Off the back of their new album …and the anonymous nobody, veteran New York hip-hop outfit De La Soul rounded out their 2016 Australian Tour on an unfortunate note this weekend, with their Sydney performance on Friday night leaving fans feeling ripped off and tainting an otherwise successful tour.
Sponsored by Red Bull Music Academy, the trio reportedly hit North Sydney’s Greenwood Hotel stage two hours later than scheduled. After just 15 minutes of performing, the gig was shut down due to the venue’s noise curfew.
Concertgoers took to social media to report throughout the night. Although De La’s set was scheduled to begin at 9:30 pm, reports indicate that De La’s Maseo only appeared at 11.45pm, and after just three songs, at midnight, was faced with promoters and venue security ordering him to halt proceedings.
According to various complaints made through Reddit, the NSW police arrived and became increasingly hostile with numerous punters. “After the gig a man throws a plastic cup with beer in at a cop,” said one user. “The cop then picks him up and throws him headfirst into the concrete floor.”
Through a lack of clear ownership in regards to why the act were not informed as to the North Sydney venue’s noise curfew, some punters took to blaming De La Soul for a lack of professional courtesy.
“No explanation given. You obviously dont [sic] give a shit about your fans. Time to hang up your mics,” commented one upset fan, while another said, “I’m gone man I don’t care if you say it was the venue or the promoters or the law you knew exactly what was going to happen and you still turned up late and didn’t do what you promised everyone”.
Another contingent of the disgruntled audience took to calling for venue management to take responsibility for the shutdown. Several blamed the late start on sound issues relating to the venue’s equipment.
“The delays that occurred tonight were in the hands of the promoters and out of the venue and venue management’s control,” read a statement from the Greenwood Hotel who later offered full refunds to everyone who attended the mishap.
“However, this reflects poorly on our business, our reputation as a venue and our relationship with our customers and for that we sincerely apologise again… Rest assured we have followed up on your behalf and all tickets will be refunded.”
One video posted by an Instagram user reveals Maseo confronted in a verbal disagreement with supposedly the man responsible for shutting down the whole affair, shortly joined by several heavy-set security guards intervening the fracas.
The caption provided suggesting they “treat their paying customers like animals,” and “Will never, ever forget how horrible people were treated, so embarrassing.”
Maseo then delivered a short on-stage rant about hip-hop tour promoters, indicating that poor organisation or a behind-the-scenes issue was more than likely the reason behind their anger. “Tired of promoters fucking with hip-hop just trying to make a quick buck,” he apparently told the crowd. This was further cemented when the tour’s final show, set to take place in Melbourne, was quickly cancelled the following day.
Read our interview with De La Soul’s Posdnuos
Read our review of …and the anonymous nobody
Image: The Times