The ever-eccentric, always ranting and super influential Kanye West has no signs of stopping. Since 1996, he has been enthralling crowds with his over-the-top performances, sometimes super mesmerizing and at other times, filled with a shower of random ramblings.
We celebrate the influential artist’s most eventful performances at festivals over the years.
1. Coachella 2011
https://vimeo.com/22571721
Arguably considered as one of Kanye’s most iconic performances till date, the show had several dancers, a massive production setup and the man himself in all his glory. This was the pure, pre-Yeezus era, Grammy-winning Kanye West, whose setlist had most of his tracks from the then-fresh LP My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. The show ended with ‘Hey Mama’, a touching tribute to his late mother.
2. Govball 2013
Whoever attended the Governor’s Ball in 2013 got a taste of what Yeezus was going to sound like. Kanye debuted at least 5 tracks from the album at Govball, and performed a series of old hits to an extremely responsive crowd. It’s a pity that Kanye couldn’t perform at Govball this year, thanks to the last day being cancelled due to a thunderstorm.
3. Coachella 2015/2016
Kanye West gate-crashed Coachella 2 years in a row. In 2015, he came up on stage when The Weeknd called him out, and the crowd lost their shit. This year, it was with A$AP Rocky. 2016 was pretty eventful though; his mic stopped functioning mid-performance. It was supposedly because A$AP’s performance ran over time. Nevertheless, it was hilarious.
4. Bonnaroo 2014
Bonnaroo attendees got to witness one of Kanye’s iconic rants live on stage in 2014. He reminded the crowd of his bad experience with Bonnaroo in 2008, still blaming Pearl Jam for his delayed performance back in 2008, and then went on to say “Last time before I got here they had ‘fuck Kanye’ on the port-a-potties. This time we’re going to piss on them.” He also kept calling out the press.
5. Glastonbury 2015
Kanye West’s set at Glastonbury was highly anticipated by some, and not amusing for some others. There was a petition on Change.org to have his set banned, with over 130,000 signatures. Fortunately for the fans, that didn’t happen and Kanye went on to deliver one of his best performances, with some amazing production on display. Oh, and he also declared himself as “the greatest living rock star on the planet.” Typical Kanye, everybody.
6. Outside Lands 2014
Outside Lands didn’t have a lot of eventful stuff, except for the fact that this was his first performance since his marriage to Kim Kardashian, to whom Kanye paid tribute. He also tried to form mosh pits, but that didn’t happen. That didn’t stop him from trying again towards the end. Kanye also poked fun at himself a little bit, saying this: “By the way, I’m Kanye and I can do whatever I want, and it’s gonna be cool again.”
Have some more to add to the list? Let us know in the comments!