dressed in what appeared to be tattered Star Wars gear, West traversed the barren landscape of his new home arising from his crash landing to the sounds of "Good Morning" and rocking a stage as massive as his ego for the next hour and a half.

But if West is confident, he's justified. Few, if any, rappers could stand alone on a stage, minus the cliche cruch of hype men, chains and sagging pants, and still seem larger than life.

West ripped through a number of hits, including "Through The Wire," 'Can't Tell Me Nothin'" and an intense "Diamonds from Sierra Leone." The Chicago native was focused, intense, and at times, nearly desperate, already dripping with sweat four songs into his set and weaving an air of triumph mixed with loneliness throughout his performance.

The set was short on typical rap garbage, minus a couple of golden girls onscreen during "Goldigger," and instead heavy on emotion. From "All Falls Down" to the poignant dedication to his now-deceased mother, "Hey Mama" and a frenetic, pulsating "Stronger," West was fiercely determined.

The moral of the story wasn't necessarily subtle, but it was especially important in a rap genre diluted with one-hit wonders: Shooting stars are here today and gone tomorrow, but only the brightest stars, the kind that can glow in the dark, can get us where we need to be.