Comments on: Kanye West (And His Caps Lock Key) Are Ready To Let You Know What Happened At Bonnaroo

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 10:30:54 +0000

@loudersoft: But after he realized things were fucked, he could've just done the show to keep the fans from waiting longer and had it out with the organizers afterward. If he's really about the fans. I love 'Ye's music, but I think he confuses what the fans want with what he has to give to the fans. It comes down to what he wants. He is pretty open about his insecurities and I guess this is just part of that. Like the friend that won't go out because they can't pick the right outfit, even though they'd have fun if the just went.

By: sparkletone

sparkletone — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:12:57 +0000

@anawolken: "But the guy is clearly all about money"

Well, he is a rapper. He didn't get so rich that he can afford to type hard enough to break his Macbook Air without being about the proverbial Benjamins.

By: loudersoft

loudersoft — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 12:19:35 +0000

I agree with that. But from the way he's explaining it, there was no need for a contingency plan because someone with the festival approved his stage plot and lighting grid. Kanye's DJ, as far as I know, is still A-Trak -- and he was 5000 miles away promoting his Nike iD record the night Kanye played Bonnaroo.

If all your best information says to you that there's not going to be a problem, then there isn't.

By: amyk

amyk — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:31:39 +0000

I saw Kanye at Lollapalooza a couple of years ago and the sound was crap at the beginning and he stopped the show. It's his hometown and I appreciated he wanted to do it right. And then when the sound was fixed I was at a dance party with 60,000 people and it was amazing.

How is anyone surprised by this? Dude is a perfectionist and keeps on putting out the product to support it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:52:55 +0000

Not much of a hip-hop concert-goer. Watching people rap doesn’t do it for me. I like to see a band playing. I did see schooly d (sp?) sometime back in the late 80’s, and he was loud, funny and rude, but the audience energy simmered down pretty quickly.

By: AquaLung

AquaLung — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:26:07 +0000

@mossdale: Eh, have you ever been to a live hip-hop show? I'd say a good 80% of them "blow."

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:51:27 +0000

Step 1: A DJ and a microphone. Step 2: Get retarded. I mean, I understand that he wants a certain show, but is he so far gone that he can’t dial it down and say, “I had a huge production planned, but it’s not working so I’m just gonna move the crowd. Rock with me!” It’s nice to break out the string section for shows, but it’s not life-or-death if shit happens.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:37:19 +0000

Anyone who absolutely must have a huge stage spectacle setup to perform tacitly admits they blow as a live act.

By: loudersoft

loudersoft — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 05:21:19 +0000

I mean it occurs to me that Kanye wanted this to be special. By the time he realized it was going to be a disaster, he did what he could to salvage the operation. When you have 80,000 screaming, booing, clearly fucked up fans throwing shit at you, what are you supposed to do? Tell them it's Bonnaroo's fault? Or Pearl Jam's? How do you think that would have actually gone over with the crowd?

Now, I don't know about you, but I've tried making reasonable explanations to people in my life who were clearly fucked up beyond the capability of engaging in rational thinking. The results of my "reasonable explanations" in that moment of the other person being drunk/high out of their gourd have rarely turned out well. Of course, YMMV, but I don't try to explain anything to someone who is hammered. In my experience, it turns ugly.

The reality is that nobody really cared WHY the show was delayed. People only really cared that it WAS delayed. If someone came over the loudspeaker and said, "I'm sorry but there are some technical difficulties going on and it's going to be a while," the same effect would have been achieved -- people leaving to go see other shows or going to bed.

Considering how long an explanation and apology might have taken, the show could have ended up being 35 minutes long instead of what we got. Oh well. Shit happens. We move on.

With some time having passed, he made an explanation and, most importantly, he did apologize for the show not being what he wanted it to be. As a principal shit-stirrer in this melee, I am willing to accept his explanation and forgive him -- and not because he's Kanye West either. I'd forgive anyone whose show required a massive load-in and set up. Yeah, it sucked at the time, but in retrospect I know what I'm in control of and what I'm not. So does Kanye. You don't have to like it or like him, but forgive the man. There's no point in being bitter about what you can't change, is there?

By: GhostOfDuane

GhostOfDuane — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:48:49 +0000

@Silverfuture: Previews are for the weak. +1