Chief Keef’s homecoming concert at Northerly Island has been postponed. The show was scheduled for 7:30 p.m. tonight.
Swank PR, who is handling public relations for the “Chief Keef Live” tour, told The TRiiBE the show was postponed due to travel issues. Keef’s flight was delayed, pushing his touchdown time to about 10:30 p.m.
“And the venue made a decision to postpone the event because he would’ve landed right at the curfew,” Swank PR Founder and CEO Briahna Gatlin said Saturday evening. “People were disappointed, but there were no violent threats or anything.”
The next morning, Chief Keef made a statement on his Instagram story.
“It wasnt fucking me at all yall. Or it wasnt the city. It was a pilot who got very racist at the clear port. And the pilot decided to cancel my plane, which had us scattering to find new jets. And by the time we found an option it would be too late to land and do a full show. So we postponed it til the 23rd. Thanks to the city. No i aint happy, yes i am upset. I know all of you anticipated this just like me. For days and weeks and a few months. Thanks to all who came to see me today I really love all of yall, who bought a ticketto come see me. And im sincerely sorry that this happened trust me. But on the 23rd ima go crazy for yall and give it my all. That was my first racist pilot whom cancelled a plane. But we back on for the 23rd mark my words.”
Just after 7:00 p.m., The TRiiBE team saw fans walking away from the concert area. Attendees said they’d received a text message saying the show was postponed.
“Why would you wait 15 minutes before and tell us it’s postponed?” one 36-year-old woman from Chicago’s West Side said. She came to the show with her daughter who is celebrating her 17th birthday. “F–ck him!” the mother said. Both did not want to share their names.
A Live Nation representative confirmed the news around 7:15 p.m.
“We will send more info about the rescheduled date as soon as we have,” the rep said.
According to Huntington Bank Pavilion, Keef’s Chicago show is rescheduled for Sept. 23.
“Chief Keef fans, we’re very sorry that we were not able to get the show in tonight due to travel delays,” the venue wrote on its Instagram page. “We look forward to seeing you then!”
The Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications (OEMC) also shared news on social media about the show being postponed. “All previously purchased tickets will be honored for the new date,” the message read.
Chief Keef’s fans have grown with the 31-year-old rapper. The crowd, filled with a lot of millennials, was orderly and peaceful as they dispersed.
THE SCENE AT NORTHERLY ISLAND
Many fans came dressed in their best True Religion fits. Some traveled from across the country just for a glimpse of South Side native Chief Keef in his hometown Chicago.
For fans, seeing their favorite rapper headline a show in the city he grew up in, after more than a decade of being ostracized by politicians, is a historic experience. Of the tour’s lineup, Chicago will go down as probably Keef’s most memorable performance.
Saturday, though, thousands of fans left Northerly Island, dazed and confused, without seeing Chief Keef.
One group of guys said they felt “sick to their stomach” after hearing the news. “I came all the way out here from Pittsburgh, nigga. I’m mad as f–ck,” the 26-year-old man said. He also did not want to share his name.
“We pull up in the Uber. We seeing everybody walk back from the way we pulling in,” he explained. “So we hop out and we ask a couple of shorties, why y’all walking back? She like, ‘yo, he canceled the concert.’ I’m like, canceled? Like, what you mean?”
Additionally, he said, tickets for the show were expensive. “Like, bro, you know how many people done, like, spent bread on last minute tickets and shit,” he said. “Them last-minute tickets, like, $300, $400. People done wasted time, getting ready, buying outfits and shit. He trippin’.”
A group of ladies decided to make the best of the moment, dancing to Keef’s “Shake Dat” blasting from the speakers of a passing car. They were still in good spirits.
With this month’s guest appearance at Kanye West’s “Ye Live Concert Tour,” Chief Keef gave the world a quick appetizer before the launch of his fall tour “Chief Keef Live.” Tonight’s show was set to be the launch of the tour.
Keef is scheduled to perform Sunday in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
