Kanye West cancels remainder of tour after onstage rant

Kanye West has cancelled the remaining dates on his Saint Pablo tour just  two days after a bizarre concert in Sacramento on Saturday where the rapper played three songs before going on a trademark ad-libbed speech where he criticised Beyoncé, Hillary Clinton and Mark Zuckerberg.

West was due to play The Forum in Los Angeles as part of his Saint Pablo tour and as a “makeup” show for a gig in November that he cut short after losing his voice. However, on Sunday the venue confirmed the gig was cancelled and that fans should seek refunds.

After cancelling Sunday'sLos Angeles concert, a spokesperson for West announced that he would not be playing any more dates on the tour dates. No reason was given and promoters Live Nation tweeted that "Ttckets will be fully refunded within 5-7 business days."

On Saturday, West played in Sacramento but only got through three songs before going on a spoken-word detour and then abruptly walking off stage and ending the show.

West started by criticising radio stations for favouring certain acts and not giving air time to the artists such as Frank Ocean and Kid Cudi. “A lot of people here tonight felt like they lost. You know why? Because y’all been lied to. Google lied to you. Facebook lied to you. Radio lied to you,” he said.

“What I’m saying is we love Drake, Drake is great. He’s a great artist. But Frank Ocean is great, too.”

West also claimed that Beyonce only agreed to play the MTV Music Awards if she knew beforehand that she won the award for video of the year over West and Drake.

Then West turned his attentinon to Zuckerberg, who West once asked to donate $53 million so that he could get out of debt. “Mark Zuckerberg, you wanna call me now? Do I got the vision, Mark Zuckerberg? Was you wrong? When I said I was $53 million in debt and you didn’t call me, was you wrong? … You said you would help and you didn’t. Then you went to look for aliens.”

Clinton also got a mention, and was presented as a cautionary tale for those out of step with West’s thinking. “The Saint Pablo tour is more relevant than radio and if y’all keep following old models, your ass is going to be Hillary Clinton.”

West was scheduled to play a show in Fresno, California, on Tuesday, as well as 20 more concerts  between now and the end of the year. The tour was set to end with a two-night stint at Brooklyn's Barclays Center on December 30th and 31st.

– (Guardian Service)