photo by metalhazetc
UPDATE: Title appended based on this post.
My main man, Billy D, hit up Bonaroo last weekend, so I figured I’d get the Kanye West story straight from someone who experienced the debacle first-hand.
Warning: A painful description of an out of touch artist lies ahead:
Alright Sean here is what happened.
Kanye West was supposed to play his show at the same time as Jack Johnson (around 8:15ish) but a few days before the event Bonnaroo sent an official email out letting everyone know that Kanye West had requested a later time so he could show his high-dollar stage and light show that was part of his “glow in the dark” tour.
The time that was available, as well as the space that was needed for his stage set-up, was the main stage (What Stage) at 2:45am on Sunday morning. This was a bit late but because most folks are up late seeing all the bands on the small stages it was not a big stretch for most fans.
Here is where it all falls apart.
Pearl Jam played an extra long set that went over an hour past their designated time. This would not have been a big deal because there have never been any bands play the main stage after the main act of the day until this year to accommodate Kanye West. Because of Pearl Jams overage it apparently started to eat into the time the Kanye’s crew needed to set up his elaborate stage and the clock was ticking… When 2:45am came and went m and my fellow Bonnaroovians started to get a bit nervous. Rumors were flying that he had canceled and then the huge screens to the left and right of the stage flashed a message that the show was delayed till 3:15.
The first round of boooooooos went through the crowd.
3:15am came and went and some people started to leave. I had committed to staying because I really wanted to see the show. I have seen many live hip-hop shows and was hoping that it would be worth the wait. The crowd became more and more restless and they flashed up on the screens “postponed till 3:45am” and the crowd went wild with boos again.
To make a long story short it kept getting postponed and when he finally took the stage it was 4:30am. At that point I was a bit bitter because there were so many bands like Ghostland Observatory and other hip-hop acts like The Coup and Talib Kweli that I had not gone to see just to see Kanye West… I made it through “Diamonds from Sierra Leonne” and the sun started coming up so I left.
All I could think is that I got what I deserved for putting Kanye West in front of “Boots” Riley”, shame on me… The funny part is that the crowd at Bonnaroo would have been just as happy to have Kanye West on the stage just rapping and pouring his heart into his music, but at the end of the day he gave us a visual tour de force when no one even cared.
Right on the heals of my last post about building community with live performances we get this shit. Talk about no respect for the people you’re supposed to be vibing with. Check out some of the fan comments on this Village Voice article about the experience:
Elle: I went to Bonnaroo and I can confidently say I will never, ever buy any of Kanye’s music again. He was blatantly rude, pompous and to be quite honest put on a horrible performance.
nick: [...] the best part? this is a glow in the dark show. by the time he was done, it was light out. his final song led to him laying back down on the stage like he was going back to sleep. then the lights turned off and the show was over. BUT! since it wasn’t dark… he was just laying on stage. he stood up and walked down a ladder. the worst-most-embarassing dismount ever. what an idiot. [...]
Jay: I was there– the guy sucks. I mean I have seen high school plays that were better than that crap. He has earned grammy’s??? I sure hope he was just having a bad night, otherwise the music industry is about hype and NOT performance. [...]
Todd: [...] i’d forgive him if he apologized even now for it instead of blaming the crowd (the drunk/whatever crowd of young adults that had been awake for the last 20 hours standing in fields listening to speakers larger than their apartments set on 11) or his staff or anyone else. i was in the front section and i just stood there the whole time shaking my head in disbelief as to how he could continue this pre-recorded-looking performance without even acknowledging us. [...]
Lori: [...] What made the other acts so great was their musicianship and connecting with the audience. Too bad an artist as talented as Kanye didn’t realize that’s what the Bonnaroo experience is about.
That’s what all live performances should be about, but I guess a Diva will be a Diva, on wax or in person.
Here’s more of the love from the Bonnaroo crowd:
photo by kentkessinger
photo by jsnoblit
photo by n8foto
there were tons of setbacks; what did he do to say he doesn’t care about those at bonnaroo?
——-
hmmmm.
before i read this post i read the linked AP story first.
my first thought was, could pearl jam be any more unprofessional by coming off of the stage an hour late when they knew of his massive set????
it wasn’t just that they finished late but they then had to clear pearl’s set as well.
some people are just too apathetic. they could have ended their show with the same passive attitude that many have when they think they don’t like kanye’s personality.
i don’t like michael jackson’s personality but wow he makes great music.
not saying kw is an mj but his personality shouldn’t matter.
a lot of my friends that went to bonnaroo aren’t even die hard fans of kanye but would have gone to see him since it was available. [i'll check to see how they felt about this, probably the same]
i really think this was the case with MOST of the people that went.
i wish we could ask who of these people that complained were they fans before this.
i saw his “glow in the dark” concert and it was the craziest things i’ve ever seen; it was great. he has one of the most expensive sets ever made. even though he has certain songs and comes out looking cocky, it’s to cover up how insecure he is. he has this massive setup to impress his audience. he doesn’t have a band to help the lead with showmanship, this is his compensation. he only spends this crazy money for his fans to appreciate it and spread the word.
it’s for them. he’s about his fans.
sometimes people think just because they have good music they will be successful. people will buy the music but if they show is not intriguing it’s not going to go too far. people need to be more creative.
play to your crowd, you know? thousands of hippie-ish people in the audience means that they’re there for the music, first and foremost. rescheduling your show to 2:45am to put on a light show during the craziness of a festival is only asking for trouble.
kanye has no alternative set for daylight hours? (even though 8:15pm is pretty late)
pearl jam went long, but that’s the dice you roll when you reschedule your set from the side stage to the main stage to follow the main act. pearl jam was the featured act that night. the people wanted more, so they gave more. that’s probably why bonnaroo didn’t initially schedule anyone after them and since most people there were much bigger pearl jam fans, there was no way they were going to make pearl jam wrap it up.
it’s pretty diva’ish for kanye not to understand where he was playing and work with it.
he’s a big act, and i’m sure most of the crowd at bonnaroo that wasn’t a kanye fan was wide open to be won over by his performance, but he rolled the dice and shit happened.
I was one of the people that left the stage area at 4 in the morning chanting “Kanye sucks”. He, like most of the other artists, should understand that they have an opportunity to make a good impression on large numbers of people who have not heard or would not normally listen to their music. These people for the most part serious music fans too who are willing to shell out a lot of money for their love.
As for the impact of his diva ways, Pearl Jam might’ve played longer (although 3 hours from them is a lot) but the promoter did stop them so they could start the stage set-up. Phil Lesh and Friends were asked to stop their show early, because Kanye and Phil didn’t want to play at the same time. The person who may have benefited the most was Jack Johnson who put on a good performance at the time Kanye was originally supposed to go on. It was rumored that Kanye didn’t want to go head to head with Jack Johnson b/c more people would have gone to see the mellow rocker.
Personally, I was disappointed because I did want to watch his show, but was even more disappointed by the fact that like Billy D, I would have gone on to explore more music at that time.
Bonnaroo is a big deal no matter how big or small you are. Where I think he got off track was making the decision to do the “glow in the dark” stage set-up and act. It was so choreographed that it went against the sensibilities of most of the bonnaroo crowd.
Last year the Flaming Lips did a stage show with lasers and their awesome UFO where Wayne came out in the crowned in this bubble and… I can’t say enough to explain how unreal the whole performance was. The difference is the interaction with the crowd. The whole time The Lips were giving the love and the crowd was giving it back.
Bonnaroo has certainly made strides to be more than a Jam Band festival and anyone that looks at the schedule will see that. The difference is that the crowd at bonnaroo spent their money not only to be at Bonnaroo but to be part of the Bonnaroo experience and without fail every single person or group I went to see talked to the crowd and let the crown know how appreciative they were that everyone came to see them. Lets face it at any given moment you have the option to go see as many as six other acts.
Kanye could have come out and said sorry for the delay and that he was going to give Bonnaroo his best. The crowd would have forgiven him and probably talked about how awesome his show was… well maybe not.
Anyway, the lesson is know your audience. If I had bought tickets for the “glow in the dark” tour at a coliseum I would have a different expectation as to what I would be getting. After spending three days with real musicians connecting with everyone His act just felt very contrived and the connection was empty.
Hey Kanye. On size does not fit all!
Oh yea, definitely ya’ll.
Kanye is not an experienced performer. He’s only been doing it for a few years and since he thinks his music is so amazing he’s thinks that should be enough.
He should have done the concert differently I agree that “Glow in the Dark” was probably even too “showy”, if that’s the word. It is about the MUSIC for people who actually go to festivals for live music. yea Billy, know your audience is just like for a DJ and he used to DJ so he should really know.. :)
Also, Kanye couldn’t apologize. I don’t think he’s able to do that on the spot. It would mess up his image? He might come out with a statement later. lol.
A scheduling screw-up at a rock festival? Say it ain’t so! Sounds like a replay of the famous Sly Stone/Who mixup at Woodstock. Sly went way over and the Who didn’t take the stage till the wee hours. They thought it was one of their worst gigs ever, but of course it’s gone down in history as one of their best. And by the time Jimi Hendrix went on, almost everyone had gone home.
Maybe Bonnaroo should just make everyone use the same the backline, i.e., drums, amps, etc. No time to set up fancy-pants lightshows or a million-and-one effects pedals. Just plug in what ya brought and wail, like they did on the package tours back in the 50s and 60s. That’d speed things up a bit.
for some reason i don’t think leaving a drum kit on-stage would’ve helped kanye… unless he lit it on fire and called that the glow show.
just one question…. how exactly did you expect Kanye to come up with a whole other set for one show at bonnaroo?? thats a pretty expensive request to be asked for a concert that wasn’t even his fans… he’s in the middle of his ‘glow and the dark tour’. it just seems like it had to be what it was.
right… because hitting the stage as an emcee and moving the crowd to your joints can’t be done without pyrotechnics.
another angle for success would’ve been to stick to his originally assigned stage and time — how long did he know he was going on at 8:15pm? the time didn’t seem to be an issue until he saw the stage he was to perform on.
Kanye may not play a lot of festivals, so maybe he doesn’t know how they’re supposed to run. It’s not just another stop on your tour. A festival is about the event as a whole, not necessarily the individual perfomers, so short teardowns/setups are a must if you want to avoid a lot of dead air. Adhering to your given time so as not to throw everyone else off track and not requiring a lengthy soundcheck are also pluses. I’ve done sound and stage-managed at multi-act shows, and you really have to be prepared to put your foot down to keep things moving along smoothly. The promoter really went out of his way by agreeing to let Kanye move his performance in the first place.
It also might not have been out of the promoters way to accommodate him.
We don’t know the reason why he changed the time of his performance, people selfishly think things could have been done differently
is there not other ways to think about the situation? like, “hey, i don’t know why he did what he did, maybe it was out of his hands, i guess i can’t be too angry”
do ya’ll think it was better for him to cancel the set and not perform at all? The promoter wanted him enough to suggest him take the last spot on the concert on the main stage.
i guess now it’s the promoter’s fault..
f*** the promoter!
lol.
The move was to accommodate Kanye. It was a last minute request by his camp so he could give his full “Glow In The Dark” show. it was so last minute that it was not even reflected in the printed guides for the weekend. here is what they sent out a few days before Bonnaroo. The only thing that was out of his hands was the Pearl Jam stage breakdown… However you spin it, the situation was unfortunate on many levels.
“6/9/2008 4:14:24 PM
We are excited to announce that Kanye West will now be performing a late night show on the Main Stage on Saturday, June 14th instead of the previously announced time! This scheduling change is being made to allow Kanye to fully present his critically acclaimed “Glow In The Dark” show.
This show marks the first time that anyone has played a late night set on the Main Stage, and it promises to be one of the festival’s many highlights.
We have also shifted a few other artists, so make sure to check the schedule for updates!”
exactly.
anyway it’s spun, ‘the situation was unfortunate on many levels’ and so many people are bent out of shape even though they don’t know exactly what happened.
the promoter was excited. kanye might have planned to do a regular set but the promoter thought it would be a treat to do the all out glow in the dark.
so many spins.. which way is right?
i’m waiting on a statement from kanye before i can say shame on him
being a promoter (on a much smaller scale, thank god), i highly doubt the bonnaroo folks were “excited” to have kanye make history by becoming the first act in bonnaroo history to go on directly after the headline act… at 2:45am… with a ridiculously intricate “glow in the dark” setup… all last minute.
promoters don’t fuck with the program like that; artists do.
promoters want to make the audience as happy as possible.
‘glow in the dark’ was the most amazing show i’ve ever seen; if the promoter saw it he would think it would be a treat for his audience introducing them to something new.
well we don’t know why it happened and i’ve said my piece.
there’s probably no convincing ya’ll that it might not have been his fault; maybe some people were looking for a reason to be upset with him since they didn’t like him, his personality or music in the first place.
ridiculously intricate setup??? Too bad when that show came to raleigh recently, (I had a gig that night and couldn’t make it) I heard from over 20 different people that it was the best show they had ever been to and some even said “It changed my life.”
Kanye is a perfectionist and strives to do the best he can do at all times. He wanted to show this new crowd the amazing show he knew he was capable of giving. Unfortunately it didn’t work out that way, but things happen, and I would come no where close to saying he “Doesn’t care about bonnaroo people.”
way to boil it down to we’re all haters, erica [i just added your name, erica. dima responded while i was writing to you]. did that title hurt you, dima? based on the reaction of tons of individuals who were there, i’d say that it represents what they were feeling.
yes, dima, the setup was intricate. or do you not take danny’s word on how festivals usually run? this wasn’t the “kanye west show”… or was it?
Um excuse me…. Way to attack me Sean… im pretty sure i wasn’t the only one who said something about the title. thanks.
Just because that was the audiences reaction, DOES NOT MEAN that he didnt care!
and i didnt say the setup was not intricate, because it was intricate, which is why so many people love that tour. Im saying i dont think its ridicuous that he wanted them to see that show even though it didnt work out that way which once again, you do not know all the reasons for.
p.s. I call that hating… and not even only to kanye.
i reported what a friend of mine experienced and posted a number of comments from other people who were there…
so, please, let me apologize for reporting it as such, crafting a title that reflected the general sentiment of the vast majority of people who were actually there and somehow attacking you in my last comment — something that i truly didn’t attempt to do.
attack your position? yes. you? no.
and kanye, if you’re out there, i know you’ve had a hard time sleeping over the existance of this post. you’ve dealt with and conquered a near death experience, the recent loss of the most important person in your life and now i’ve gone and done this — reported what you experienced first hand. not to mention that i used deductive reasoning to bet that you asked bonnaroo to change up and not the other way around.
please accept my apology as well.
look for the sun to rise in the east tomorrow.
These were music fans that stayed up till 2:45 to see the guys show. The people that did not like him were either at other shows or in bed…
I love the devil’s advocate stuff but these things are not planned days in advance; they are planned months in advance because there are many tours to plan around and guides to print.
It does not matter who’s fault it is the end result is the same, I missed some good music and was rewarded by a mediocre performance as the sun came up…
Jane…Jane… we need to stop beating this dead horse. Affirmative Mr. West the horse beating has been discontinued.
eek.
Sean,
well, the thing is that you reported the experience of less than 20 people and took it as fact through your deductive reasoning.
the only conclusion that could be met from your findings is that less than 20 people told you they were dissatisfied with what happened; exactly where you started.
even on the first comment to this post i said in my first couple of sentences:
“there were tons of setbacks; what did he do to say he doesn’t care about those at bonnaroo?”
at the end we’re right back at this point. your deductive argument is flawed because A does not equal a factual C when you use a few opinions (and offensive messages towards him) as B.
Kanye has a massive set to impress anyone that sees him perform.
20 of your friends told you they were not impressed by his show.
Therefore Kanye doesn’t care about Bonnaroo people?
That doesn’t really work out.
(the conclusion could be more like “bonnaroo people don’t care about kanye”)
also, it would seem like you’re attacking her because the only name brought up in a sarcastic/negative light was her’s. maybe even just debating the comment instead of “attacking” the comment would be more understandable.
i’m also very sure that kanye’s been sleeping very well lately, i’m so surprised you’re so worried. just kidding since i know you’re being sarcastic here as well. he has dealt with and conquered some amazing feats in his life. i would shudder to think you’re being sarcastic here.. and “now you have done this”; given your opinion as fact in order to “hate” (as you put it) on an individual based on one experience (and a few opinions of a celebrity’s personality when you never know who they really are, right?).
your report is not first hand either, at best, it’s second because you weren’t there. good thing you didn’t bet on weather or not this happened the way you assumed, you couldn’t have won without him explaining what happened (maybe the promoter could tell you but i’m sure he would have covered it up esp if it was partly his fault) you probably didn’t know that every time he’s done something that offended his fans he has apologized for it. even those fans who are offended by his “self absorbed” personality he made the song “It All Falls Down”.
i’m sure he accepts your apology, although, i’m sure he wasn’t offended. a bit sarcastic sean?
and hopefully the sun will rise tomorrow i’m glad you’re so confident about that as you are about kanye not caring about your friends.
sarcasm doesn’t seem like the best way to “attack” someone’s position. especially when all of your arguments are not factual nor founded upon it.
…
like i said, the sun comes up in the east. that’s *all i know for sure*. i’ve always respected kanye; here i’m leaning towards he messed up. where’s the blood for the foul?
it’s 7:50pm in LA. go have some fun, you two.
i’ll go have some fun, thanks.
Wow, a lot of anger flying around here about some dude named Sean’s perspective. Who cares?? Like no one has ever commented on something they read or heard about… Isn’t that what blogging is about? RELAX and get mad if it applies to you personally. Life is too short.
i wish i could, it’s more like i get mad if you talk wrongly about someone else, even if i don’t know the person.
my fault for having a heart and speaking my opinion.
would you rather me not comment? I thought that was part of the experience of blogging too. the author gives perspective and readers give their’s back as a give and take.
:)