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June 16, 2008

Bonnaroo: 'Kanye Sucks'

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AP:

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.

Village Voice:

I’ve talked to quite a few people today who are pissed at Kanye West after his performance last night. About a week before the festival began he apparently asked Bonnaroo to re-schedule his Saturday evening show for 2:45am Sunday morning so that he would have enough time to put on the fancy light show he’s been touring with lately. Festival staff complied with his wishes and sent out a hasty e-mail about it to everyone attending Bonnaroo.

So at 2:45am last night half the people here were standing in front of the massive What Stage waiting for Kanye to come on. By 3:15, they started getting antsy, and still no Kanye. By 3:45, people were pretty pissed, and still no Kanye. Finally, he rolled out his trillion-dollar show at 4am, without so much as a brief apology for the delay. The show ended after 5am, as the sun was coming up. Needless to say, lots of folks here are pissed off.

NYT:

Somebody’s got beef. Waiting until 4:30 a.m. to start his set, originally scheduled for 2:45, did not endear Kanye West to his audience or to fellow musicians. Robert Randolph, the gospel slide guitarist, came dangerously close to cussing as he complained about Mr. West, and since he was in the middle of a fierce, bluesy, one-chord raveup, with T-Bone Burnett playing blues licks like snakebites, his putdown arrived with extra force. After his set, the crowd chanted “Kanye sucks!”


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Previous comments include

#1 Doug Shock says:

Kanye SUCKS. He didn't belong at Bonaroo anyway. Don't blame Pearl Jam for Mr. West and his BS.

#2 ken says:

i was there for the robert randolph kanye chant and it was the most amazing thing.

Kanye SUCKS!

#3 brother Mayhem says:

its a hip hop show, its going on late. get used to it

#4 booger says:

Early in the show, between songs Kanye says, very quickly "Fu*k all the whiney people here" . Find a recording and check it out.

#5 Jordan Catalano says:

Yeah man, I'm a Kanye fan, but if you wanna roll with the big dogs in front of the unforgiving masses of Bonnaroo, you'd better come with something more than a talking spaceship.

Remember that part in "Purple Rain" where the club owner starts going into Prince about giving the people want they want, and to get over all of that artsy shit?

Hey Ye, I'll loan you my DVD copy if you need a refresher course...

#6 jared says:

kanye sucks. what an asshole and shitty performer. i can't believe i waited 2 hours for that shit.

#7 Jordan Catalano says:

Actually, if you think about it, Kanye kind of pwned Bonnaroo. I mean, considering that Pearl Jam played an epic set (as did My Morning Jacket), it's interesting that the one act that people are actually TALKING about was from Mr. West. Love him or loathe him, it's funny how no one can simply ignore him. Always the sign of an effective artist...

#8 God says:

Dear Kanye,
I'm the guy you're always thanking at awards shows. Maybe rather than thanking an imaginary puppeteer-friend in the sky, you should start demonstrating some thanks to your fans. Those are the people who buy your music and wait around until the sun rises to see your live performance. Hurry up and start treating them with respect...they're the ones who made you rich....and soon they can leave you behind in the dusty, forgotten used bin like another MC Hammer. Being an egomaniacal freak isn't an attractive quality. So rather than talking to me, spend some time talking to a shrink and get yourself a reality check.

#9 surprised says:

Not very professional . . . we can only hope Kanye compensated for the late performance by having an extra large entourage on stage, just hanging out and looking "hard"

#10 Brittany says:

I was there for all of this. I wasn't too excited for Kanye to begin with since he didn't really fit in with anyone else at the show. Seriously, when you have a field full of people waiting to see you at 2:45am but don't decide to come out till 4:30, your gonna piss some people off. I left at 4:15, and I'm glad I did. I'm more angry that I stood there for 3 hours after Pearl Jam waiting for this asshole...

#11 jiminy cricket says:

i wasn't there, but this kind of diva behavior is predictable. take what he did to so-me at the mtv europe awards, do a kanye search on youtube and you find plenty material his self-boasting ego...

this guy has got to learn to be humble and respect his crowd, because people like to destroy pop-stars as much as they like to build them... no need for references on this one

#12 ugh, kanye says:

I love kanye's music, but he is such an asshole. I don't think it will effect a lot of his fanbase though, just because so many people accept his ridiculous behavior as if it adds to his appeal. I mean that for alot of people it's "oh, look at kanye go crazy again! he's such a maverick, i love him!"

#13 E.J. says:

I was there and what I still don't understand is this enormous line of bullshit they're feeding about setting up the stage.

If the stage wasn't ready to go at set time, why did people involved in the setup fail to make any appearance until after the last delay was announced? Once the giant screens read "KANYE WEST UP NEXT!" instead of the time he was coming on, suddenly there were people moving around pieces of the stage and doing light checks. That was 3:30am.

It's not classic Kanye, it's not interesting or funny, Kanye didn't own Bonnaroo. He owned himself ONLY because he didn't say anything. The delay wouldn't bother me if he had said one fucking thing to anyone in that audience. Now, it's an issue. Without those few little words, what amounts to a minor issue suddenly becomes unforgivable.

I don't care who you are. If something happens to fuck up your show, apologize to your fans. It's not their fault. Say something. Don't act like you need someone to change your huggies, especially when you've proven that you're better than that at other shows where similar shit went down.

#14 Dennis Hopper says:

I dig pants and country western, but once Kanye hit the stage, I got an extension in my pants that I could not quite understand. Point is, Kanye was worth the wait...

#15 cee-lo says:

Kanye sucks! He had no reason being at that festival and doesn't deserve to breathe one breath of Bonnaroo air. The fact that Phil Lesh and Friends late night set was cut an hour short due to his performance is an atrocity. If it wasn't for people like Phil this festival would have never happened in the first place. This just goes to show you how things have changed. F Kanye, F Superfly, F all the people who came to bonnaroo just for him. Stay the F away from the farm next year.

And brother mayhem, not sure if you ever been to a festival, but obviously there's always late night music going on. Usually in tents where you can still hear the music from the campgrounds some, but not a blaring sound from the main stage at 5:00 in the morning when thousands of people are trying to sleep to rest up to see real artists perform the next day.

#16 Johnny B says:

No matter what the excuse for making everyone wait so long, a sympathetic apology would have been nice, and the simple fact that kayne could have cared less means he should not of been there in the first place, its all about the love baby, and I think Kayne and his trillion or so dollas really dont love us.


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