Ashley Soley-Cerro and Myles Miller
A surprise Kanye West show may have been canceled early Monday morning – leading to one arrest and several vehicles being damaged as thousand crowded outside Webster Hall, but that didn’t stop the hip-hop icon from riling up fans by parading down Manhattan streets.
Meant as consolation after the last day of the three-day Governor’s Ball festival – where Kanye West was among the headliners -was canceled on Sunday due to severe weather, the artist hinted that evening on social media that there would be an East Village concert around 2 a.m., the Daily News reports.
An hour before the show was expected to begin, West tweeted that it was sold out. Forty-five minutes later, Webster Hall, which never directly acknowledged the concert, said there “is no late show tonight.”
None of that stopped more than 4,000 people from gathering outside the venue, which has a capacity of 1,500.
Crowds filled the streets, causing East 11th Street to be closed between Fourth and Third avenues for about an hour.
Dozens of people were also seen climbing atop of vehicles – several of which were dented and at least one was left with a broken windshield.
West’s wife, Kim Kardashian, later acknowledged the show’s cancelation on Snapchat, apologizing to fans and saying her husband tried his hardest to perform but police did not believe it was a good idea.
Dozens of NYPD officers were seen at the large gathering, turning spotlights on the crowds and announcing over bullhorns: “The concert has been canceled. Get home safe.”
One girl was arrested for disorderly conduct, police said.
Still, West, never one to shy away from the spotlight, chose to make an appearance at the chaotic scene and briefly stood up through a vehicle’s sunroof as it made its way across Third Avenue while thousands chased after him.
“Absolute madness. … I thought I was going to die back there,” one excited fan told PIX11 after he says West shook his hand.
Another fan compared the experience to attending church.
“He touched my hand. Not washing this,” he smirked.
Rap artists Pusha T, 2 Chainz and Desiigner were among those spotted outside Webster Hall on Monday.
“Kanye” and “Webster Hall” were the two top trending topics on Twitter throughout the morning, with 137,000 and 31,100 thousand tweets sent mentioning each, respectively, before 7 a.m.
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