We were so close. Los Angeles Times reporter Gerrick Kennedy, has reported that the rest of Kanye West’s Saint Pablo Tour has been canceled – including what would have been Kanye’s first stop in Denver in nearly a decade at the Pepsi Center, November 28. The cancellation comes on the heels of a tumultuous year for West which included album delays, public meltdowns, a reignited feud with Taylor Swift, his wife Kim Kardashian’s robbery in Paris, and to cap it off a disastrous end to the second leg of the Saint Pablo Tour where he reportedly walked out of a Sacramento show on Saturday night after playing for a mere 20 minutes.
Just got word from a source that @kanyewest informed his crew that remaining dates of U.S. #SaintPabloTour are nixed.
— Gerrick D. Kennedy (@GerrickKennedy) November 21, 2016
The Sacramento show, which seems to be the straw that broke the camels back, was preceded by a heavily criticized endorsement of Donald Trump at a concert in San Jose on November 19, and a rant against Beyoncé and Jay-Z, longtime collaborators and friends of the rapper.
Saying this upcoming performance was highly anticipated is an understatement. Kanye’s last appearance in Denver was April 27, 2008 during the Glow in the Dark Tour supporting his third album Graduation. Since then he has released four solo albums, his collaboration with Jay- Z, Watch the Throne, and his collaborative release Cruel Summer. Prior to the Saint Pablo Tour, he was expected to hit Denver on a joint tour with Lady Gaga in 2009, but his infamous VMA outburst with Taylor Swift and the tragic passing of his mother, Donda West crushed those hopes. He was also expected to perform in Denver in 2013 on the Yeezus Tour, but a truck carrying his expensive set-up crashed and damaged the set beyond repair, derailing the Denver performance in the process. The most recent cancellation of the critically acclaimed Saint Pablo tour, saw the rapper performing on a stage suspended above the audience conjuring the feel of a punk show below, as mosh pits would often ensue beneath. But alas.
So, now that the tour is awash, who knows the next time he’ll make it out to the Mile High City, but hopefully he gets the help he needs before then.