http://music.yahoo.com/re...s/61281870

Kanye Booed at Bonnaroo

06/16/2008 5:00 AM, E! Online
Josh Grossberg

The Bonnaroo boobirds were out in full force for Kanye West this weekend.

The Grammy winner walked onto the festival stage nearly two hours past his scheduled 2:45 a.m. performance time Sunday morning and was greated by bleary-eyed fans' chorus of boos and chants of "Kanye sucks."

West was originally set to kick things off at 8:15 p.m., but because he wanted to make the most of his Glow-in-the-Dark Tour's lighting show, the hip-hopster's camp asked to push back the gig to 2:45 a.m. following Pearl Jam's show.



However, the Seattle grunge rockers' gig lasted an hour longer than planned, with Eddie Vedder and bandmates not wrapping until 1:15 a.m. Then there was an extended break while Pearl Jam's roadies disassembled the band's stage and West's crew set up his own elaborate backdrop, a glow-in-the-dark spaceship along with undulating black platform and raised video screen.
Organizers posted a message via Jumbotron that the "Can't Tell Me Nothing" rapper wouldn't be taking the stage until 3:15 a.m., then 3:30. When 4:15 a.m. rolled around and still no West, the antsy crowd began hurling glow sticks at the stage and screaming anti-West sentiments. Bonnaroo officials didn't help the matter, not informing festivalgoers why the changeover was taking so long.

West finally made his entrace at 4:30 a.m., but by then, many exhausted attendees had had enough and returned to their tents.

Apparently, they didn't miss too much.

Judging by online reviews, West's performance didn't stand out from the 150 acts performing at the four-day musical campout. In fact, it was a yawner.

"He was two hours late, cut his show short, didn't once acknowlegde the crowd that waited two hours on an already late show, not even a wave goodbye...I'm no longer a Kanye fan, huge disappointment," one fan wrote at the music blog Stereogum.com.

"It's not the stage hands' fault; that stage was set up for well over an hour before Kanye decided to grace us with his presence," wrote another attendee on VillageVoice.com. "The next time he holds that finger up and proclaims himself as #1, I hope someone tells him what he can do with that finger."

Per festival reports, West failed to even acknowledge his tardiness.

The bad vibes carried over to Sunday's daytime slate, when during his set pedal-steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph groused about West's behavior, prompting fans to reprise the "Kanye sucks" chant.

There was no immediate comment from the West camp.

EYE THOUGHT KANYE WUZ KOOL!! HE'S A BUSTA!!

Setting up a damn backdrop? They should have booed his ass simply for not setting up any musical instruments. Oops, that's a shit hop show, that don't know what instruments are. Oh well, he should have came onto the stage and "talked" over his pre-recorded tracks while Pearl Jam's roadies were taking down their instruments. There's no excuse for any delays between acts at a shit hop show other than to change the CD out of the CD player when one artist leaves the stage and when another one enters.

vainandy said:

He should have rapped over Pearl Jam.

vainandy said:

okay this made me laugh out loud.

wonder505 said:

yup...

vainandy said:

kanye has a band actually, not that you would care to find out

TheBoyfromtheBand said:

let him talk his shit

Im surprised Kanye was even on this bill to begin with. This type of festival doesnt reall want to deal with egos and setups and what stage you wanna be on. Why do i have a feeling that if Kanye existed during the days of LIVE AID the same thing would have happend

I like kanye's music a bit but his ego has gotten out of control.
Yes guys kanye may have a band but the few rap artists that usually
have a band really don't sound good. It's not like they jam like lakeside
would. The roots are the one exception since they are a band.

Cinnie said:

Exactly. At least Jay-Z had The Roots OR Linkin Park as a backing band a few times. Even LL Cool J had a backing band for the live version of his Greatest Hits.

At a matter of face, Kanye should had Daft Punk as a backing band. At least those guys use synths with their turntables.

TonyVanDam said:

People aren't paying attention - Kanye has a band!

He always had a band, even for gigs on his first ablum. Fuckin... John Legend on the keyboard like he wasn't anyone important.

TheBoyfromtheBand said:

Then why the hell did it really take Kanye so long to get on stage? It's not like he's Sly Stone or anyone of that musical level!

Cinnie said:

But still, Kanye was dead wrong for making the fans wait until a whole 4:00 am in the morning for his performance. And then this was hours after a real live band like Pearl Jam on that of that.

Oh for sure he deserved to get booed for performing as late as 4 a.m.

Well here u can see the difference between someone who knows what its like to tour, and more importantly play venues on a daily basis, and clubs, like 99% of the artists on this bill. Kanye is a showman, he is not a musician plain and simple, his thing is to have all the attention and make it a spectacle. I remember him talking about playing a show with u2 and getting pumped off of playing in front of 50,000 (as if they were there mostly for him and not u2) but he seems to forget and not even know that u2 didnt walk into that job, u2 spent almost a decade playing to about 50 people in ireland.

lastdecember said:

that's called paying dues

4849 said:

He's not cool. He's a fucking moron.

FuNkeNsteiN said:

FuNkeNsteiN said:

FuNkeNsteiN said:

Now that's no lie at all.

And does the band play on the albums? If not, then that doesn't do any good. Concerts don't change musical styles and shit hop with no instruments needs to go out of style. I'm not looking for one or two hours of enjoyment. I'm looking at the longterm picture. Albums are what is getting radio airplay and influencing future artists. Instruments in concert are no good whatsoever if they aren't on the album. And why the hell can an artist (not just Kanye) pay for a full band for multiple nights to go on tour but they can't pay them for a few recording sessions. Because record labels know that albums are what get airplay and influence future artists. If bands catch back on, their profits won't be as big.

Actually, I have less respect for a shit hop artist that uses a band in concert than one that doesn't because at least the one that doesn't use a band doesn't know any better. The one that knows better is a damn sellout and contributing to the problem even further. I want shit hop gone by any means necessary and it will never go out of style this way.
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[Edited 6/17/08 8:23am]

That's the problem. It is for gigs. It needs to be on the album. And not just for one track but for all the tracks. Gigs don't influence and change things, albums do. And even more importantly, speed up the damn tempo. These young folks listen to stuff slower than 80 year olds do.
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[Edited 6/17/08 8:29am]

Live shows will separate the talent from the rest of them...hope you sell a lot of downloads...

Kanye West: I'm 'Most Offended I've Ever Been'

June 24
Link

Kanye West defended himself from criticism over his delayed performance at Bonnaroo, saying on his blog that the flak he's taken has left him "the most offended I've ever been."

West's performance at the Tennessee festival was scheduled for 2:45 a.m. in the early morning of June 15. West didn't take the stage until 4:25 a.m., angering much of the crowd who had stayed up late to see the rapper perform.

The delay was caused by problems setting up West's elaborate stage set, which included an interplanetary landscape of a wavy black platform and a video screen above. Pearl Jam, who had performed on the main stage earlier that evening, also went an hour over its scheduled time. While waiting for West's concert to begin, many in the crowd pelted the stage with glow sticks and beer.

At the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, which traditionally has favored jam bands, West's delayed show became a kind of rallying point, leading to "Kanye sucks" chants and criticism from pedal steel guitarist Robert Randolph, who played later the same day.

Writing Tuesday on his blog at www.kanyeuniversity.com in almost all caps, West said he was offended that anyone would think he doesn't care about his fans and blamed the delay on festival organizers.

"This Bonnaroo thing is the worst insult I've ever had in my life," West wrote. "This is the most offended I've ever been ... this is the maddest I ever will be."

West was critical of the festival for not releasing a statement in his defense. The morning after the show, The Associated Press asked festival spokesman Ken Weinstein about the delay. Weinstein said it was simply a matter of unloading the Pearl Jam stage after its set (which went until about 1:15 a.m.) and loading the West stage.

Following his performance, West's publicist didn't reply to a request from The AP for West's take on the criticism.

In his blog posting, West said he and the festival organizers (Bonnaroo is put on by Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment) went back and forth for a month on how his stage could fit at the festival. He said it was clear he was "dealing with ... idiots who didn't really have the capacity to really put on this show properly."

Weinstein on Wednesday relayed a statement on behalf of the festival that did not specifically address West's complaints but read: "Our world-class event production team strives to accommodate the needs of every performer."

West also blamed thrown bottles for malfunctions with his "Jane screen." (In the concept concert, Jane is the HAL-like disembodied female robotic voice of his spaceship.) But the stage crew appeared to be having difficulty with the screen well before anything was thrown from the crowd.

West's set was originally scheduled for 8:15 p.m. the night of June 14, but the rapper requested it be moved later in the evening so it was sufficiently dark for his "glow-in-the-dark" performance. But because of the late start, midway through his performance the morning light began to show -- revealing a substantially thinned-out audience.

"It broke my heart that I couldn't give these fans 'Stronger' in its greatest form," said West, referring to his hit song. "I'm sorry to everyone that I didn't have the ability 2 give the performance I wanted to. I'm sorry."

West concluded by saying his elaborate stage cuts his payday in half and leaves him icing his knees.

"Call me what you want," he said, "but never say I didn't give my all!"

Copycat said:

why do I doubt that?