the dotmatrix project

photos by James Looker and Mickie Winters

When a cello toting, semi-rhyming, folk artist comes after you for your Bonnaroo show debacle, do you swing back?

This has to be new battling territory. If there truly is a God, there will be a response from Kanye.

Dear Kanye

Dear Kanye
You’re letting me down
You got the biggest bat in the game
But you can’t hit the ball
It’s the heavy weight match
And you’re off in the corner punchin’ at the wall

Dear Kanye
Don’t let us fall
You’re at the diplomatic dinner
With fine china and all
A silver fork in your hand
But still you spit and gnaw

Greatness is a glass elevator, and so you are, if I recall
So use it make some real change not just advertisements at the mall

No one needs a light show
Just good flows
You don’t need a light show
Just good flows

Dear Kanye
Keep icin those knees
And when your paycheck comes
Will you remember your busted screen
Your crown of thorns is sensational
But it’s not what makes you bleed

Cause there’s a young man
His rhymes set him free
He loves what you do but he can’t seem
To shake the septic sanction of the streets
He’s reading your blog and all he finds are commercials
For stuff he’ll never need

You have a good idea now put some shoes on its feet
And try to make your Loop Dreams a real priority

You don’t need a light show
Just good flow
No one needs a light show
Just good flow
You don’t need a light show
Just good flow

Dear Kanye
It’s time to let go
You’ve gathered the moss of
More than a dozen sullen stones
People want music on a real stage
Not the one you bring along

(via BlueGrassRoots)

Erica and Dima are pretty steamed over my post from last week where I stated that Kanye West didn’t care about Bonnaroo people. I also called him a Diva in passing, which probably didn’t help ingratiate me with fans either.

Since that comment thread is now completely steeped in spiraling emotion from all sides, I’m going to clarify my thoughts here. If this topic is a deader horse to you than Secretariat, please feel free to move on.

I want to share some of what Kanye has said on his own blog today to help me flesh out my thoughts (read the full post for total context. Sorry or the all caps, they’re not mine):

[...] I’M FUCKING HURT BY THIS ONE. ALL I CARE ABOUT ARE THE FANS. JUST SAY THIS OUT LOUD IN A ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE, “KANYE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT GIVING A GOOD PERFORMANCE.” CAN ANYONE HONESTLY SAY THAT ????????? HAS ANYONE EVEN TAKEN THE TIME TO AT LEAST DO THE MATH??? BONNAROO SHOULD HAVE RELEASED A STATEMENT IN MY DEFENSE BUT SINCE THEY HAVEN’T LET’S BREAK DOWN THE WALLS ON THIS TRUMAN SHOW AND LET YOU KNOW WHAT REALLY OCCURRED!!! FOR OVER A MONTH WE WENT BACK AND FORTH ON WETHER OR NOT WE COULD EVEN FIT MY STAGE AT THE FESTIVAL. ONE DAY THEY WOULD SAY YES… WE’D SEND THEM OUR SPECS THEN THEY THEY’D SAY OK… THEN THEY WOULD SEND SPECS BACK THAT DIDN’T FIT THE STAGE. WE WERE OBVIOUSLY DEALING WITH FUCKING IDIOTS WHO DIDN’T REALLY HAVE THE CAPACITY TO REALLY PUT ON THIS SHOW PROPERLY. THEY TRIED 2 GIVE ME A TIME SLOT WERE IT WAS STILL LIGHT OUTSIDE … I HAVE A FUCKING LIGHT SHOW DUMB ASS, IT’S NOT CALLED GLOW IN THE DARK FOR NO REASON SQUID BRAINS! MY PEOPLE WORKED OUT A COMPROMISED STAGE PLOT AND A 3AM TIME SLOT AND I AGREED. FAST FOWARD TO THE DAY OF THE SHOW. MY PRODUCTION MANAGER TRIED TO LOAD IN FOR 24 HOURS BEFORE I WENT ON STAGE BUT THE FESTIVAL WOULDN’T ALLOW US TO DO ANYTHING UNTILL PEARL JAM LEFT THE STAGE. PEARL JAM ENDED ONE HOUR
LATE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT THAT POINT WE’RE RACING AGAINST THE SUN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AT 4:20AM DON COMES BACK 2 THE BUS AND TELLS ME, ” IT WOULD TAKE 45 MORE MINUTES TO PUT ALL YOUR PYRO IN!” I SAY I HAVE TO GET OUT THERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. [...]

Ok, let me try to present my thoughts in context to those comments:

“KANYE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT GIVING A GOOD PERFORMANCE.”

That was not the indictment I heard coming out of Bonnaroo.

People that I know, who were there, told me that Kanye’s attempt to put on the “Glow in the Dark” show by any means necessary was the problem they experienced. No one I know or any quote I’ve read has questioned his desire to put on the best show possible. People are questioning his decision to force his production setup into a situation where the outcome could affect the festival experience in a negative manner.

Speaking of his production setup…

[...] FOR OVER A MONTH WE WENT BACK AND FORTH ON WETHER OR NOT WE COULD EVEN FIT MY STAGE AT THE FESTIVAL. ONE DAY THEY WOULD SAY YES… WE’D SEND THEM OUR SPECS THEN THEY THEY’D SAY OK… THEN THEY WOULD SEND SPECS BACK THAT DIDN’T FIT THE STAGE. WE WERE OBVIOUSLY DEALING WITH FUCKING IDIOTS WHO DIDN’T REALLY HAVE THE CAPACITY TO REALLY PUT ON THIS SHOW PROPERLY. THEY TRIED 2 GIVE ME A TIME SLOT WERE IT WAS STILL LIGHT OUTSIDE … I HAVE A FUCKING LIGHT SHOW DUMB ASS, IT’S NOT CALLED GLOW IN THE DARK FOR NO REASON SQUID BRAINS! [...]

I understand that Kanye wanted to reach a different audience with his current production, but if Bonnaroo was having so many issues with the specs, why chance it? Either pull out all together or go with a toned down production setup, rock the mic and leave people wanting more. It’s not like he’s never rocked a set without the Glow in the Dark gear, right?

And I do understand that his whole show right now — set list and all — is dependent on interactions with this production. But if he’s that locked into his stage setup in order to perform, the decision to pull out should have been much easier to make. Similarly, Bonnaroo could have made the very same decision.

Obviously, the gig was important to both parties, so in the end his people pushed, Bonnaroo pushed back, they negotiated a reasonable solution that both parties agreed to and both proceeded to roll the dice of creating an uber headline time slot, which depended on everything running perfectly at 3am in the morning in order to come off.

[...] MY PEOPLE WORKED OUT A COMPROMISED STAGE PLOT AND A 3AM TIME SLOT AND I AGREED. FAST FOWARD TO THE DAY OF THE SHOW. MY PRODUCTION MANAGER TRIED TO LOAD IN FOR 24 HOURS BEFORE I WENT ON STAGE BUT THE FESTIVAL WOULDN’T ALLOW US TO DO ANYTHING UNTILL PEARL JAM LEFT THE STAGE. PEARL JAM ENDED ONE HOUR LATE!!!!!!!!!! AT THAT POINT WE’RE RACING AGAINST THE SUN!!!!!! AT 4:20AM DON COMES BACK 2 THE BUS AND TELLS ME, ” IT WOULD TAKE 45 MORE MINUTES TO PUT ALL YOUR PYRO IN!” I SAY I HAVE TO GET OUT THERE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. [...]

Reading his account, as a human being, I can totally feel for the guy. I absolutely picture him pacing around, losing his mind more and more as each minute passed and the chance for dropping a great performance slipped farther and farther away from his grasp.

That said, I have little pity for the business man Kanye West. He empowered “his people” to leverage his influence, genre expanding potential, etc. to negotiate the Bonnaroo people into allow him to take the stage following the headline act with this complicated setup.

Bonnaroo blaming Pearl Jam for giving the crowd what they wanted would have done nothing except send a message to all future potential headliners that their headline status doesn’t mean much in reality.

Both parties messed up big time. The show should have never happened, but the promoters wanted the crowd to experience Kanye West and Kanye West wanted the exposure of the crowd, so they both took the risk.

And the people who stuck it out til 4:15am suffered for it.

I’m going to append my previous post title to reflect this new found conclusion — in the end, neither party cared much about the Bonnaroo people.

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