A month ago the NYTimes‘s Jon Pareles reviewed Kanye’s Glow In The Dark tour stop at MSG saying “There is a new yardstick for the size of the universe. It is approximately equal to the size of Kanye West’s ego.” Yeah Kanye’s ego’s big — making thousands of kids wait two hours later than an already incredibly scheduled 2:45AM start time is simply the latest lesson in Umm Duh — but no Jon Pareles, it is not the size of the universe. It isn’t even the size of the sun. You know what’s the size of the sun, guys? The fucking sun. The sun is bigger than even your ego could dream to be, Kanye, and the sun won’t wait to rise so you can make sure the section of the stage where you do your sneaker-slide move is properly waxed. And when the sun rises, stuff no longer glows. And also it is no longer dark. Your show doesn’t make sense in those conditions. So Glow In The Dark should probably be performed in the dark. I think I just successfully interviewed to be your new tour manager. You need one. Hire me.
OK, I feel better now. Thing is, I respect Kanye for trying to do something different with this tour. I get that he’s a perfectionist, and was probably making sure the stage was perfectly constructed or something (that’s the benefit of the doubt I gave him while I watched people collapse in drug seizures trying to stay up — seriously). Maybe the mainstage was backed up ’cause Pearl Jam went a little late, they tend to do that. And all the cool visuals on the background screens, the inventive stage shape and use, the up-spits of flame, the song rearrangements, etc. all probably transform, and kill in, an enclosed space. Instead the only thing that died was the concept, and in broad daylight (although “Good Morning” had a cool if unintended effect as the set opener at 4:40). A straight set of jams would have gone down a whole lot better (ala Lolla).
That’s not to say Ye didn’t try — he was totally invested in each dance move, every lyric, and all the sorta cringy interactions with Jane The Spaceship. Just like seeing a band pour their heart out in the rain well past bedtime, of course I had a touch of that special recognition and who-gives-a-fuck-this-is-will-never-happen-again vibe that comes along with the memory in the making. That’s why I just wish he could have deviated from the script, even for like 20 seconds, just at the end, to acknowledge the moment: “Thanks for staying up with me and watching the sunrise” would have been nice. We didn’t even get a proper wave goodbye. I mean come on Kanye, I know not every word you speak up there is necessarily scripted.
Anyway Ye has a strict no photo policy, so I definitely did not take this with my iPhone at 5:25AM:
And all that said — greeting the sunrise with “Good Life”? At least we got a few minutes of awesome.
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you guys are losers
first off i am a fan of kanye,not really anymore.thank you kanye for being so fucking terrible at bonnarooz, i was so pumped to see him . if anyone hasn’t seen him act, man you are lucky.he should get over that huge ego and try to play good music, if he can even do that.no one that knows anything about music can say that he sounded good, his voice was nasty and if you got the money then your shit should be awesome.the only thing that made his set good was when he stopped playing.it was kinda funny watching thousands of people walk out on him, by the end of it his ass was only playing for a small amount of people.the “Fuck Kanye” chants that would randomly break out made me feel good about staying up until 6:45 watching him make a fool of himself.if you are gonna be 2 hours late at 2:30 and try to pull some shit like that then you better have the most bad ass performance. he always talks about how he is one of the greatest rappers, after watching him im gonna have to go with a no on that one.if your having a glow in the dark set, it works better when the sun isn’t out.doen’t he have some friends he could have brought on stage to make it a little better than him singing to his cd?i didn’t realize we were watching kanye-karaoke.on the other hand if you haven’t heard that new lil’ wayne you should cause it rules
My Daughter worked at the Bonnaroo festival and the backstage hands all knew that Kanye-no-talent-west refused to take the stage until he was sure that not one other band was performing on any other stage at the multi-staged event. Even though there were over 200 other bands playing during the festival he wanted to make sure that he was the only one playing. What an EGO ! These hip-hop guys get Grammys for talking over a computer generated beat and it makes them think they can pull anything. He cares more about his ego than he does his fans. Kanye Sucks!
It’s easy for people who were comfortably sleeping in their warm beds elsewhere in the country to criticize the people who were in the audience for hating Kanye. For those of us who were there, I can say hands-down that his performance was shit. No one can make an audience wait almost 2 hours then deliver a half-hearted 1 hour performance that was at best-average. When Kanye awkwardly crept off stage through a hole in the floor, everyone just laughed. “Is that it?” people said. No one stuck around to demand an encore. The show itself was cheesy. Not only did he lose old fans, he lost prospective fans too. Bad job, Kanye.
I love all the random hip-hop/kanye superfans who probably stumbled upon this page when searching for him or something. You can usually tell by the typed out ebonics or people who say “Fuck Bonnaroo, whatever the fuck that is!!” hahaha. It really is just comical.
if this had be Daft Punk, the whole thing would have been EPIC
i talked to one of the producers of bonnaroo… kanye actually had a live band playing backstage, but wouldn’t let them up on stage with him. what an arrogant asshole.
okay, jack johnson, pearljam, metallica, sigur ros, mia .. all AMAZING.
fucking kanye and his huge ego can suck a fat one. you can atleast have the decency to say umm “sorry bout that everyone, had some problems back stage?” or i would even have enjoyed “sorry fans, i dont give a rats ass about you because im so full of myself that i probably wont need to eat for the rest of my life” anything but just coming on stage and performing like shit, and cutting the show short.
as for the whole “drug” talk going around
drugs are fucking AWESOME
KANYE FUCKING SUCKSSSSSSSS
FUCK ALL U HATERS WHO ARE TALKING SHIT BOUT KANYE WEST………
ITS NOT HELPING ANY OF YOU PEOPLE BY TALKING SHIT……AND NOT EVEN TO HIS FACE SO STOP ACTING TOUGH…………
FROM WHAT I’M READING, I CAN TELL NONE OF YOU PEOPLE ARE EVEN GRATEFUL TO EVEN BE THERE BECAUSE SOME PEOPLE WOULD DO ANYTHING TO HAVE BEEN THERE SO FUCK YOU HATERS……….
AT LEAST HE IS SUCCESSFUL……..HE IS OUT THERE DOING HIS THING GETTING HIS OWN AND ALL YOU PEOPLE ARE DOING IS WHINING JUST BECAUSE HE WAS A LITTLE LATE……….
With all that I’ve said, however, Kanye should have apologized. I’m sure he regrets it now.
And again, for the person talking about Kanye is on her list of five people to punch in the face, she really needs to open up her eyes to the real world. Yeah, waiting outside for two hours sucks dick. It sucks a lot of dick. But Jesus Christ- people, especially people who weren’t at Bonnaroo (who are the only ones who have anything legitimate to gripe about), really need to check that shit and stop acting like Kanye killed your son or something.
How small is your world that someone who has, at most, whined about some MTV Awards can evoke that kind of anger and condemnation? You must live in Pleasantville.
Rad movie, by the way.
For everyone who was there at Bonnaroo, I feel your pain. To everyone who wasn’t there, consider yourselves lucky. First off, let me say this: I have been a Kanye West fan since College Dropout came out. I have PURCHASED all of his albums, and I have loved them all. I was just as excited about seeing Kanye as everyone else was at Bonnaroo (we are not a bunch of “haters” that just showed up to BOO him. we were a group of people that showed up to SEE him.) To anyone from any race who is trying to turn this into a race war just needs to shut the fuck up and kill themselves. With that being said, allow me to state the facts.
#1 – Pearl Jam played over their alotted time slot, and although that fucked up Kanye’s road crew, they WERE the HEADLINER for Sat. night.
#2 – Kanye’s road crew sucks. While everyone was bitching about it being late, the crew was STANDING on stage (not getting their ass in gear and putting together the same set that they have put together the entire tour) I have been to 200+ shows and I have NEVER seen a road crew that moved that slow to put together a set unless it was for the opener and even then everything was ready by the time they were supposed to play
#3 A reason was not given as to WHY the show was delayed. For the crowd, it was just a series of updated times that Kanye would appear FOR TWO HOURS.
#4 Kanye did not acknowledge the crowd ONCE. Not a hello, not a goodbye, not an explanation, not an apology, not even a “fuck you”.
#5 Kanye was HORRIBLE. I stayed positive through all of the booing and the “fuck kanyes” to be let extremely let down. Each song that passed was worse and worse, until I was ready to leave, but I couldn’t! It was like a BAD MOVIE that I HAD to see the ending of. SpeakIf you aren’t going to have a live band or a DJ, you HAVE to be on point. Kanye was the WORST artist I have ever seen on stage. EVER. The music was great though (since it was recorded before the event) and the lights, the flames, the screens, and the stage were awesome and well worth the wait. Kanye however… poor Kanye…. He can’t rap. He can’t act. Hell, he can’t even dance, but he can make beats! He needs to offer up an apology and keep his sorry wanna-be rapper ass in the studio because he fucking sucks live.
In conclusion, I will NEVER pay for another album or attend any concert or festival that he will be at because I am officially BOYCOTTING this sorry, selfish asshole. Anyone who can’t appreciate their fans shouldn’t have any fans, and I feel sorry for the ones who are fighting in his honor who haven’t realized this yet.
Peace.
Jason (and anyone else who cares),
I am in total 100% agreement with you. The whole debacle was just retarded. Sad, really. I felt really bad for all those kids who were so excited to see the Kanye show. I’m not a particularly huge fan, but he’s a superstar, right? I was going to watch the performance. Luckily for me I was late getting there and my sister had hurt her back, so when we realized his ass wasn’t gonna come out, we just went and chilled elsewhere.
Kanye is a douche bag for not acknowledging his fans… he should have been on the ground with gratitude for all those thousands of kids who stood the fuck around waiting for his sorry ass. Its really too bad. I’m not a hater at all, but its really hard to respect an artist who thinks he is so privileged that he does not have to give his fans the time of day.
But in the end… it doesn’t matter. Its over and his life will go on and eventually it will be forgotten, or at least fade into distant memory. If anything at all, it gives me a much deeper appreciation for those musicians and artist who can conduct themselves with some grace and keep a little humility throughout whatever level of success they are lucky enough to experience. We’re all human – everyone fucks up now and then, but c’mon, Kanye…
This thread is hilarious. I wasn’t there, but i can tell that all of this nonsense would’ve been solved had Kanye just stepped up and apologized to his fans, instead of just going about business as usual.
But please keep up the really ignorant, racist, homophobic posts – it truly does makes your point that much stronger. It at least gives me a good laugh during the day.
I agree $tone. I can’t stop laughing. This thread made my morning. It just goes to show you how undeducated and ignorant we really are in the U S of A. I’m all for freedom of speech if you can understand what the person is saying. Most of you need to calm down, collect your thoughts and really think before you post. There is no need to bring race, mommas or sexuality into this discussion. The man was two hours late. Bush, our president, is two years late in bringing our boys from Iraq. Do you know how much your spending your hard earned money on for this war? It’s more than $300. Put things in perspective. I feel bad for all of you that waited and I don’t blame you for being pissed. I just think you can use all that aggression and energy on topics that really matter. Hey but I’m a hypocrite..I’m sitting here posting as well and laughing my buttocks off. Priceless.
I am a Bonnaroo stagehand. So is my husband. All the other Bonnaroo stagehands? Our dear friends. Yes, his gear took a lot longer than normal to put together, but primarily because HIS crew (who, by the way, can’t stand him) couldn’t get THEIR shit together. They spent 45 minutes looking for some widget or wingnut or what have you. So whatever. On behalf of all the stagehands there, let me just say that Kuntye was the worst little diva we’ve ever had the displeasure of dealing with at Bonnaroo. We had to reinforce the stage supports to hold his gear (and ego). He had more gear than Metallica and Pearl Jam put together. We actually had to build an 80-foot long extension off the back of the stage to fit his crap, which he brought in Thursday for a Saturday show… meaning everybody had to work around it all weekend. And even after everything was in place, he still didn’t grace the stage for another hour. Talib Kweli influenced Kanye, and he didn’t bring these issues with him. Kanye was contracted to play B stage, but he threw a fit and got put on main. Fine. Whatever.
The blacklight thing? It was visually stunning. None of us will argue that. But don’t credit that to Kanye. Credit that to his lighting designer. Because, honestly, anyone in this business will tell you that there’s no way in hell Kanye did all that on his own. It’s simply too tedious and time-consuming, too technical. Sure he had input, but he is not an island. He, like all performers of that magnitude, has a team to handle those things. I very very seriously doubt that he knows how to run a Whole Hog 3 or Grand MA or whatever console was being used up there. Highly unlikely. So let’s give credit where it’s due. The black light show was awesome. Kudos to the LD. The fact that Kanye hid his musicians, tracked during his set, made the fans wait, tried to weasle out of his contract, all of that… just means he’s an arrogant dipshit.
So once again, on behalf of the much-abused crew who was working that particular show, screw him very much. He’s destined to fall, and fall hard. The stagehands that he shit on at Bonnaroo are the same stagehands that will be humping his gear to the Prudential conventions and casinos that he’ll be headlining in the years to come, and we’ll be laughing all the way to the bank.
Thank you for your enlightening comment: I voted it down accidentally (I’m used to Digg, where the comment vote up and down buttons are reversed from where they are here.) Sorry about that. This really should be getting some love, cause it was a great, well balanced argument that you gave.
I was at this year’s Bonnaroo and I must say that all in all it was an amazing fest. I loved the experience, but as usual, their has to be one idiot in the crowd or on the stage. The idiot was Kanye. Believe I wouldn’t have cared one bit if he just acknowledged his crowd. He didn’t even make an attempt. In response ti Ashley, I am so SO very sorry you had to work so close to him. I’m surprised his inflated ego didn’t crush you and the other stagehands. Really though, I wasn’t gonna let a pompous windbag like him, who will ultimately fail by the way and probably loose everything he has, ruin the party. The next day was so great. Robert Randolf, Solomon Burke, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, Derek Trucks, Widespread Panic all were amazing . Kanye could perhaps learn a lesson from these performers and perhaps start to respect his fans (not many who were at Bonnaroo like myself will probably no longer be his fans). Either way, no one was gonna mess up my Bonnaroo, not even a crazed egomaniac like Kanye
I knew Kanye wouldnt be worth the wait, so i didnt wait for him. Looks like I made the right decision. Kanye at Bonaroo, Its like sticking a black guy on a hockey team, everyone knows hes there, but his performance will always suck compared to the white guys there.
cut KANYE slack? he’s a celebrity. he couldn’t possibly get a bigger piece of the pie. as for the ‘druggies’ obviously it’s a referral to a select group, not the whole crowd, but if you could imagine how much that would suck if you HAD partaken…even comin down from drinking all day in 100 degree heat, its no fun to just stand there and feel your buzz creep out of your vacationing body. AND not ending his set til early morning, we still had a whole day of the festival left, sucks for you sleeping under the sun, or in the case of that night, not sleeping all but 2 hours. im mad i left a perfectley BETTER lupe fiasco set all to return to my tent and await kanye’s mediocre performance. (with his amazing band kept UNDER the stage?) i just know bonnaroo has ALWAYS been a peaceful environment until kanye ticked everyone off. i wish i would’ve known better, the first year ‘roo really goes commercial, someone is about to get big-headed, and kanye already was. typical. it’d be different if he had acknowledged his fans who spent $300 (upwards of $500 at least w/ spending money) how about cutting fans some slack?
kanye shouldnt have been there in the first place. his lyrics mention racially based, insults about white people. insulting any race in your lyrics makes you unworthy to play a festival like bonnaroo. and on several stages, non performance related, he has said some stupid shit. not a cool dude. he makes hiphop look fickle. the 2 biggest hits he has ever had use samples from already hit songs.
and the fact that festival purists lump this deadbeat in with metallica in reference to bonnaroo selling out…is just as much of an ego trip as kanye himself. metallica might not be jammy and indy as some of the shit you like you beat off too but they are arguably one of the top 10 most influential bands of all time.
dont hate on metallica, they fucking killed it. i had my doubts, but they seriously delivered, and everyone was enjoying it. friday the 13th, the lightning, it was great.
as for kanye? fuck him, good thing i never paid for his albums anyway. we waited until about 3:30, then we went back to our tent and took bong hits, it was a wise choice
bonnaroo still owns.
kanye is the bomb. listen to his music..
you sound like that, and ill be damn sure to wait all night to hear it
i was front row to that show and it was AMAZING
I didn’t go to Bonnaroo this year. There weren’t that many bands that I really wanted to see. Pop shows just don’t really fit into Bonnaroo, and I think Kanye was probably feeling that, too. His show was obviously poorly planned and it wasn’t the right venue for Kanye. People of Bonnaroo don’t like artificial bullshit. Sorry Kanye, some people still like your music.
have u guys read the blog he posted on his site? HAHAHA . omg. its FUNNY.
Mean while Ghostland Observatory was at THIS, THAT or the OTHER stage kicking ass and taking names, with their own modest but cool, ’1992 The Orb’ style light show.
If he sucks then why did you see him THREE times?
good job for the stereo gum hipsters hitting the nail on the head for this one, i like how the jambanders who are as strong as ever, invited kanye just to say “we can have the king of pop at our festival just to mock him”
Kanye’s no good . He ought to get the same surgery that his mama had. Fuck him.
Fuck Kanye, I was there. If you did not attend the concert, shut up. I waited two hours for him and he failed. After an hour of waiting a mysterious fog rolled through the crowd…this is when I thought he would come on. Yet I was mistaken, he would be another hour late. I was promised a light show the “glow in the dark” show, yet he played at sunrise!!!!! Not to mention his glow in the dark show constituted a giant screen behind him and one series of flames in the front stage. I have seen Rush and Roger Waters…those are light shows with talented musicians… Then as the show progressed he showed me nothing but a cd…no talent…I thought the cd was playing not a live show.., This just goes to show rap is dead…anyway don’t mcut him any slack he is horrible I don’t even believe his ego fit in the 700+ acre festival grounds.
It’s funny that everyone here that backs Kanye uses CAPS for their names. I did a trace on all posts backing him and they ARE FROM THE SAME IP ADDRESS.
Kanye, are you and the other Fashionistas posting comments in defence of your shitty self?
Becasue every comment here backing you is spelled like a 10-60 year old Nigga. Grammar too.
Fuck your Mom. Wasn’t it a BLACK plastic surgeon that killed her???? Funny how you never wrote him off in the media like every single white person in the USA that you have ever heard of.
Imagine if it was a WHITE plastic surgeon!?!
Holy Shit, he’d be preaching that the Surgeon General hates Black people!
heads rule hipsters drool!
What a douche