Travis Scott claims that lightning was the reason that his Circus Maximus show in Johannesburg, South Africa started late.
On Saturday (Oct. 11), Scott performed at the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg for over 70,000 fans. The show was every bit as massive and cinematic as Scott’s shows always are — but it started over an hour and a half late, which fans initially speculated was because Scott hadn’t arrived on time.
It turns out, though, storms were the reason for the delay, according to Scott himself. He hopped on social media to clarify what happened when he saw a fan’s post about the situation.
“Travis Scott finally gets on stage, over an hour late,” wrote someone on X — prompting Scott to post his own message.
“Wasn’t a hour late,” he wrote. “Lighting delay, brudda. Flame always ready.” Scott wrote “lighting,” rather than “lightning,” but it seems to be just a spelling error, because it was thundering and lightning out there.
“Never late to a night show,” Scott continued.
When he finally took the stage though, Scott gave fans the rage they were expecting, performing songs like “My Eyes” and “Modern Jam” from Utopia and “Dumbo” and “Champain & Vacay” from Jackboys 2.
Though Scott was late to his show, folks there were thankful they still got to experience it in its entirety. That wasn’t the case for upset fans at the Leeds Festival in the UK in August when the rapper ended his headlining set early and abruptly left the stage.
While in the midst of an hour-long set, Scott stopped performing and exited the stage quickly after 24 songs, without giving a reason for his departure. One fan speculated that he may have injured himself by getting too close to nearby pyrotechnics. In fact, in one video from the event, Scott appears to shake his hand and stop rapping after he came into contact with some of the flames.
In the aftermath, Scott didn't reveal the answer to the mystery. Instead, he asked fans to send him video footage of his performance. “Who got the over head video of the intro of the set at Leeds,” wrote Scott on X. “Champain and dumbo that was maddd wild."