Kanye West sent the Big Apple into chaos Monday morning when thousands of fans showed up for a surprise performance at the city’s famous Webster Hall. People swarmed the street outside of the venue; they stood on cars and trash cans, and hung out of windows.
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An impromptu Kanye West gig in NY – arranged following the cancellation of the Governors Ball’s third and final day – was itself cancelled following the influx of fans in their thousands. Just as he took the stage at Summer Jam, his creative director Virgil Abloh posted to Instagram that Kanye would perform an all-Pablo set somewhere in Manhattan.
The reps pleaded with the crowds to leave the streets and go home by form of a tweet, which read, “There is no late show at Webster Hall tonight”. But instead of a concert to remember, the night ended with a hoard of disappointed fans and allegations that police used pepper spray to disperse them.
“We just saw a black Mercedes-Benz pull up and a whole bunch of people running so we ran over to the auto and it was Kanye West standing out of the roof of the Mercedes-Benz and Travis Scott coming out of the window”, one man said. At 1:45 a.m., Webster Hall cancelled the surprise show. The venue can only hold 1,500 people. West apparently had the same intentions after a few cryptic tweets suggested he would be appearing at a last-minute show at Webster Hall alongside his protégé Vic Mensa.
On Snapchat, West’s wife Kim Kardashian said he tried to get in touch with NYC mayor Bill De Blasio to get a block party going, according to Uproxx, but he was unsuccessful.
The crowd spilled out from the pavement, gathering in the road and even climbing vehicles, rubbish bins and lampposts. Nearly 30 minutes after that, West and Travis Scott drove by and waved to fans through their car’s sun roof, The Fader reports.
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No official announcement was made about what led to the show’s cancelation, but it was likely the enormous crowd, which ballooned quickly after word of the concert got out. One person was arrested for disorderly conduct.
