Inside the Chaos at Kanye West’s 2 a.m. NYC Non-Show

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Last night, Kanye West started a clusterfuck in New York City after announcing a surprise concert in Manhattan to make up for his cancelled Governor’s Ball headlining gig.

Sadly, the concert never ended up happening, because thousands of Kanye’s most loyal stans flooded the streets surrounding Webster Hall, which they correctly guessed as the venue for the secret gig, making it impossible for Kanye West to even get to the venue.

How do I know this?

Because both my boyfriend and our newest intern Keely Quinlan were there.

The madness began at 10 p.m. when Virgil Abloh, Kanye West’s creative director, posted on Twitter and Instagram that in lieu of Kanye’s cancelled Governors Ball appearance, he was going to make a surprise appearance at Hot 97‘s Summer Jam, and that they were also working out the logistics for a secret show in Manhattan at 2 a.m.

Of course, Kanye fans immediately began speculating as to where this secret concert could be taking place, and it wasn’t long before a very high-profile celebrity in the know dropped a big hint.

In a now deleted video posted shortly after the announcement, 2 Chainz told his 2.4 million followers that there would be “good music” at Webster Hall at 2 a.m., which was a not-so-thinly veiled reference to Kanye’s record label G.O.O.D. Music.

Although most fans had already guessed that this was where the show was going down was going because Vic Mensa, a Kanye signee, had already announced that he was having a makeup show at Webster Hall that night.

Also, according to our sources at least, a lot of people have “friends of friends” who work at Webster Hall and leaked the deets.

As soon as my boyfriend and I put the news together, he was already running around the apartment, frantically lacing up his shoes and calling everybody he knew to try and find somebody who didn’t have to wake up for work in the morning, like me and most of his square friends did.

Here’s his account of the evening, part of which I remember from when he came home at 5 a.m. when he woke me up from my much needed beauty sleep, and part of which he told me this morning when I woke him up to return the favor.

“It changed my life,” he said. “People were decked out in Pablo gear and standing on top of cars. One car couldn’t take the weight of one Kanye rioter and the windshield shattered.”

But according to our intern Keely, the scene was less life changing than a hot chaotic mess.

By the time she got there at midnight, roughly an hour before my boyfriend did, “the line was already half way around the block onto 12th Street,” and things stayed manageable for about 45 minutes until “the crowd in front of us [started] pushing us through and would slam us into the people in front of us. The line became so tight the cops were starting to rip people out of the line for cutting.”

She added that “after another hour of that, around 1:45, kids were getting on light posts and climbing the scaffolding in the surrounding areas and then suddenly the line rushed into this garage right next to Webster. People were literally jumping over semi-trucks in the garage to get around the crowd.”

She also noted something similar to what my boyfriend reported, saying “There was a car nearby that had been stood on and it looked like the roof had collapsed and the mirrors were kicked in.” She even saw people grabbing A$AP Rocky’s hair while he tried to leave the venue.

Obviously, given the level of chaos Kanye inspired, it didn’t take long for the show to
A. Get sold out (allegedly) and
B. Get cancelled

We’re still unclear on how it “sold out” since we don’t know of a single person who bought any kind of ticket, and Keely was there two hours early but still didn’t see tickets being sold. Also, the show was never officially announced online, least of all on TicketMaster or Webster Hall’s websites. But okay, sure, guess it was sold out.

It’s still unclear why Webster Hall didn’t just open the doors and have the show. They did crankily tweet this late at night:

But why not have the show? Keely suspects it’s because Kanye literally couldn’t get into the venue, but there’s no way of knowing for sure right now.

Shortly before 2 a.m., Keely reported hearing everyone singing “Power.” Then, over a large speaker, the Webster Hall people were saying the show was sold out, at which point she left because she was “really hot and exhausted from being pushed around.”

Still, according to my boyfriend, many members of the crowd stuck around, “following Kim’s Snapchat to find out where Kanye was,” because of course Kim decided to broadcast the entire ordeal, which included Kanye frantically trying to get in touch with NYC Mayor Bill De Blasio to try and find an alternative venue, or even get a permit to clear a couple of blocks and just do it in the street.

By this point, my boyfriend assures me that “the vibe wasn’t malicious and when the cops really got serious about breaking it up most people dispersed. It didn’t have the feel of a riot at all, everyone was getting along.”

But that didn’t stop the police from allegedly using pepper spray on some more rowdy fans. His account also seems at odds with Keely’s recollection of the night, but she was closer to the front door of Webster, so she had prime access to all of the melée.

Also my boyfriend might have just been really drunk and hyped up on adrenaline, but whatevs.

“Oh,” my boyfriend adds as I’m about to hang up the telephone and get back to furiously typing, “and at some point someone started a slow clap for no reason. It was hilarious. And the whole crowd did it.”

Here my boyfriend is being modest, because he told me at 5 a.m. that he was the one who started the slow clap.

Sadly, Keely wasn’t there to corroborate that this event actually happened, but for the sake of love, let’s say that it did and that it was glorious.

For what it’s worth though, Kim promises that Kanye will make it up to his fans and that another pop-up show is in the works, so make sure you stay glued to your social media channels for updates.

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