Forty-five minutes? Compared to some of his past festival appearances, that's practically on time.

I think it's when people got over their prejudices and realized that the "douchebag" label isn't just for white men.

Mugato: I think it's when people got over their prejudices and realized that the "douchebag" label isn't just for white men.



"Say it! Say it!"
"Say what?"
"You were gonna call me a n*****, weren't you?"
"No I wasn't!"
"Yes you were! What were you gonna call me!"
"Asshole! How's that, asshole!"

\wrong pic, right general idea

Fark you subby. I read "demise of Kanye West" and got my hopes up for celebrity death number two this week only to have my hopes and dreams dashed by seeing the idiot is still alive and well....

Alive and stupid anyway.

Kanye has fans?

I always figured he was just the lame rapper du jour the cartel invested a bunch of money into because he was still "safe" while also using lyrics that were a half-step outside the standard PG line of your current average pop song. "Edgy" without being truly offensive. Manufactured pap.

I mean, I understand that there will always be mindless drones who latch on to whatever flash is being thrust in their faces, but they've got loyalty to rival a goldfish so one can't really call them "fans."

Kanye is going to get the blame for the demise of the Big Day Out. The touring festival has had no end of trouble this year.

- Usually the shows at the big centres (Gold Coast/Sydney/Melbourne) sell out within the first hour, sometimes within minutes. Not this year. The announcement of Kanye as headliner definitely softened sales (reactions could be measured on a scale of Huh? to Meh), especially for a gig that also relies on people from regional areas making the trip (which I have done multiple times for the years when the line-up was worth it... totally not worth the 1600km journey this year). Not that it was all his fault, the lineup all round seemed pretty crap, IMHO.

- The Adelaide and Perth legs of the tour got scaled back, dropping half the main stage performers. The promoters denied it was because of soft sales, blaming instead on issues with the local councils and the locations, meaning they could not get a site large enough to have the dual main stage areas. Kanye was actually dropped from the lineup for Perth, but not replaced, getting him the nickname Kanye East ^{(Perth is the capital of Western Australia)}.

- Just a few days before the Auckland show it was announced this would be the last time the tour came to New Zealand, making the whole thing a bittersweet event, since by then it was too late for most people to try to get to possibly their last Big Day Out (the show has been including New Zealand for 18 of its 20 years)

- The tour promoters had internal problems, and one of the two main guys quit. The remaining manager told, in interviews, how close the whole thing came to being cancelled, and for three days actually was - he changed his mind before the official announcement.

- There was a sudden deluge, apparently, at the Gold Coast show. I heard a radio interview with (of all people) Noel Gallagher, whose set was due to be on at the same time as Kanye, and apparently he was aware of the rain hitting Kanye's sound desk, and was looking forward to the influx of people to his set that any sound problems on the main stage might cause. However, it does indicate that they would have had a lot of time to get any sound problems sorted, and since they have dual main stages, should have been able to work something out that did not result in 45 minutes waiting.

- Backstage reports^ indicate that rain might not have been the issue - an ego that had a problem with "cream" rather then "white" couch in the dressing room, and not wanting to share the time slot with Tony Hawk may have also been factors. The proof will be at the next gig I suppose.

- The BDO organises probably had to pay a fine for running late - most venues have sound and traffic requirements to get it done at a specific time...

tl;dr version: BDO is not what it once was, and booking Kayne was a mistake that probably cost them a lot of money and may mark the beginning of the end for the festival.

/Festival Fatigue has hit hard, with many formerally sell-out shows not making the cut, and some even being cancelled all round Australia
//We could do with some trimming in that area, way too many shows
///Dammit, I'm late for work now. Way too long a post.

LewDux: fusillade762: Also: throwing ice at someone and screaming homophobic slurs because they're drinking the wrong brand of vodak probably doesn't help either. (new window)

That;s Fiddy, not Kanye
[i2.kym-cdn.com image 150x134]
Link (new window)

Is this some sort of new meme?

That's Diddy.

MontanaDave: I prefer to think his demise can be traced to his music being a waste of 1s an 0s on various electronic media.

Ding ding ding!

He was a really good producer. Never a good rapper, but he made some great beats. He has simply overestimated how much of a dick he could be while still having people like you.

I saw Machine Head at a small club last week on their Eighth Plague tour. This isn't really relevant, except that they started on time, stopped on time, and played a great show in between. Professionals, through and through those guys.

Evilsmurf: ghost_who_walks: Kanye is going to get the blame for the demise of the Big Day Out. The touring festival has had no end of trouble this year.

There's a few reasons the BDO is dying:
- Weak line-up. This is a festival which is known for mostly alternative type music. I mean, the headliners at the first one was Nirvana and The Violent Femmes. Kanye and Kasabian certainly do not fit in that category.
- Soundwave. This is the big one. It's stealing acts that are right in the BDO's wheelhouse from right under their noses. I know plenty of people who live in regional Australia who can only afford to go to one of the two. 2009, it seemed to be a 50/50 split. Last year it was around 70-30 tilted towards soundwave. This year was the first time where everyone chose soundwave (except one guy who picked the BDO on the grounds of Soundgarden and Cavalera Conspiracy).
- General decline in the Australian music scene. Soundwave, to a degree, seems to be dealing with it by picking little-known Australian bands and beefing up on the internationals. The BDO just seems to pick the same old Australian bands (I see The Living End, Grinspoon, Frenzal Rhomb and Regurigitator on the BDO's line-up... that would have been a great set of Australian bands in 1999).

Agreed on every level. ^{(I was just saying Kanye's gunna get the blame for the BDO fail - more likely than his BDO fail getting the blame for his decline, much as I would love to his decline happen)}. Even down to the Soundwave decision - Soundwave has had the lineup that makes it worth travelling from FNQ to Brizzy for a couple of years now. BDO got a last harrah out of me back in 2010, and that was almost too much effort for too little reward. I spent a huge chunk of my day just wandering around from stage to stage because I didn't care much for most of the lineup. Soundwave on the other hand has me planning my day out so that I can see everyone I want to see as much as possible.

/Saw Less Than Jake headline a side stage there last year, they were as awesome as ever... lost count of how many times I've seen them live now.
//Never been particularly keen on Soundwave's choice of headliners though... might just be me though.
///Getting too old for festivals. The beer's weak, warm and costly, and there's too many impolite smokers, and the kids... they should just get out of my mosh pit dammit!