Things are feeling a little forced for Australian Ice Spice fans, with the "Think U the Shit (Fart)" rapper facing criticism for a "disrespectful" five-minute performance at Brisbane's Wildlands festival after she was 25 minutes late to her 30-minute headlining set on New Year's Eve.
Attendees paid up to $242 to be present for Ice Spice's two-song set as one of three headliners and a total of over 35 artists who played at the RNA showgrounds as part of the travelling festival. She was scheduled to perform at 10:30 p.m., ahead of a one-hour set by Chase & Status, but didn't take the stage until 10:55.
"At 11:01 p.m. — they gave her an extra minute … — they cut the mic and you heard the collective sigh from the crowd," Gold Coast-based music journalist Brenton Larney told The Guardian, and fan-shot video footage sees her departure prompting a chorus of boos from the audience. "They'd been waiting for a while and they get two songs?"
He continued, "So that was a bit ridiculous and it was just really disrespectful how she walked off, she was laughing they tried to give her flowers for her birthday and she just shrugged them off." Larney added that the rapper appeared as if "she didn't want to be there."
Wildlands addressed the situation in the comments on their Instagram page, writing, "We understand that Ice Spice's delayed arrival caused some frustration. Managing a stacked festival means that we have to be extremely firm with scheduled set times. We had a strict curfew of 12:30 and needed to ensure that Chase & Status went on stage on time so you could all enjoy the NYE Countdown!"
Currently on tour in Australia behind last year's Y2K!, Ice Spice is slated to perform at Wildlands iterations in Adelaide and Perth on January 4 and 5, respectively. As per The Guardian, she was reportedly an hour late for another festival in the country days before the one in Brisbane, with Chase & Status being forced to push back their set on that occasion.