A fan tried climbing on to Kanye West’s floating stage at the rapper’s Monday night concert in Atlanta, hanging on for just a few seconds before coming back down to Earth.
Videos posted to Twitter show concertgoers at the Saint Pablo Tour raising the unidentified fan – clad in jeans, sneakers and a cap – high enough to reach the stage by holding his feet and ankles.
In case you were wondering what happens when you try to climb up onto the stage at the #SaintPabloTour pic.twitter.com/kMvFFH1Thp
— James Ross (@OlderThanHunter) September 13, 2016
The fan had his arms on the stage surface as West calmly walked towards him and waved his hand as if to say “cut it out”. From the crowd, a muscular man is seen grabbing the fan’s ankle and pulling him down.
West had been performing the song Power at the time – known for its memorable chorus of “No one man should have all that power” – and ever the performer, seamlessly continued after the fan let go.
Each stop on the well-received Saint Pablo tour has used a stage which hangs from the ceiling and has the rapper float over fans. While this was the first time a fan has attempted to climb aboard, West is no stranger to stage invasions. At his performance last year in Glastonbury, comedian Lee Nelson ran on stage and disrupted the rapper as a prank dedicated to Taylor Swift.
Swift was interrupted by fans during a 2014 concert in London, then again the next year in San Diego. After a fan clung to Adam Levine at a 2015 concert, the Maroon Five singer and The Voice coach said it was “super terrifying” because he wasn’t expecting it. Britney Spears was visibly shaken after a fan came on stage during a performance of Womanizer in Connecticut in 2009. It’s happened to Justin Bieber. Lady Gaga was singing the line “I don’t want to be friends” from her song Bad Romance when she was bum-rushed. .
West memorably interrupted Swift on stage at the MTV VMAs in 2009, believing Beyoncé should have won the award for best female video instead. “Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you and Imma let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time,” West said at the time. He similarly interrupted Beck for winning over Beyoncé at the 2015 Grammys. In 2006 at the MTV Europe Music Awards, West went on stage after he didn’t win best video.
Years later, West and Swift’s encounter is still well-known, ranked by the Guardian as the fourth best stage invasion of all time. It follows the musician Jarvis Cocker coming onstage during a Michael Jackson performance at the 1996 Brit awards, a streaker at the 1974 Academy Awards, and a fan who got hit by Keith Richards’ guitar when he came onstage at a 1981 Rolling Stones concert.
Also on Monday, protesters attempted to interrupt swimmer Ryan Lochte, who was charged with filing a false robbery report after an incident during the 2016 Rio Olympics, after his first performance on the ABC TV show Dancing with the Stars.
After the Kanye West concert, a fan told NBC News that the stage climber didn’t seem to be hurt after getting pulled off stage. “Everyone just kind of turned and looked at each other like, ‘did that really just happen?’” said Chase Brown, a 19-year-old attendee. “But the show continued and not much was said about it. The overall show was great, Kanye put on a great show.”
