Where Kanye West goes, his fans follow.
The 38-year-old “Father Stretch My Hands” rapper was scheduled to headline the Governors Ball music festival Sunday night, but the event was canceled due to inclement weather. Determined to perform in some capacity, West vowed to make it up to his fans. His creative director, Virgil Abloh, revealed the rapper’s plans via an Instagram post. “Summer jam now. **PABLO details being sorted. update shortly,” he wrote. An earlier version of Abloh’s post read: “Summer Jam now. We’re doing PABLO at 2 am in Manhattan. Sorting out where now.”
West first made a surprise appearance on stage at Hot 97’s Summer Jam in New Jersey. The rapper’s wife, Kim Kardashian, shared a Snapchat video of him on the phone trying to make up for the Governors Ball gig. “Call the mayor and shut down the block about four streets and put screens up so they can have a party outside,” the hip-hop star said. “I hear it’s sold out already.”
West eventually settled on Webster Hall in New York City.
Around 1 a.m. ET, he tweeted, “Show at 2am SOLD OUT.”
Approximately 4,000 people gathered on 13th Street in the East Village, which escalated into a “near riot” situation. As one Twitter user put it, “It’s pandemonium.” When West finally rolled up (and stood through his car’s sunroof), fans stood on top of cars, dumpsters and scaffolding to get a better view of their favorite rapper as they chanted, “Pablo! Pablo!” At 1:45 a.m. ET, Webster Hall tweeted, “There is no late show at Webster Hall tonight. Please get home safely.”
West was “really close” to performing before the cancellation, a Webster Hall security guard told The New York Daily News, while cops arrested one person for disorderly conduct.
Abloh later updated his Instagram caption to confirm that the event had been “cancelled due to safety priority.” Kardashian, meanwhile, apologized on her husband’s behalf. “We tried. He tried so hard, but it was just bigger,” the Keeping Up With the Kardashians star, 35, said in a Snapchat video around 4 a.m. ET. “The cops just really wouldn’t allow it.” Still, others in West’s circle saw it as a success. As producer Mike Dean tweeted, “We made history tonight. Pablo mob.”
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