Kanye West Rankles Bonnaroo With Tardy Pre-Dawn Set

Kanye West delivered the most controversial performance at Bonnaroo this weekend, leaving thousands of festival-goers bummed out when his late-night set didn't kick off until nearly 4:30 in the morning — an hour and 45 minutes after its scheduled time. (According to our source, Kanye didn't want to go on until Phil Lesh and Sigur Ros had finished playing their late-night sets on Bonnaroo's other stages; he also had an enormous stage production.) As a jumbotron by the main stage posted the delays every half-hour, the crowd grew increasingly restless, eventually erupting into full-on boos just before he hit the stage.

West managed to drown those out with a giant theatrical show — a truncated version of his Glow in the Dark Tour space opera — which included deafening versions of "Stronger" and "Heard 'Em Say," as Bonnaroo celebrities like former Grateful Dead bassist Lesh watched in the crowd. The next day, some performers echoed the crowd's dissatisfaction during their sets. "Did Kanye really come on at 4:30 last night?" asked Zach Rogue of the California indie-rock group Rogue Wave during their Sunday afternoon set. The crowd responded with massive booing. "I have enough respect to show up on time for all you nice people." And during his Sunday performance, pedal-steel bluesman Robert Randolph led the crowd in a chant of "Kanye sucks!"

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Song Stories

“Satisfied”

Tom Waits | 2011

Only the genius of Tom Waits could combine the subject of mortality, a reoccurring theme in his work, with wordplay that name checks both Mick and Keith, whom he calls "Mr. Jagger" and "Mr. Richards," and the title of their magnum opus, "Satisfaction." And to show just how cool Waits really is, he even got Mr. Richards to play along, one of nine guest appearances the guitarist has made on three Waits albums. "This growling roadhouse stomp is a late-breaking response to the Stones' greatest hit," Rolling Stone said of the track.

More Song Stories entries »

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