“JUST SAY THIS OUT LOUD IN A ROOM FULL OF PEOPLE, ‘KANYE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT GIVING A GOOD PERFORMANCE.’ CAN ANYONE HONESTLY SAY THAT ?????????”

To the best of my knowledge, nobody with any sense is ever going to say that, and for the record I’m pretty sure Kanye West wants to give the best performance every time he takes the stage. Being on top of the world of music, there’s nothing but people trying to come down on you and, and people will take any opportunity to lash out at you when you’re flying high.

Now, I don’t want to take any credit for pushing the issue, but my posting on Monday asking Kanye what the deal was seems to have reached its intended recipient. In his personal blog, Kanye West himself has finally responded (in appropriate Kanye fashion) to the massive outpouring of criticism towards his appearance at Bonnaroo from all areas of the media. In his response, Kanye holds both Bonnaroo festival organizers and Pearl Jam (who stayed nearly an hour past their scheduled time) for the edited and delayed show. Kanye’s furious response and enthusiastic apology to the fans, frequently in all caps, is littered with an intense anger.

“This is the most offended I’ve ever been… this is the maddest I ever will be. I’m typing so fucking hard I might break my fucking Mac book Air!!!!!!!!” writes ‘Ye, beginning a tirade which points directly at Bonnaroo organizers for waffling on whether or not their stage was able to facilitate the magnitude of his famed “Glow In The Dark” hip-hop show.

Further, Kanye points out that they attempted to perform the show’s massive equipment load in for 24 hours prior to the show but, for whatever reasons, were pushed back from completing their load in effectively. Now, if you don’t understand what it takes to load in a show as fueled by pyrotechnics, lights and lasers as Kanye’s, you can’t appreciate the drama that ensues when that load in is delayed — and that’s just where things begin. Add in the delays of Pearl Jam’s playing nearly an hour past their set time, and the stage was set for the disaster that ensued. As he performed on a stage covered in liquid (from people throwing glow sticks, beers and other things), the slippery terrain added to the already heated chaos of the situation.

Once daylight was breaking, it was obvious that the full impact of the show would be lost and, therefore, Kanye made the decision to pull the plug on the production somewhat earlier than he would have liked.

But suffice if to say, it wasn’t all blaming and finger pointing. Kanye feels genuinely upset that he could not give his best performance to the fans. “I’M SORRY TO EVERYONE THAT I DIDN’T HAVE THE ABILITY 2 GIVE THE PERFORMANCE I WANTED TO. I’M SORRY…,” he continues. “SOMETIMES I GO 2, 3 DAYS W/O SLEEP WORKING ON MY PERFORMANCE… I HAVE TO ICE MY KNEES AFTER EVERY SHOW AND THEY HURT WHEN I WALK THROUGH THE AIRPORT…,” and this is the reality for someone whose touring and appearance schedule is as intense as Kanye’s.

Overall, I would have liked for Kanye (or anyone) to say something a bit earlier to appease all the talking heads out there. But for his part, I credit Kanye for addressing the issue in the manner which we would all want and expect.

But now, I have to come out in Kanye’s defense and say this: when you’re dealing with a bunch of clearly fucked up, upset people, the last thing they want is an explanation. At the moment that it all went down, he probably theorized, they might not care one way or the other what caused the delays. After all, we’re talking about people who were booing and screaming “Fuck You, Kanye” and throwing shit at the stage. Now, does that sound like someone you can have a conversation with?

Furthermore, as any smart business person should want to do, Kanye probably (correctly) waited until he got paid for the show before saying anything. Believe me, if you’re the promoter of the show, you would gladly say to an artist who talked shit about you in your own backyard, “Well, you delayed the show, therefore you broke the rules of our contract so we’re not going to pay you.” That becomes money in your pocket. I’m not accusing Superfly or A.C. of anything, I’m merely presenting a theory of the situation which may or may not be accurate.

So, in retrospect, maybe it wasn’t handled the way everyone would have wanted in the most timely fashion, but I am a big believer that there is a reason why everything happens the way it does. In spite of his reputation, I have to look at things from kanYe’s perspective here and believe that he and his people did the best they could with what they had to work with at the time. Things said in the heat of the moment could have led to greater repercussions or, worse, a repeat of what ensued at Woodstock ’99 (‘memba that shit?).

And look…Kanye, like I told you in your blog, I apologize personally for jumping off the deep end. I look forward to seeing “The Glow Tour” the way you want it to be seen & take care of those knees, sir.

Kanye West responds to criticism of his Bonnaroo appearance (kanyeuniversity.com)

photo credit: rocknroll_guitar

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