Kanye West Ticks Off Fans + Soundgarden Frontman Chris Cornell at Big Day Out Fest
by:
Cristin Maher Yesterday
Chris Hyde, Getty Images
Kanye West might be a superstar, but that doesn’t mean that his tardiness will be met with approval. Over the weekend, Yeezy performed at Australia’s Big Day Out festival on the Gold Coast, and he enraged fans when he
pulled a Bonnaroo and kept them waiting for almost an hour. Additionally, West’s sound check interrupted parts of Soundgarden’s performance, leading fed-up frontman Chris Cornell to fire off some insults at the rapper.
Even before 8:30PM, when Kanye’s show was expected to start, the Chicago native had reportedly been getting his diva on. West had requested an all-white dressing room, and according to the Australian publication
Courier Mail, the rapper had sent over representatives to make sure there weren’t any traces of other colors present. When they found a couch to be a “cream-c0lored” shade, they had it replaced — apparently Kanye will only rest his rump on a pure, unadulterated white surface.
Later on, West upset Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell as well as fans of the grunge icons when his sound check was clearly audible in between songs. When fans of Soundgarden started booing Kanye for his noisy test-run, Cornell
said, “Sounds like there’s children playing music there, geniused children, geniused as in held back. There’s no other word for it.”
Finally, when Kanye was supposed to hit the stage for one of the biggest performances of the night, fans began chanting “bulls—” over and over again as the rapper kept them waiting for 45 minutes. According to Big Day Out founder Ken West, a severe rain storm was to blame for Kanye’s delayed set, and he asked that festival-goers “Stop picking on Kanye.” This seems likely, considering Courier Mail reports that legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk and a group of skaters were originally supposed to hit the stage at 6:30, but the rain delayed their show, throwing off the timing for all acts to follow — even though it was suggested that Hawk perform onstage with Yeezy, but the rapper refused.
