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Kanye West led people on a wild chase through New York for a show that never happened

Kanye West led people on a wild chase through New York for a show that never happened

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Yesterday, thunderstorms in New York City shut down the final day of Governor's Ball, and along with it, Kanye West's headlining set. Not one to be deterred by minor inconveniences like weather, Kanye headed over the river to New Jersey to make a surprise appearance at Hot 97's Summer Jam. During that set, West's creative director Virgil Abloh teased another show (in a since-edited Instagram caption) taking place at 2AM at New York City's Webster Hall, Mashable reports.

So what happens when one of the biggest rappers in the world announces a surprise late-night show in a city that, just earlier that day, was denied the chance to seem him? A heck of a lot of people show up to see what the surprise is.

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A photo posted by @virgilabloh on

A little after 1AM, Kanye tweeted that the Webster Hall show was sold out, even though it's unclear if any tickets were actually sold at all.

Kim Kardashian also Snapchatted much of the night, including what appeared to be Kanye trying to get in touch with New York City mayor Bill de Blasio, asking if the show could take place outside to accommodate the giant crowd. That, unsurprisingly, didn't work.

Then, just before 2AM, with hundreds of people waiting outside its doors, Webster Hall announced that the show had been cancelled (the venue never actually confirmed its existence to begin with). Almost 30 minutes after that, West and Travis Scott drove by and waved to fans through their car's sun roof, The Fader reports. According to The Fader, there were two NYPD vans patrolling the crowd, but the night dissolved smoothly, without any arrests.

While smaller pop-up shows like this are now almost a given when a big festival gets cancelled, Kanye's show last night is exceptional not only because of how rapidly the news spread, and how many people showed up, but because in the end, nobody actually saw him perform at all. Except some lucky kids in New Jersey.