Fans furious at Travis Scott’s 20-minute Istanbul debut set

HOUSTON, TEXAS - NOVEMBER 05: Travis Scott performs onstage during the third annual Astroworld Festival at NRG Park on November 05, 2021 in Houston, Texas. (Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)

U.S. rapper Travis Scott angered fans in Istanbul after a performance that barely lasted 20 minutes, with the audience booing as he left the stage early Monday, footage on social media showed.

On his first-ever tour of Turkiye, the 35-year-old hip-hop star made his Istanbul debut late Sunday and was to hold another event in the western Izmir resort on Monday.

The Istanbul event was billed as “a performance that goes beyond a classic concert” with a limited audience of just 2,500 fans, according to one of the websites selling tickets, which started at $330.

The advertising blurb promised a 90-minute “DJ set & mic” by the Houston-born rapper starting at 11:00 pm (2000 GMT) in between performances by lesser-known artists.

But fans said Scott had turned up 90 minutes late only to slip away after a short 20-minute appearance, despite being the headliner.

“Shameful event. They said he would start at 11:00 pm, he arrived at 00:35. We waited for hours standing up, he performed one song then left.. We wasted our money,” wrote a fan called Ala Artan on Instagram.

Others demanded their money back on the Instagram account of promoter TemaCC, including Orhan Jung, who said he had paid more than $1,000 for a VIP ticket -- more than twice Turkiye’s monthly minimum wage -- and denounced the event as a “disgrace”.

“None of the promised VIP benefits were provided... Travis stopped by for 10 minutes and left,” wrote Jung, who was posting stories from the venue throughout the evening.

But TemaCC’s chief executive Taylan Ozcan defended Scott’s performance, saying the rapper had been “at the heart of the event” for the entire evening.

“He hosted the party for an hour... then he gave an exceptional performance for 20 minutes,” Ozcan said in a statement to Turkish media.

Advertising for Monday’s show promised a similar event.

“Travis Scott will deliver a high-energy club show experience that goes beyond classic stage formats, engaging with the audience,” the Biletino ticketing website said, with prices ranging from $215 to more than $5,000.