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Kanye West, Starman. 

In a bold, audacious stage presentation that managed to evoke both the Flaming Lips and peak-period Michael Jackson, Kanye West’s “Glow in the Dark” sci-fi spectacle Tuesday night at the Ford Center challenged the conventions of concerts, hip-hop or otherwise.

Opening sets by Rihanna and N.E.R.D. were played in front of a black curtain obscuring West’s elaborate stage. When a jagged remix of Daft Punk’s “Harder Bigger Faster Stronger” blasted through the sound system and the lights came up, West appeared as a space traveler crash-landed on a distant planet, conversing with an onboard computer named Jane and rapping “Good Morning,” from 2007’s “Graduation.”

West spent the entire show alone on stage, rapping and singing “I Wonder,” “Heard ‘Em Say,” “Through the Wire” and “Champion” as his band played in a pit at the foot of the stage. Most of the songs from “The College Dropout” and “Late Registration” were given a new electronic shine that meshed well with the synthesizer sheen of the “Graduation” tracks and the sci-fi trappings of West’s concept.

The sloping stage featured a ramp surrounded by sand dunes and an enormous screen that continually displayed comets, stars and nebulae, setting the various stages of West’s situation and establishing a loose framework for his songs. As the opening chords of “Flashing Lights” played, a cluster of purple orbs descended from the ceiling, leading into charged performances of “Gold Digger” and “The Good Life.”

Despite the carefully choreographed staging, West was able to connect with his audience, leading into “Jesus Walks” with a promise to God that he will “stop spazzing out at awards shows.” He ended “Hey Mama” with a shout-out to his Oklahoma City-born mother, the late Donda West, saying “Mama, we’re back home — Oklahoma City.”

West closed out the show with a return to Earth brought on by “Stronger,” “Homecoming” and the finale, “Touch the Sky.” The success of the show required the audience to swallow West’s concept, and there was ample evidence that the crowd was fully onboard for West’s space ride, with thousands making a “diamond” symbol with their hands during and after “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.”

Although Lupe Fiasco was a no-show (local R&B performer Tony Williams and Chicago rappers GLC filled in), Rihanna delivered a solid warm-up with hits such as “Umbrella” and “S.O.S.,” along with a cover of M.I.A.’s “Paper Planes.” N.E.R.D., the rock-rap hybrid led by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of the Neptunes, was much stronger, delivering “Lapdance” and “Brain” with crowd-stoking ferocity. All in all, West and his colleagues made sure that his “Glow in the Dark” delivered incandescence.

— George Lang