'08
Kanye West was not feeling the love this weekend at the Bonnaroo music festival in Tennessee. His late night performance at the festival was delayed for two hours due to circumstances beyond his control, but that didn’t stop concert goers from chanting “Kanye Sucks.” Even though it wasn’t Kanye’s fault that the show was delayed- it was actually because Pearl Jam’s set went an hour long and it took a long time to unload their set and bring on West’s elaborate stage show-fans assumed that the delay must have been due to his notorious diva behavior. See, this is what happens when you regularly act like an egomaniacal jerk.
Kanye West’s late night performance at Bonnaroo was delayed nearly two hours, angering the festival crowd who responded by chanting “Kanye sucks” and pelting the empty stage with glow sticks.
West had been scheduled to take the main stage at the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival at 2:45 a.m. Sunday morning. While the sleepy thousands in the audience waited, a message on the jumbotrons told them West’s show would be delayed until 3:15 a.m., and when that didn’t happen, that he would start at 3:30. West didn’t hit the stage until 4:25 a.m.
The delay was caused by problems setting up West’s elaborate stage set, which included an interplanetary landscape of a wavy black platform with a slanted floor in the middle and a video screen above. West performed a spectacular galactic-themed concert complete with interaction with his spaceship, a disembodied female voice named Jane (a kind of sexier HAL).
Ken Weinstein, a spokesman for the annual festival held on a 700-acre site south of Nashville, said the delay was simply a matter of unloading the Pearl Jam stage (the band went an hour past its scheduled end time, playing until about 1:15 a.m.) and loading the West stage.
The festival, which boasted more than 150 acts spread out over four days, was otherwise very punctual. The West delay was all the worse because of its already very late schedule, and many campers lost energy before the concert and returned to their sleeping bags. Midway through his performance, the morning light showed that the crowd had dwindled substantially.
West had originally been slated to perform at 8:15 p.m. Saturday night, but requested a late night performance. At least in the first hour of his performance, West didn’t address the crowd regarding the delay.
Later Sunday, the Bonnaroo crowd was still upset. Pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph led a “Kanye sucks” chant.
A spokesperson for West didn’t immediately return a request for comment.
Given his ridiculous behavior in the past, it’s hard to have sympathy for Kanye on this latest incident, even if the delay wasn’t really his fault. It sounds like the audience didn’t have much good will toward West to begin with. To his credit, though, he does put on a hell of a show. But I wonder if he would have been better off taking the 8:15 p.m. slot right from the beginning. I’m sure his elaborate set wasn’t quite as exciting at 4 in the morning. Also- I guess I am way too old to consider going to one of these festivals, because the idea of staying up all night like that makes me want to go back to bed this morning.
Kanye West is shown performing at the “HOT 97 Summer Jam concert at Giants Stadium in
Rutherford, New Jersey” on 6/1/08, thanks to WENN.
Written by MSat
Posted in Concerts, Kanye West
29 Responses to “Kanye West gets booed for delayed Bonnaroo performance”
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shoot, I live just down the road from the festival and you could not pay me to go over there and be abused by shouting rude twits like Kanye.
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Maybe if he relied on his talent instead of elaborate sets it wouldn’t have taken so long to set up.
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When your arrogant, people tend to be less understanding. He should have been ready for it.
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KANYE SUCKS
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Oh those trustafarians… :shakeshead:
I love festivals & dancing around barefoot in the grass, but I wouldn’t be caught dead at Bonnaroo either. Too many damn people
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Haha bodhi
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i was at bonnaroo and was 20 feet from the stage and everyone was so mad. everyone was booing him. he cut the act short too. everyone was so angry and the crowd actually broke one of the t.v’s on the set. kanye did dodge some glowsticks but overall the show was awesome. if it wasnt for pearl jam he would of been fine….
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Doesn’t surprise me at all. This guy has such an inflated view of himself and his music it’s laughable. Say hello to the reduced bin, joker.
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I was there and approximately 20 feet from the stage as well. The show was delayed due to circumstances byond his control however, the way he handled the delay was ridiculous and showed his lack of appreciation for his fans.
He (or another Bonnaroo official) could have easily come on stage and explained the delay to us, his fans who waited for his performance until the sun came up. He never once aknowledged the delay, apologized, or even thanked people for waiting for so long.
His show was mediocre. He acted like he didn’t care to be there, cut his set short, and left the stage without a word. He NEVER once addressed the fans.
As it is understandable that he was upset about fans “Booing” and throwing things, breaking some of his set, the way he reacted to this circumstances was disprespectful to the people who stood outside all night waiting what was supposed to be an epic performance.
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I was at Bonnaroo when this happened, and it was NOT because of Pearl Jam’s extended set that Kanye was late. His stage was already set up at 2:15am when we got there, 30 minutes before he was supposed to have started. Everyone knew that Kanye wanted to be the only person performing, so he waited for Phil Lesh’s set to end before he took the stage. It was rather convenient that 10 minutes after Phil Lesh stopped, Kanye’s set began. He’s a prima donna and he completely disrespected his fans, and because of that he’s now dead to me.
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I was at this show as well, not 20 feet away like a few others but I was there for the entire wait and about 4-6 of his songs.
There was most definitely a problem with his stage set up, more specifically the TV directly behind him. They eventually put on the show with a monitor that had an obvious malfunction. It had red LED lights that were on the entire show, even while the monitor was suppose to be black.
His show was like a bad broadway play or some TV movie. He was shown up by virtually every performer at bonnaroo. I was looking forward to this show from a casual fans perspective. I wasnt pissed at him for the wait because it was obvious there was a problem with his equipment and those workers were working FRANTICALLY. What I did find offensive is that he didnt acknowledge the crowd OR the incident? He simply started his obnoxiously loud show and was determined to stay in character. I swear virtually any other performer at bonnaroo would have done SOMETHING (play acoustic, tell stories, connect with fans) during that huge 1:45 hr break. Nope not Mr. West .
I suspect that this will hurt his career. The fans that attend bonnaroo are very music savvy. His “cool-ometer” or “street cred” has taken a hit. If he is truly talented he will survive, if he is not then he will have peaked.
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His set doesn’t sound very suited to a music festival to be frank.
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Hey yall,
I’m not a Kanye fan and purposely missed his show to sleep an extra hour or two so I could be up for Widespread with Robert Randolph. All the talk in the morning was how much he sucked. Yes, yes, the youngens were pissed and they should be. Lupe and Talib were fantastic, by the way! Kanye’s a poser and Bonnaroo brass should think hard when they introduce MTV talent into a live music festival. Keep Kanye on MTV; keep Bonnaroo alive!
Peace yall,
J -
All u people who say kanye suck are stupid. It was not his fault pearljam played late. Not his fault dam set people took so long. To the guy who said kayne took the staged 10 minutes after phil ended you are either retarded or took some really good acid. It was well over an hour after phil stopped. i was pissed it was over 2 hours late. But the show was worth it. It was tight as hell. Its a dam music festival the late night show. If you cant stay up all night take some drugs to help you. The reason people are pissed is beacause their buzz ran out. he could have addressed the fans at some point in the show but he was probably as pissed as the crowd.
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First of all, Kayne along with most of the hip hop artists dont care what the fans think, as long as they get their money. Work on your music, not effects of a show. Your talent as a songwriter is overrated and your fans are posers. Take the time slot you’re given, I heard he wanted PJs timeslot. Cmon, PJ is one of the greatest/most influencial bands to walk the planet. You have NO PURPOSE even performing at the same festival as them, and then you treat the fans as if they are dead because they got pissed that you and your crew suck, You have no hardware to set up, No drums, guitars, amps, soundcheck. Kayne is and will always be scum. Connect with the fans dude, Thousands of fans to connect and you cant say anything? Figure out what music is about before you claim yourself an artist, typical of the average hip hop act(all of them). You need a magical setup cause your music cant hang.
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Actually, Rolling Stone is reporting this a bit more accurately “According to our source, Kanye didn’t want to go on until Phil Lesh and Sigur Ros had finished playing their late-night sets on Bonnaroo’s other stages; he also had an enormous stage production.”
AND BECAUSE of Kanye’s demand to be the only one playing during his set, Phil Lesh not only didn’t play past over his scheduled time (as per usual), but acutally cut his set short at 3:30a (instead of 4a). I can handle a show that starts at 4:15, but I don’t want to sit around waiting for other shows to finish when I could be watching these other shows (including Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Chali 2na, Phil Lesh, etc.). I should also point out that because he delayed for so long, the GLOW IN THE DARK show lasted well into sunrise. On the bright side, the dialogue between him and the spaceship was unintentionally HILARIOUS! -
Haha, it’s funny how the press edits everything…the crowd wasn’t yelling “Kanye sucks”; they were yelling “F*ck Kanye”. I don’t care how famous you are, you don’t show up two hours late to perform without a legitimate excuse.
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Kanye Sucks!
Dead - To - Me
I waited 2 hours for nothing, I left, he lost a lot of fans who didn’t really like him much anyway.
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I was there and am a Kanye fan. I understand his stage took awhile to set up but the fact he never apologized to the fans or said anything in regards to the wait or even being at bonnaroo was upsetting. On top of it all, it apeared as though he might have been lip-synching.
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wake up mr. west…wake up mr. west
f*ck kanyeat the portables at bonnaroo, someone drew on the door a star and underneath it it said: Kanye West Dressing Room.
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While not his fault that the other concert ran long, the fact that his show only lasted less than an hour and he never acknowledged the crowd at all. The show was flawless though, he is truly perfectionist, i just wanted something different then the exact same thing I hear on his cd that ive already played out
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Prima donna bitch!!!!!
Your a rapper with no clue. Who in their right mind would want to follow one of the greatest Rock’n'Roll bands, Pearl Jam.
Duhhhh! Figures all your rap fans would be gone after a 2+ hr set of rock n roll music.
Loser! Go on at your scheduled time of 8:45PM-keeping people awake with your no talent rap music is merciless!
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I was at Bonnaroo this year and waited over an hour for Kanye to come on stage. I am one of the people who thinks Kanyes music is decent but can’t stand his attitude. I was hoping that he would prove everyone wrong and show me something about him I could like. He didn’t do anything to prove he is worth while. And I have to say after Bonnaroo made accomodations for his show, it was ridiculous that he was so late.
And I am so sick of hearing that it was PJ’s fault for going an hour over set time. If PJ was ONE hour over their time that meant that Kanye should have been ONE hour over his time. Not only that, but Bonnaroo fans were there to see bands like PJ, not second rate acts like Kanye.
Maybe Kanye is getting a bad deal because of his notorious attitude, but I say he deserves it. If he had a better attitude from the get go then it wouldn’t have been an issue. And the crowd is owed something other than lies about the tardiness of the show. It is just in bad taste.
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I was very impressed with the amazing job that Bonnarroo did over all. The West incident was the only mishap, and I think it’s noble of Bonnarroo spokesperson to assume some of the blame. There were so many incredible performances and the entire experience of Bonnarroo (coming in as a Bonnarookie) was super positive, it’s a shame that the hate and mud-slinging has to be the main topic of media attention. Media piranhas love disaster. I had an amazing time, was blown away by Gogol Bordello and danced my bootie off to Widespread, Stephen Marley and Backdoor Slam. Thanks Boonarroooooooo! See you next year!
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Kanye is beast and will stay beast, and no drugged out hippies will change that
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2 hour deley….with no explaination to your fans?….what is he stupid? your fans are THE most important element to your career…with out them…you have no career…they are who keeps you in that fancy mansion…and drivin that Bently…an apology was needed at the time when you got on the stage….not after when your in the confort of your home reading about how you gettin blasted..and all because of your ego and your dam props..real rappers dont need that crap…hollywood has deffinately gone to this man’s head..i dont care if my artists have to perform in the rain wit 5 people in the audiance….the show will go on when schedualed… check us out!
http://www.corporate-hustle.com -
DISCLAIMER: KANYE IS A FUCK, NOT BECAUSE HE WENT ON LATE BUT BECAUSE HE REFUSED TO GO ON WHILE PHIL LESH WAS STILL PLAYING. Phil is a legend and if Kanye has so little respect for a far more talented and devoted human he doesn’t deserve to be a performer
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Oh, and “Wes”: Kanye is like 5′4″ and would get his ass kicked by a 12 year old girl, he’s about as far from “beast” as you can get. (he’s also about as far from “good rapper” as you can get too)
Kevin:
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I was there:
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WHAT!!!!!! They threw stuff on the stage and he didn’t stop the show and put the spotlight on the culprits and have them removed. Man Kanye, where is your integrity? Guess what Mr. West, the fans is where the money for your Bentleys, over priced champagne, and gold grills come from. If you act like a no class jerk most of the time, people will be less inclined to cut you some slack when things don’t go your way. Ask Tommy Gal Cruise.
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