KANYE WEST VERSUS BONNAROO

Kanye West finally reacts to the mounting criticism from his delayed early morning performance at Bonnaroo that clearly angered fans

With a tremendously diverse musical lineup in 2008 ranging from the heavy rock of Metallica and Mastadon to Jam Band favorites Phil Lesh and Widespread Panic to indie bands like Vampire Weekend and Death Cab for Cutie and rockers Pearl Jam and My Morning Jacket to Hip Hop artists like Lupe Fiasco and Chali 2na all the way to legends Willie Nelson and B.B. King, Bonnaroo has become known for their extremely wide range in musical tastes.

Many Bonnaroo fans, who have become synonymous with music afficianodos, were a bit surprised to see Kanye West and his GLOW in the Dark Tour make a run through Bonnaroo in 2008. In fact West was originally supposed to perform on the second stage just before Pearl Jam on Saturday Night June 14th, but reportedly had another vintage Kanye fit so organizers could move him to the main stage just after Pearl Jam at 2am on Sunday morning.

“Do you know how much Puff Daddy juice you have to drink to say you want to be President. How many Kanye injections you must endure. Yeah, Kanye has the biggest ego in this mother this week. Kanye gets mad if he don’t win Miss America. ‘Mother F***** I’m the American S**t!’

As Pearl Jam was putting the final touches on what will surely become a legendary Bonnaroo peformance for the band and thus running their set an hour long, Kanye West was once again ready to pull another trademark West moment and decided to make his displeasure known. Reportedly there was technical difficulties due to Kanye West’s elaborate stage set up and big screen monitors but when he finally did make his way to the stage at 4:30am he was met with a chorus of boos from the crowd while they pelted the stage with water bottles, beer and glow sticks. By the time his set ended after 6am, the sun was rising over the horizon and negated any effect Kanye’s GLOW in the Dark Tour might have originally had.

On a posting on his Blog days after his Bonnaroo debacle, Kanye West wrote “This Bonnaroo thing is the worst insult I’ve ever had in my life. This is the most offended I’ve ever been … this is the maddest I ever will be.” Then went on to blast Bonnaroo organizers Superfly Productions and AC Entertainment saying he was “dealing with idiots who didn’t really have the capacity to really put on this show properly.” Bonnaroo’s publicist Ken Weinstein released a statement on behalf of the festival after Kanye’s criticism saying “Our world-class event production team strives to accommodate the needs of every performer.” With the looks of Bonnaroo’s success year in and year out, after seven years in, clearly one can’t argue with the world class production that goes into putting on America’s biggest and most successful festival.

So how did the Bonnaroo crowd react to Kanye West?