Azealia Banks’ Wynwood Pride Gig Was a Dry Ice Disaster
Azealia Banks cut short her disastrous headlining set at Miami’s Wynwood Pride Music Festival early Saturday morning, drawing the ire of attendees before a dramatic, mic-tossing exit.
Video from the performance shows Banks — who reportedly showed up onstage over two hours after the scheduled set time — repeatedly telling concertgoers “I’m really not happy to be here” and “I really don’t wanna fucking be here.” At that point, Banks had only performed a handful of songs.
After arriving hours late to perform at Wynwood Pride, headliner Azealia Banks stops performing during her set. The crowd is upset and leaving. pic.twitter.com/CdFSDeVipx
— Lauren Costantino (@misscostantino) June 11, 2022
Eventually, following more complaints aimed at organizers (and not the audience), her microphone was cut off. Banks then tossed the mic and, after starting to walk offstage while the audience booed, flipped middle fingers at the frustrated audience. A drink was thrown, security intervened, and concert ended, just four songs after it started.
In a series of tweets after the meltdown, Banks explained the culprit behind her rough night: Dry ice. “Wynwood Pride was way too ghetto. I had to bounce. Every tech rider in Azealia Banks’ history of live performance specifically states – no dry ice as I am EXTREMELY allergic to it. Photos will show massive clouds of dry ice which began to make me lightheaded to a point I could barely stand,” she explained.
“I literally have a text message from the promoter assuring me that there would be no dry ice implemented in my performance – yet, Still came on stage to clouds of dry ice. I’ve performed Coachella twice and had that simple request honored.”
Banks also tweeted that she “was originally booked for a 10pm set, which promoter moved to 1am, completely inconveniencing every single member of my team.” The schedule on the festival’s website lists Banks’ start time as midnight; despite that, Banks didn’t take the stage until over two hours later after 3 a.m., TMZ reported, even though her band was ready to go at 1 a.m.
The organizers for Wynwood Pride have not yet commented on the situation on social media. As the Miami New Times notes, Banks was a questionable headlining choice for the Pride festival to begin with, as despite her LGBTQ+ following, the rapper has verbally attacked the community in the past.
