someone said they understood why the show was late… i did not. it was the most obnoxious thing… kanye had bonnaroo change their schedule to make sure he could use his “award winning light show.” i was pumped, b/c i heard it would be good, and i love some drunk, high dancing. its the best… but we got there late, and still waited almost 2 hours… what’s the point? our buzz was gone by the time he started… and even then, my friends and i stayed for 20 minutes… but we were exhausted, pissed, and sober…
…and for the like show? we saw one… sunrise as we walked back to our campsite..

I was at the so-called “show” that night, or should I say morning and I regret it. I stayed to see this jack-ass “perform” because he was one of the larger named acts there and I didn’t want to miss it. I was more disappointed than you can imagine. In my long, long life, I have stood in line to see some of the best bands in the world from The Beatles, to The Beach Boys, to Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendricks…..well, you get the picture. I have stood in the rain, sleet and snow and never regretted it for a minute. I have waded through knee-deep mud to see people I truly love to be entertained by but this was the worst. Never, and I mean NEVER have I witnessed such a horrible person as this idiot is. He is all talk and no action. As far as his performance was concerned, the part of the show that was supposed to be some sort of play was obviously written by a 4 year old. I love Bonnaroo and will continue to go as long as I have a breath left in me, but I will NEVER walk as much as 5 feet to see this jerk again.

I was one of the crowd waiting almost 2 hours to see Kanye’s show at Bonnaroo. I completely understand running late. I did not boo Kanye as others did. I thought the show was pretty good - all things considered. Having never seen him before, I have nothing to compare it to. I do not consider myself even a Kanye fan but do enjoy his “Gold digger” song. What made it a bad experience for me and guaranteed that I will not attend any more of his shows was Kanye’s lack of apology. Worse than that he did not even acknowledge his fans or the fact that we had been waiting for so long. A simple “thank you” for our time and patience would have shed Kanye in a different light in my eyes.

dude i wouldnt have stayed to watch kanye anyways. he should respect his fans as the fans are the reason he is around? correct? i wish i coulda heard robert randolph say that. i woulda applauded and went nuts. u pay how much for a ticket man if u go in the legit way he should be appreciative he was asked to share the weekend with many TALENTED artists that show up on time and dont dick their fans over and show love by playing their hearts out. i hope they have enough sense not to ever include him in the lineup in the future! now go play me some grateful freakin dead!

I was right there with you in the pit, mp, we were kind of forced to wait, but I know I could’ve seen Lupe Fiasco, instead fo wait in that pit. I mean the show was loud and good during the time he did play, mainly because he wasn’t drunk and forgetting lyrics like most shows, but it wasn’t what is was hyped to be, Glow in the Dark spectacular light show. I was waiting for those screens to say Kanye moved to Sunday at 10 P.M. or so.

how come all the other hip-hop shows were on time? lupe and talib were the shit! andy v. is the racist. i knew better than to wait for a money hungry, self-centered artist like Kanye West. thats why i was at phil lesh’s show. which was awesome. Robert Randolph hit it on the money sunday, “KANYE SUCKS”!!!

its not about how good or bad the show ended up (ps glow in the dark doesn’t work at 5am). Its exactly what robert randolph said on sunday, alot of people pay alot of money for these ticket and kanye was bull shitting everyone for personal benefit. I missed 3 big shows including FOUR HOURS of Lesh jamming so i could see Kanye in the pit. the stage was set up for a long time before he did. Its the lack of respect. there was no awkcnowldegment of the fans either, no love from kanye or the camera. there was only one crowd shot the entire perfomance… but it was probably only because most people PEACED

on one hand i think what happend to kanye is kinda funny

but to play devil’s advocate

kanye west isn’t the first brilliant musician in history to get booed for not giving the audience what they wanted and being arrogant.

anyone ever heard of bob dylan?

(mabey it’s a bad example but for some reason when i first read the news about this the other day, it reminded me of 1966 Dylan)

You know, Do Not Bring the race card into this conversation Andy V. This doesn’t have anything to do with race. Kanye is just a baby and when he doesn’t get his way, he cries like a bitch. He was actually suppose to play earlier, but moved it to a later slot cause of his light show. A real musician doesn’t need a light show.

ANd to Rollin Like Thunder, Pearl Jam is ten times better than Kanye and more legendary than that cry baby will ever be. Pearl Jam played when they were suppose to and lol, their light show was great….

I missed so Many good bands to get up front for the Kanye Epic Fail! So Sad. What a mistake.

kanye west is an ego maniac. last year, the flaming lips took a while to set up their amazing stage show, but coached the crowd through the entire process “we’re comming, are u with us? soon !” because they have RESPECT for their fans. kanye doesnt care about anyone, at all.

First off, stop blaming kanye west completely for this. I like pearl jam better than him, but I have to admit that pearl jam ran a pretty late show and took some of the time away from kanye to put up his set. secondly, i cant understand how everyone was booing him, yet trying to get closer to the show. As soon as he came on, not a single boo. Doesnt make too much sense to me. You are booing, but you still want to be closer for the show. Finally, if you did not see his show… you cant say anything bad because you missed a crazy performance, he put on a real show and made up for the time it took to set up that intense stage. I dont even really like his music, but he put some thought and energy into his show and the crowd responded by dancing as the sun came up.

he could have said sorry, or whats up bonnaroo..but we got nothing. i didnt really care, i waited because i was rolling and had a blast waiting just dancing hanging out getting to know the people around me. i just wanted to see the “killer light show”. i have no respect for kanye west what so ever.

andy… get your facts straight you uninformed moron… there have been many many many rap/hip hop, black, white, purple, green, orange and every other color of performer at the festival… the fact is, kanye is NOT an artist, NOT a musician, and most definately NOT a professional… his so called music career is over…. and andy… next time please be intelligent, use your mind, and know the facts…. peace and love, let it flow

You fake ass hippies acting like you’ve never waited hours for a Phish show. If it was Pearl Jam that was 2 hours late it wouldn’t even be an issue, but since it was the black guy doing that hip hop music, it is an absolute OUTRAGE! You poseurs all act like you are so open minded, but once something doesnt fit into your formula, you close your mind to it completely.

I was so excited to see this concert. Even though I waited there almost 2 hours to hear his performance I at least hoped he would make it up to the audience in some way. Maybe an apology from him? No he didnt speak to the audience at all. And he did not even play his whole set, he ended his performance 20-30 minutes early by crawling behind a rock onstage. i really loved his music but he really sucks as a person & it makes me really sad & dissapointed.

I have never been so disgusted in all my life. the entire weekend i kept saying “i hope kanye isn’t a dick” and sure enough this egotistical bastard disrespected every single person at bonnaroo. The LEAST he could have done was apologize and thank his audience for waiting for his pathetic show.

it was most def planned out because this sick twisted fuck things he’s god, singing goodmorning as the sun is rising like he’s the one rising it. i can’t wait till this bastard loses all his fans and dies a sad and lonely life.

I brought my shutter shades to the Roo and everything. I was a huge Kanye fan. But I’m offended and disgusted by him now. Way to lose a diehard fan you jackass.

here’s what I was told by the vendors on the field at Kanye West:kanye wanted the ENTIRE FESTIVAL shut down for his performance, INCLUDING THE VENDORS, and REFUSED to perform if/until all other bands and the vendors shut down for his show.The vendors signed contracts in which they agreed to stay open for the duration, and to shut down for any reason would violate the terms of their contracts with Bonnaroo.The arrogance of such a demand is unimaginable,as that would mean people would not be able to purchase water,which was essential to survival in that environment, and the compromise to shut down the other bands was reached, after much wrangling and bullshit. The vendors i spoke to told me that Kanye West was paid $200,000.00 for his paltry 1 hour performance,which is also a breach of his own contract to play a minimum of 90 minutes. I would hope that the promoters will refuse to pay Kanye that much money and go to court if necessary, because his performance was not what they contracted for. Who’s the “GOLDDIGGER”, KANYE? I would never support this man with my money or time,and to be disrespectful of 70,000 people is to his detriment. Karma is swift, and I expect his karma will catch up with him in loss of revenue, respect,and other promoters refusing to book him at other venues.

Michael Jacksonesque? hahaha I should of taken whatever the hell you were on! It wasn’t the worst performance I’ve seen, but after a couple hour wait, I definitely expected more. Oh well, at least he didn’t subject the crowd to more bitching and whining about how he makes money and he didn’t even go to college! Like he’s the first guy to make that happen..

As a Chicago south sider I am a Kanye supporter. So if you don’t like the things he does thats your problem. The man has made some positive movies within the music industry and i’m proud that he is from Chicago.KANYE ROCKS!!!!!!!!

i was very close to the stage. we got there like an hour early to get close to the stage. we waited..and waited. while we were waiting a person to me left threw a bottle full of piss on to the stage. if only he would have hit kanye west with that bottle. he deserves it.

First off, let me say that I am not that big of a Kanye fan. I thought his last album wasnt very good, and I usually do not agree with his outbursts and immature antics; however, I thought that Kanye’s performance was the best one of the entire weekend! Who gives a fuck if he didnt come on until 430?! I dont go to Bonnaroo to get sleep, I go to see history-making performaces that no one else will ever be able to experience again. The first song was “Good Morning,” and his screen had a sunrise on it, just ike the sun that was rising in th opposite direction. It was a sureeal moment that ended my long Saturday in a perfect fashion. Kanye threw down a Micheal Jackson-esque performace all by himself with no band or any other form of music. He is a true performer, on a level that few others in the history of music have ever seen. All you dirty-ass hippies need to quit bitchin. What are you mad about? Because Kanye was 2 hours late? If you didnt like him so much to begin with then why did you even stay up to see his show? I thought that Kanye threw down one of the best performances I have ever witnessed, and that is the reason I go to Bonnaroo, so that I can see these shows that change the way performances are presented. All you dirty hippies are living in the past; its time to move on.

Justin Diehl,
A Ture Bonnaroo Fan

I really hope that Kanye West’s delayed and subpar performance doesn’t sway the Bonnaroo organizers from inviting other big name rap artists back to the festival. While he definitely showed his ass and merely rapped over a recording, the show I saw directly preceding his was another emerging rap star..Lupe Fiasco. Lupe, however, was on time, had a full live band behind him, and won over the crowd from the moment he stepped on stage. My opinion may be slightly biased, being that I am a big rap fan, however, one of my friends that attended the show as well, who has never bought a rap cd in his life, said the Lupe show was the best show he saw during the entire festival.

Kanye West is why George Bush hates black people

I had high hope for this show, too. I was on the crew, and had to work as long as it took. The show was very disappointing after all the hype. I have worked plenty of hip-hop and rap shows, but never with such disrespect for the audience, the other performers and the crews. Already tired and getting cold, my team of volunteers were worthless the next day because they got no sleep. What we got instead was a whole lot of “auditory-masturbation”. Kanye wasn’t playing for the crowd, he was playing for himself. He came late and finished early. Sad.

My friend had a backstage pass and asked a supervisor backstage the reason for why Kanye didn’t go on for so long… the answer is pretty disturbing. Apparently he didn’t want to play at all and was delaying the show so that the Bonnaroo management would cancel his show (if they cancel the show, Kanye still gets paid!).
I waited til 4:15 for him and missed Chali 2na and Talib Kweli, two acts I really hated having to miss. F*ck Kanye!

For those of you whom are defending Kanye let me enlighten you…
Most people got to Centeroo around noon on Saturday to watch the amazing lineup of performers. Many of us camped too far away to just go back to our tents so we stayed the entire day in the TN sun until 2:45 a.m. waiting to see Kayne. We even left bands that we wanted to hear to make sure that we got a good spot of this “amazing light show performance”. The fact is, nobody told the crowd what was going on. The last we heard the show was postponed until 3:30 (so said the Teleprompters) so obviously by 4:15 a.m. when we still hadn’t been told anything and had been outside for over 16 hours we got antsy.
At 2:45 we couldn’t get anywhere near the stage, but by the time he came out the crowd had dwindled down to 1/3 of what it was. Then when Kayne finally does come out we get nothing. There was no audience interaction at all. Not even a “hello Bonnaroo”. He immediately started his set sang for an hour and left. The people who stayed (yours truly) were among the truly devoted and deserved more then an hour of his ridiculous space odyssey. Walking back to our tent at 6:00 a.m. feeling completely bummed b/c we stayed awake ALL NIGHT LONG to see something not worth seeing.
Kayne has lost an avid fan.

What crap!!!! It was a bad idea to even sign Kanye to this venue. That was the worst Mickey Mouse set I have ever heard. Next year I can’t wait to see New Kids on the Block….woohooo!!!!

As well as Hey Scott. They are both dead on and know exactly what they are talking about

Noel Gallagher got a bashing in england about a superstar rap artist headlining a rock n roll festival (Glastonbury). He thought it was a bad idea mixing hip hop as a headline act after a day of rock music. He was speaking of Jay Z, not Kanye West, but he has a point. Some bigtime rap artists don’t look at things the same way as Rock n Roll bands. An amazing festival like Bonaroo, and the hellish conditions the crowds go through to see these acts makes the headliner even more responsible to deliver to the fans. The fans that paid an arm and a leg to get there. I have nothing against rap music and I know rap has created great moments at the festival, but we need to put a stop to the industry shoving these “superstar” rappers with no passion for actual music down the rest of our throats. Give us Mos Def, The Roots, Talib Kwali, Atmosphere. Not Mr. LiteBrite.

That evening provides us with a good opportunity for reflecting on respect,loyalty and egos.

I propose that Kanye West and Wayne Coyne represent opposite ends of the “respect” spectrum. Wayne pegs it over the top at 110%, a shining star in the typically egotistical entertainment industry; Kanye represents the sub-zero deep freeze of the self-absorbed.

For me, one great benefit of festivals is having the opportunity
to sample artists I’m unfamiliar with and to hear music outside of my usual genres.

It’s always a hard decision when shows you’re interested in overlap.
In those wee hours, my first choice was to see the Flaming Lips’ movie scheduled at 1:30am. Although I’m not a big rap fan, I was curious to see what Kanye was all about; and so, I planned on catching the latter half of Kanye’s set, after the movie.

The Bonnaroo program said that The Flaming Lips frontman, Wayne Coyne, would introduce the movie. The buzz around the campground was that he would be there in person but that sounded like wishful thinking to me. I was wrong. Yep, Wayne Coyne, personally came to Bonnaroo to introduce his film and to thank his fans for coming out to see it. I was blown away that he had come just to spend a few minutes talking to a 100 or so fans at the cinema in the middle of the night.

When the movie was over, it was hard for me to walk past Phil Lesh, they sounded SO good. However I forced myself to keep moving because I wanted to hear and experience something different. When I got to the What stage, I was shocked to find that Kanye’s show had not yet started. After waiting a little while, I left and went to bed. I was even more shocked in the morning to hear that he’d taken the stage almost 2 hours late,
offering no apologies or words of appreciation for the thousands who had waited.

Every music fan has to make their own decisions about the artists they are loyal to and why. Personally I have no desire to give myself, my money and my time to someone who does not respect me. So, thanks to this head-up, I guess I’ll never experience Kanye’s artistry. But that’s ok. There are plenty of other wonderful musicians out there to discover, who play for the love of music and who appreciate their audiences.

This four day orgy of live music was not ruined by one limp act. Kan’tye and his whining made me grateful that the dozens of other performers I saw were real musicians who loved being there at any time playing for the fans.

I have been to Bonnaroo every year and this was the worst piece of crap I have ever experienced. I watched most of it because there wasn’t a choice. I was looking forward to Kanye and the possibility that I might experience something new. I heard he had an ego problem, but I didn’t really care. Once he moved his set to the night show I was a little skeptical. Nobody….nobody has ever done a late night set on the main stage. Not even bands that have clearly bonded with the Bonnaroo fans and especially against Phil Lesh! There was an alert on the webpage that was a little weird and at the concert there were signs that said “festival alert! Kanye on man stage for his GLOW SHOW.” It was cheesy. I myself almost didn’t go this year and changed my mind for Phil Lesh’s late night set. Because Kanye moved his time during Phil it was annouced that Phil was being shut down about an hour early along with the other artists. Who does this to that many fans and other bands? Knobody knew this until they were watching the bands they wanted to see. This is unheard of at Bonnaroo late night shows. Fans were already pissed off, but the only music left to see Sat. was Mr. West. The the field in the main stage filled with people. People who had paid to see other bands were simply shut out. Thats the number one problem with this. Surperfly would have never created this issue. Then this brat didn’t take the stage. We had to boo him onto stage. The was no elaborate stage set. He might have thought is was elaborate. There was a jumbo screen, a platform, and some planet scapes. Other bands have much more elaborate equipment on stage. I expected the stage to transform and fly Kanye onto the night sky. So I watched and waited and waited. Then I thought about leaving, but remembered that everyone else was canceled. When Kanye finally came out at 430 he never thanked the crowd for waiting. He just came out and thought he would blow us away. He obvioulsy had no clue who his audience was. He thought we were just a bunch of stupid hippies. Some of the space video was cool, but it wasn’t that cool. Not even close. HE DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A LIVE DJ! The music was prerecorded a he rapped over it. It was comparable to a BRITNEY SPEARS or NEW KIDS concert. His singing was marginal, dancing cheesy, and his acting (yes acting)….lets just say I still don’t know if he was being that bad on purpose. Honestly I don’t think he even finished his show. The sun came up and the crowd was leaving fast. There were some fans there to see him that were having fun. But even they were like wtf when the show ended. He finished a song and then just dissapeared. Bands were canceled, the crowd waited for hours, he played an hour set and then never said thanks for staying up or anything. We never found out how he got of the planet he crashed on. That was the entire purpose of the show. Had Kanye came out at his given time and did his thing like a man, he probably would have won the Bonnaroo crowd over. A heard a few younger kids say they thought he sounded good. But he was such a dick that he ruined it. Chris Rock said it best during his stand up at Bonnaroo. “Kanye West has the biggest ego in here.” That was all he said and that was the only heads up we got about a problem that awaited us.

The time that his set started isn’t the issue with me. It’s the subpar cheesy performance that followed that had me up in arms. If Kanye would have come late, rocked it out, put on a great set, you wouldn’t see half the complaints about the show. However, he showed up late and gave a shitty performance. He performed for 1 whole hour, which was a very short set. The show was cheesy and uninspiring, by far the worst set of the weekend. I hope Superfly learns from this mistake. I know I have. I skipped out on Talib and Charli 2na to see this bullshit. My apoligies go to Talib and Charli…I fell for the hype guys. It won’t happen again.

“(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.”

If this was even REMOTELY true, which is a very lame story, then why the hell didn’t this get announced to the crowd? Some people like me would have enjoyed going and seeing the other performers and then come back to see Kanye’s show but nooo, this didn’t happen. So I do not believe this line of crap.

Get over yourselves, people. You knew Kanye was an arrogant bastard before the show. Nothing he did on Saturday changed that. You still like his music, no matter how hard you try to deny it.

Be grateful you were there. Years from now, you’ll be bragging to your friends how you were at Kanye’s infamous Bonnaroo performance.

I was in the pit for Kanye’s set and the problem wasn’t the waiting, it was the crappy set he played after waiting. If he came out and apologized, thanked everyone for waiting and then tore the house down you wouldn’t hear people complaining. Bottom line is it was a piss poor show.

The festival organizers were on their knees all four days catering to each and every childish demand from the ego maniacal rapper. For what? A subpar, short performance that alienated thousands of fans and festival goers? Pathetic.

What’s the worst thing about this whole issue? Many of us missed amazing shows because we believed that Kayne was going to do something we had never seen before.

Hello, the flaming lips last year at Bonnaroo had a glowing SPACESHIP, and the lasers and lights were out of this world.

Kayne’s show was just okay. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t spectacular.

Considering that most people took the candy about an hour before he was SET to come on, most of the people there were coming DOWN by the time he was coming ON… and since it was suppossed to be “GLOW IN THE DARK”… it was RUINED by the fact that the SUN came up after what, his fourth song?

Really? Bonnaroo? It’s becoming to mainstream and commercial, and all about money…

Expect them to either crumble next year or go back to their roots.

Either way, unless the line up is amazing, I won’t be paying for a ticket.

I have been at Bonnaroo for the past 6 years the Kanye West show was by far the worst performance i have ever seen while attending the music festival. It is the only time the performer has not acknowledged the presence of the audience. The performance was nothing more than over hyped self-indulgent Karaoke.

Don’t you dare put this fool Kanye West in the same category as Jimi Hendrix! I can speak over pre-recorded music and bitch and moan about life just as easy as that idiot can.

“Ray LeMoine | 6/17/2008, 10:51 am EST

You guys are a bunch of p*ssies. Hendrix played at 6am at Woodstock. Since when did all you rockers have a bed time? Staying up all night to watch the seminal rap artist of the age play a sunrise set is a once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity. I’m sure some lame hippies were selling uppers. Learn how to live. Barcelona’s sonar fest–the world’s premier avant music fest—doesn’t even get going until 3am!”

He moved his slot from 8:15pm to late night because he wanted to play in the dark. Screw your sunrise set theory. It was light outside because he was really that late.

Congrats, you’re an idiot.

Will someone please just drop a piano on that oafish turd Kanye.

I was one of the ones who left at about 3:30 and no, I am not upset at missing his act at all. As Lars Ulrich of Metallica put it, Bonnaroo is about LIVE MUSIC!! The disrespect that Kanye showed for not only the fans by making us wait without any explanation but then playing pre-recorded music, AND cutting his set early because of the light? Considering that none of the other bands had ANY problems with their set stages or times, Kanye had NO right to not only dissapoint the crowds the way he did. To think that he then has the balls to finally come on while everybody that was sick of his s#it was trying to sleep is rediculous. I am no longer a fan of Kanye or his music… artists are only as good as their fans and if thats the way he wants to treat us then he will get the same in return. I would gladly have given my whole entire weekend to any of the other artists there that showed up on time and worked hard to give the crowds exactly what we came for. Bonnaroo was awesome, but Kanye should be ashamed for disrespecting not only the fans that paid to be there, but the promoters that let him get away with the crap that he pulled.

I was there Kanye was such a douche

I was there… And I was one of the one’s booing and shouting Freebird! As Chris Rock would say, Yea, I said it! Contrary to what Kanye might like to think, we did not boo him because he was black. There were plenty of black artist there (B.B. King, Steven Marley, Robert Randolph, etc.) that ruled and got great respect for doing so. We did not boo him because he was late, there were others who were late. Maybe not “Kanye late”, but late enough to make us wait. We did not even boo him because he sucked. His show consisted of nothing but his ego-centric lame a$$ striking awkward poses and “singing” to canned music. It was like rap Kareoke gone wrong. No, we booed him because he is an arrogant, talentless hack who happens to be black and made us wait until the late hours of the morning to see a show that sucked. I will say this though, walking out on his show was quite enjoyable, the satisfaction I derived from that almost made it worth the wait. My only regret was that I did not get to see the look on his face when the sun came up and he realized he was performing to a nearly empty venue! The only good news was that there was more laughter at the Kanye show than there was at Chris Rock! Yea, I said it!

Next years headliner…..Phish, I would bet money on it. That should satisfy those who yearn for the Bonnaroo days of old!

Bonnaroo was built on the back of Phil Lesh and his peers. Superfly and AC Productions should be ashamed that they bent over for Kanye at the expense of Phil and his fans. If I were Lesh, I would tell Bonnaroo to screw off in the future. Where is the loyalty. The promoters should have told Kanye to take his money and go home. That would have been the right move.

I fully understand why Kayne wanted a late night slot to showcase his performance (which I have heard from multipe people is awesome). However, waiting until every other performance to be finished is a little much. Signing onto a festival, a performer should know that they will have other bands playing at the same time, especially @ Bonnaroo. Its sad when performers don’t respect the fans who put money in their pockets. People will always complain about certain aspects of festivals, but there should be so many positive shows and experiences to overshadow one bad one. Kayne has a reputation to be an arrogant, egotistical person, who is constantly complaining. Are people honestly this surprised by this incident? Though I missed Bonnaroo last year, I made it the two previous and had a great time! Also, in response to kyle’s comment about Lollapalooza being better than Bonnaroo, come on now. Each festival is very different and both get great lineups. Didn’t “garbage Pearl Jam” headline Lollapalooza last year?

yeah he’s a pretty arrogrant guy. probably thought everybody should be waiting for him

Are you kidding me? Comparing staying up for Hendrix for f*cking Kanye West. That is about the dumbest comparison that I’ve seen yet in all of these forums. You are a complete idiot!!!

You guys are a bunch of p*ssies. Hendrix played at 6am at Woodstock. Since when did all you rockers have a bed time? Staying up all night to watch the seminal rap artist of the age play a sunrise set is a once-in-a-lifetime oppurtunity. I’m sure some lame hippies were selling uppers. Learn how to live. Barcelona’s sonar fest–the world’s premier avant music fest—doesn’t even get going until 3am!

I spoke to one of the Sheriff’s at the show and they said Kanye wouldn’t go on because his entourage didn’t get everything they requested.

BS to all the other reasons. Kanye is an ungrateful Diva - thank God I didn’t waste my time going to see him!

Eddie V coming out to play wit Jack Johnson was stellar! Rocked my socks.

To blame Pearl Jam for going why Kanye came on late is ridiculous. He was schedule Pearl Jam was scheduled till 12:15 and Kanye was supposed to come on at 2:45. That’s a 2.5 hour window. Pearl Jam was done by 12:45 at the latest, meaning a 30 minute overrun, which is probably why they posted a time for Kanye on the big screens of 3:15. He didn’t make it out there until 4:30!!!!

I loved Kanye before this weekend, but he just made himself look like a complete tool. That’s not how you treat your fans. Period.

Either way, who cares, the rest of the festival was so much fun, one act couldn’t ruin it.

So I waited for almost seven hours to get front row in the pit, which I did. And yes, Pearl Jam ran late, but it was just disrespectful the way Kanye treated the crowd. It was awful. As soon as we left the pit, there were bottles and bottles of urine from devoted fans unwilling to leave the show because they were so anxious to see his performance. And he didn’t even address the audience!

He should be ashamed.

So I waited for almost seven hours to get front row in the pit, which I did. And yes, Pearl Jam ran late, but it was just disrespectful the way Kanye treated the crowd. It was awful. As soon as we left the pit, there were bottles and bottles of urine from devoted fans unwilling to leave the show because they were so anxious to see his performance. And he didn’t even address the audience!

He should be ashamed.

I was at the show and at the main stage waiting for kanye at 245. The fact that Kanye did not even acknowledge being late angered me and his show blowing angered me more. Before this show I was somewhat a kanye fan. I wont be listening to or supporting his rap anymore.

Wow!

NO! 1st of all, Pearl Jam put on the most emotional performance of any band @ Bonnaroo that I saw. I won’t say it was ‘better’ than My Morning Jacket, or Broken Social Scene, or Sigur Ros, or the Raconteurs, Person L or anyone really. How do you compare?

What I will say is anyone who’d skip Sigur Ros, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco and Phil Lesh to see Kanye is just silly. I caught as much as I could of all those acts (mostly Sigur Ros), and Ghostland Obsevatory (and these 4 guys in a tiny stage/cage in front of the sonic or solar stage…crazy!) after which I ventured to see Kanye for a bit. I’ve never been a huge fan of his rhymes about his clothes but I thought the performance sounded pretty cool (possible insomnia-delirium I guess). I loved Bonnaroo (really really really loved it:) but I thought it was sad to hear people complaining about being up too late. It’s not a dentist apt. I understand if the show was dissappointing, and not until now did I know why Lesh’s set was cutoff (unforgivable), or just that he was unapologetic… but c’mon, am I the only one that smiled when I opened my tent with a sunrise behind me?

2009: Tool, Wintersleep, Holy Fuck, BSS, Stars, Incubus, Jon Butler Trio, RHCP, Neil Young, FF, Jimmy Swift Band, Kaki King, Black Mountain, Team Sleep and G-Love!

Kanye was initially supposed to play at 8pm on a smaller stage. When he discovered he wasn’t on the main stage he threw a tantrum and demanded that he play the main stage. The only time slot was after Pearl Jam, so he knew IN ADVANCE that he was going to be at least an hour late if not more due to his intricate stage production. He’s a rude douchebag who clearly doesn’t care about his fans.

Whoever said there should be no more rap isn’t intelligent. Lupe was dynamic! I can’t believe Kayne was so dissappointing!

I wish Pearl Jam had played for 6 more hours!

Kyle: yea, Pearl Jam’s set break-down was partly at fault for Kanye starting late, but he still took an EXTRA hour AFTER they finished setting his shit up. He fucking sucks. And for him to wait till Phil was done was just fucking stupid. if i was ending the night with Phil (which i would have had i gone) then i wouldn’t want to hear is crappiness afterwards.
And while i agree that there are many festivals worth going to over the sell-out that bonnaroo is, lollapalooza is NOT one of them. you make me laugh! see ya at high sierra yo

Kanye West is the biggest Pompous I know. He was a complete idiot and full of himself to think he could scream in a mic while doing the same three posees. Who ever thought he could entertain without dancers or lasers? He was an embarrasement to Bonnaroo as a whole. It’s meaning and the art it brings. He was last on everyone’s list. He was so worried about his MTV DVD being complete by playing for over 70,000 people he forgot to bring his talent. He was absolutely talentless. Zero creativity. He got up, did his “job” and went back to his dressing room and cried. I am selling “leave Kanye alone” t-shirts and asking Chris Krocker to make a video for him on youtube.com. After the show campers and vendors all made “Kanye Sucks” banners and spray painted the ground to announce their disbelief they were kind enough to give this guy a shot to bring it. To get on stage and be real. To try something knew. To really go for it. This guy doesn’t have a musical bone in his body. He is man made. Not only did he talk to a weird space lady about crashing his rediculously expensive “set” but he told her 4 songs in that he, “just needed one thing.” The space lady said she could help him with that. I can’t even say what “it” is because of the sexual conotation. It was his plea to get attention. Very sad to see someone stoop to the sexual conotation level. It’s the easiest and worst way to try and get attention. People left screaming obsenities and banning the entire festival if changes aren’t made. Pearl Jam and Metalica should not have been there either. Aweful decision making. Why didn’t he come talk to the crowd? Disrespectful. Where are his manners? Did he forget he was in the South? I would have rathered him come apologize and tell us 5am. We could have gone and seen the other music that we paid to see instead of sitting starring at a finished stage for 2 hours. The stage bit is all false and a lie. He was being a little brat that didn’t want to play while other bands were playing. Which is rediculous to expect 70,000 people will all want to watch him. Wow, check yourself Kanye. You may have left a stain.

i left the phil show to go over and check out kanye.im i big dead and phil fan but wanted to see kanye’s show because i heard it was supposed to be “glow in the dark” experience? when you don’t start a show till almost 5 in the morning.by then the sun was up and all u saw was the glow of everyones pissed off faces.kanye’s ego and arrogance kept him offstage till phil and rios stopped playing.kanye only cares about kanye.thanks for making me miss the rest of a true artist and professional. KANYE SUCKS!!

I was at bonnaroo and had the pleasure of seeing Pearl Jam and the displeasure of seeing the first ten minutes of Kanye’s set. Hear me out before you Pearl Jam bashers complain.
Kayne should have kept his original 8 15 playing time.
wHY?
Because Pearl Jma is a reaaaaaaaaal band and they are obviously going to play over their scheduled time….everyone who knows music knows this. the bands at bonnarooo play over their scheduled time.
So Kanye decided he wanted to go on at 2 15. But Why? So he could draw a better crowd bc alot of people were going to be at Pearl Jam.
The stage was ready at 315. Why did he not go on until 4 30?????
Must have wanted to catch those Phil Lesh fans (lol c mon thats bullshit)
People the point of Bonnaroo is diversity of music and its nice to see all kinds of music there. But what Kayne did was straight up disrespectful and selfish. He didnt even aknowledge the crowd when he came out. And I am not talking like I wanted a sorry from him but a “what up bonnarroooo!!! thanks for waiting!!” would have been nice.
Eddie vedder and Kayne are totally different artists. Eddie is there to play and wants to give the crowd everything. Kayne seems to be selfish egotistical and waaaaaaaaiting for his fans to worship him.
Thank you Pearl Jam for rocking my world. And I am not a hard core Pearl Jam fan or anythingg, they just really touched me when they played =)

Kyle, bottom line is, Kanye did not apologize and Bonnaroo is much better than Lollapalooza.

I would only expect these types of comments from a Bonnaroo crowd and no one else. Funny thing is is that none of them knew why he went on late, but later found out it was because of garbage Pearl Jam going over an hour on their set. It just goes to show how this crappy festival still falls short of the other great ones that happen throughout the country. I am glad I am smart enough to spend my money at Lollapalooza and not here.

I was also one of the many that tried very hard to make it to Kanye’s set and was very dissapointed when i walked away at 4 am with no show in sight. i missed seeing more of phil, or hip hoppers that start on time like talib kwali. i had also left the ghostland observatory show which was kickass to go see kanye. very disappointing, and true that nobody has ever been booed or disappointed the crowd at bonnaroo, and i’ve been to all 7 so far!

I arrived two hours early to get front row spots, and I have to say, it was the biggest waste of my time ever. I could have watched a legend like Phil Lesh or the innovative and awesome Sigur Ros, but I chose to see Kanye. He was grossly late, never acknowledged the audience, and was a mediocre performer at best. I’m not going to blame Bonnaroo officials for signing him, because I was really looking forward to seeing him and Bonnaroo is all about diversity. The only person to blame is Kanye for his arrogance and unprofessionalism.

Kanye SUCKED! His show was stupid and it was WAY too loud! Some people were trying to sleep at 5:00a in the morning. Everybody that I talked to the next day was “hating” on Kayne. So disrespectful.
As we were leaving the venue, someone made a cardboard sign that said “Dont’ step in Kayne”…it was a HUGE pile of horse shit! HA!!

Bonnaroo crowds are historically very appreciative fans to artist of all music styles, many of us there to hear new musicians and to ultimately celebrate music. If you ever seen a great show at Bonnaroo you tell friends and spread te word about it after “Roo is over. I hope this serves as a small lesson to arrogant, punk kid that he might want to start appreciating his fans or he won’t have any soon.
It seems every one of us that stayed up for this show has posted here- and I am as upset as everyone else. I went to check the show out after it was built up as a great light show and figured I would give it a shot for a style of music I generally don’t listen to. He must have a big set of balls to be rude to people who are willing to stay up all night and offer no apology. I have never heard anyone booed at Bonnaroo, the idea of it seems insane with so many people who are able to escape the real world for four days to experience a music overdose- but I found myself with the boo birds around 4:30. In the end it really killed my ‘Roo vibe for the rest of the festival, which is the biggest reason I go back every year.

Snoop wouldn’t have let us down.

I agree with Robert Randolph.

I was at Phil and Friends and disappointed when their set ended about an hour early to make way for Kanye West. But that’s the way things go when you’ve got lots of music all in one place.

But when I had made it all the way back to camp at 4:15 - when Phil’s set was supposed to end - and Kanye hadn’t even started yet, boy that got me pissed.

If there is one thing i can’t understand,other than kanyes’ attitude,is what other people see in him.he’s worse than a whining girl.

Yeah, it sucked, and the next day I was exhausted. Saying something to the fans would have been nice, or even better would be to put on one killer performance like he did on his last tour. But no, it was just him. My guess is the other people who were going to perform with him were in bed like I should have been. And maybe he was tired himself, I don’t know. But I and everyone else expected better.

But to the people who are just writing stuff like “this proves Kanye Sucks”… shut the hell up. A: I don’t think you were there and are just using this event to propel your anti-rap B.S.
B: He still puts out the best albums each year hands down. I’m never going to stop buying his albums. But I will think twice about tickets to a live show.

Kanye’s show was well worth the wait. I waited 10 hrs on him. I was in the pit. The closest a person could possibly be.

His show was truly an inspiration. Most of the people there were so messed up they didn’t understand what was going on. They just wanted to get messed up and watch glow stuff.

I took over 400 photos of excellent poster quality. His show was truly inspiring.

the funniest spray paint msg about kanye:

“KANYE WEST DOESNT CARE ABOUT ROO PEOPLE”

seriously, he screwed up my night. bonnaroo is very much about schedules, and i didnt get to see charli 2na or lupe and his performance was so dissapointing. did anyone else feel like throwing rocks when he sang the lyric, “You should be Honored by my lateness, that i would even show up to this fake shit”??

fuucckkk him.
nothing even glowed. he was wearing a freaking sweatshirt AND another sweatshirt tied around his waist. i didnt understand it.

We too waited and waited…. I actually left Pearl Jam early to go chill at the camp to return for the end of Phil Lesh an Kanye… of course we got back to Centeroo a bit late and I didn’t want to miss Kanye so I skipped on Lesh.. I also missed Talib. Never again will I do this. Kanye should apologize to all of the fans who’s Saturday night and Sunday mornings were ruined becuase of this. If he would have come out and rapped his ass off I might not be this upset, but that didn’t happen either. He was behind the beat in places, had little to no enthusiasm. The crowd was way more than nice given the circumstance. Oh and contrary to reports I’m reading there was no chanting of Kayne sucks before or during his show. Just some deserved boo-ing beforehand and lackluster applause during the show.

I agree with everyone’s comments. I waited the entire time for him to start and ended up leaving 4 songs in because I was so bitter and disappointed by the cheese of his show. I always thought he was pompous, but this took it to a new level. Whether it was his fault or production’s fault, there should have been an apology. It’s a shame that so many talented musicians had to cut their sets short.

I was there front and center, Kanye was one of the main reasons I bought tickets to Bonnaroo this year, considering the line up really wasn’t as impressive as years past. I’m sure Kanye’s show is impressive in the dark, but the sun came up as he sang “Good Morning”.
I expected behavior like this from him, as a fan it’s not really a surprise when he’s late. But, being late for a 8:00 show is one thing, and being 2 hours later for a 2:45 am show is pretty ridiculous. Instead of apoligizing, it seemed like his set list was a giant “F*ck you!” to the crowd, [He says in “Stronger”, “You should be honored by my lateness, that I even show up to this fake shit”… and in “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” Kanye said “Class started 2 hours ago, oh am I late?” those are just things you don’t say to a pissed off crowd.

You should be honored by his lateless, that he’d even show up to this fake shit…

I am so glad this happened to Superfly and Bonnaroo. I said from the beginning that this was a horrible pick and that Ye’s ego would screw up the festival in some way, shape, or form. I hope they have learned their lesson, and I hope next year’s lineup is better. Kayne West always has been and always will be a joke. Public Enemy should have been booked instead, performing “It Takes a Nation of Millions…” Give me that over any cheesy, half-assed set by Kayne any day.

So once upon a time, Kanye responds to some mediocre press with a blog post that included this: “they always try 2 make it seem like everything is about my ego! That joke is getting old. At a certain point you have 2 respect that I’m one of the last artist that still cares about the fans having the best time of there lives!” Obviously this is not the case. I was all for an interesting stage/light show from a high-profile rapper, even at Bonnaroo, but after more than 2 hours of waiting to get in the pit, front and center, and then the start time getting pushed back 2 more hours, I was getting skeptical that anything worthwhile would come from the show. I was right. Not only did he not acknowledge his dedicated fans, but the show was campy, lacking in interesting effects, and completely unengaging considering the only significant focal point was Kanye running back and forth on his “hills of another planet” set. I would also like to comment that despite our significant booing for the extreme delay, I never heard any chant of “Kanye sucks”, and as I said, I was in the thick of the pit. We did however chant “What the fuck” and “Bullshit” because of the delays. The thing that really gets me is the 1500 people who got there early to get in the pit and stuck it out for the show were trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and stay up and excited for the show and then he doesn’t even return the favor with an apology or a word of thanks.

I completely agree with Monique. I, too, was one of the idiots that waited for 2 hours and then stayed through the entire Kanye performance. I kept saying ‘this better be worth it’. It was definitely not. His performance was an hour long and was on the verge of laughable. Let’s pray that he never tries his hand at acting because the cheesiness of his monologue with a robot was awful. The show had a lot of potential but did not deliver in the least. Perhaps the lighting and glow-in-the-dark effects would have made more of an impact if the fucking sun weren’t coming up. On the other side of the spectrum was My Morning Jacket, for whom I gladly stood in a torrential downpour to hear perform an amazing four hour set. Clearly Kanye did not give a fuck about the people who paid good money (and gave up valuable sleep time) to see his half-assed attempt at a Bonnaroo performance. I guess as Kanye himself says in “Stronger”, we should have ‘been honored by his lateness’. No, Kanye, you should be honored that we stuck around for 2 hours to see your egotistical ass. Hope you NEVER win a Grammy!

I was watching phil lesh when he stopped his set about an hour and a half short after saying something like, “quite a diverse show tonight - theres something here for everyone. Apparently theres been a schedule change and kanye’s about to start a light show over there if anyone’s interested. We have time for one encore.” kanye was so late that phil could have finished his set. I can’t believe this flashy puff daddy wannabe has enough pull to stop a legend like phil from playing his full set at a venue like bonnaroo. Kanyes set was so obnoxiously loud, I suppose there was no other option than to make sure no one else was playing. The few thousand who stuck around to watch this should be ashamed. Kanyes set filled the campground air with more crap than the portapotties past midnight. Jane the robot was was right about his imminent crash landing (or whatever she was talking about)

Kanye West does not care about Bonnaroo People!

I was dosing (super) hard when i was watching sigur ros, and having the best time in the world doing so, but my girlfriend wanted to see Kanye, who i could give half a shit about. we went to the stage and made it front row, and waited… and waited, and waited. he never came, so we left. As soon as we got back to our tent, he came on, so we couldn’t sleep. we got fucked uber hard. they should just banish rappers from bonnaroo, they suck ass anyway.

the robots name was Jane, I think.

I was there as well…..I gave up time that could have been used watching sigur ros, Lupe, and phil lesh to see his Glow in the Dark show start at dawn.

Kanye should stick to his own tour and not go to festivals, hes not the type i think

I’m glad I left right before his show started He looks like he came out of shooting the next star wars flick….

What was the name of the robot-lady voice he kept talking to? Did she have a name?

just look at that ridiculous costume. what a retard.

I was one of the people who waited and watched Kanye’s entire performance and I was incredibly disappointed. We saw him a Lolla a couple years ago and his show rocked; he brought out all these guest musicians and had a hot orchestra. Since Roo is pretty much known for having people sit in and jam with different artists, I expected the same from him. Instead we got this lame one hour performance that reminded me a really bad off-off broadway musical. I can’t believe he didn’t even have anyone performing the beats for him. I said to my group that I would forgive him the delay if he just comes out on stage and apologizes and thanks us for waiting. It was the height of arrogance to not even acknowledge the people who waited for him for almost 2 hours. The crazy thing is that my sister-in-law had tickets to his concert in Cinci for a couple of days before Bonnaroo and he made them reschedule the concert–probably so he could get his flipping rest before making us wait up the entire night to see him.

I hope this god-awful show makes the organizers of Bonnaroo go back to their roots. Forget these narcissistic headline acts (jesus–Metallica and kanye in the same year is like saying a big F-U to the long time roo goers who love the less mainstream music usually found at Roo). Go back to your roots Superfly! Lower your ticket prices and get rid of multiple huge megastars on the lineup. The best show this year by far was My Morning Jacket late night. Honestly it’s usually the smaller bands in the tents that rock the hardest there.

I was there front and center, I was a big Kanye fan until now. I used to buy his albums. I will be ripping them now.

I was not at the gig, but I do agree that Kanye should have apologized for being “tardy”. It’s always cool to be in tune with your fans and if you mess up, confess up.
Yeah,

Eukiah East

I always knew Kanye was a tool, I just want to thank him for showing the Bonnaroo crowd how right I was. Now I can Officially confirm: Kanye, you’re dead to me. I hope you never sell another album.

Your mother would be ashamed of you.

I was there too. I was 3rd row in the pit - I couldn’t wait any longer and left at 4am. Our tent was near the main stage so unfortunatly I had to try and sleep listening to his songs. From what I can recall he never said “I’m sorry” or even acknowledged how late he was. That wasn’t cool.

Kanye SUCKS. I was there, waiting and waiting, standing, sitting, lying in the dirt. When he finally came on- and I mean he as in NO ONE else was even on stage.. his performance was both bogus and lame. I hope you never play live again Kanye!!!

I love the picture in this article for so many reasons. Because he took so long to come on, some people started throwing stuff at the stage. One of them was a red glow stick, it hit his small main screen and if you look at the picture above the red splash over HIS right shoulder is that glow stick, it stayed on there the whole show. I always thought Kanye was a little egotistical, but after this show I doubt i can be a fan anymore

I was there, the stage was finished and sat black for almost 30 minutes and then Kanye finally came out at 4:25. He would have started late regardless because Pearl Jam’s set went an hour long. But to wait until all the other acts are finished is just ludacris. I left after 5 songs because the sun started to come up, and once that happens your time to sleep is over, unless you like sleeping in puddles of your own sweat. Regardless Bonnaroo was amazing, Kanye West stinks.

I am so glad he sucked ass! I hate him more than words could ever explain. Don’t EVER come back, Kanye! Ignorant fool

So, Phil Lesh, who is 68 and prostate cancer and hepatitis C survivor had to cut the setbreak out of his show and play three hours straight for this? And he got up the next day and played a ninety minute acoustic set? They should rename Kanye’s ’space opera’ Blows In the Dark…