Azealia Banks played her debut Australian performance as part of Splendour In The Grass over the weekend, a highly-anticipated set after the Brooklyn performer lit up headlines with both her no-nonsense demeanour to the rap industry, as well as a series of EPs and mixtapes leading up to the release of her official full-length debut, Broke With Expensive Taste, due this September.
The sold-out Splendour crowds, were understandably excited to see what one of the festival’s exclusive draw-cards had to offer, with a set potentially filled with both her breakout material (such as cuss-happy single 212) as well as her swathe of newer songs.
What they got instead, was a thrifty 25 minute set, after Banks cut her set short – blaming faulty sound equipment to pull the plug on her only scheduled Australian performance.
Despite her modest recorded output, the thousands-strong crowd were left angry and confused at Banks’ decision to cut her set – featuring a DJ and a pair of dancers – short.
FasterLouder has indicated that now the American femcee has apologised for her brief Splendour set over her twitter account:
#AUSSIEKUNTZ I’m super sorry about how short my set was at @sitg. We used the festival’s equipment and it wasn’t the best gear!
— ♥ AZEALIA BANKS ♥ (@AZEALIABANKS) July 29, 2012
I feel really REALLY bad. Like bad enough to cry. My first time in Australia and I feel like I’ve cheated you all.
— ♥ AZEALIA BANKS ♥ (@AZEALIABANKS) July 29, 2012
FasterLouder also points out that interestingly, despite blaming festival equipment, the 25 min set was a similar length to Banks’ breakout performance at Coachella earlier this year.
Banks also tweeted that she was thankful for the Splendour appearance, saying “Australia showed me majah love!” while teasing fans with the prospect of a return tour or performance to make up for her brief festival set; simply adding “I’ll be back!” after a ‘shout out’ to Splendour organisers.