Kanye West Delays YEEZUS Tour Stops in Vancouver, Denver & Minneapolis

By: Oct. 31, 2013
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Kanye West has postponed his YEEZUS tour dates in Vancouver, Minneapolis, and Denver, according to MTV.

Def Jam Records released a statement today, confirming that "a truck carrying a custom-made video truss and 60-ft circular LED screen for the tour was in an accident en route to Vancouver on Wednesday (October 30). The gear was damaged beyond repair and will have to be replaced before the show carries on."

"This gear is central to the staging of The Yeezus Tour, and central to the creative vision put forth by Kanye West and his design team at DONDA," a Def Jam spokesperson said in the statement. "As a result of this event, it is impossible to put on the show and The Yeezus Tour will be postponed until these essential pieces can be reengineered and refabricated."

More information on the postponed dates is expected shortly.

The Yeezus Tour kicked off on Oct. 19 and is West's first major itinerary since his Watch The Throne tour with Jay Z in 2011 - the highest grossing tour in hip-hop history - and his first solo tour since 2008's critically acclaimed Glow in The Dark tour. Recently, theWashington Post hailed West as "a visionary who's managed to tweak the serial rhythms that dictate so much of our pop culture diet. He doesn't do cliffhangers. He jumps off...We gasp, gawk and wonder, 'Where will he land?'"

West's recent effort Yeezus has been hailed by critics as the album of the year; The New York Times raved "the album is one long, efficient, inventive kick in the head," while the Daily News agreed that Yeezus was "punk in attitude, genius in execution." Rolling Stone argued the album was "a brilliant, obsessive-compulsive career auto-correct...This isn't just a way to stay ahead of the competition; it's a way to stay ahead of himself." The New Yorker echoed the sentiment, proclaiming Yeezus as "technically breathtaking...Twenty years from now, West's previous records will remain important, but a new generation may first gravitate to the lean vibrancy of this one." USA Today weighed in with "...a polarizing, multi-layered body of work that probably will be debated all summer. Who does that besides Kanye West?" Entertainment Weekly summed things up with "Kanye West has gone rogue again. Did you expect anything less? The job of an innovator, of course, is to keep innovating... ...he pushes the envelope aesthetically."

Kanye again pushed the envelope at the 30th anniversary 2013 MTV VMAs, with his visually stunning, silhouetted performance of "Blood On The Leaves," from Yeezus. The performance made VMA history, marking Kanye's seventh showcase at the awards spectacular, tying him with Madonna as the two artists with the most number of VMA performances. Kanye West has delivered some of the most visually stunning and memorable - and controversial - performances in the annals of the MTV VMAs.

Photo Credit: © Nancy Kaszerman/ZUMAPRESS.com



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