Kanye, Big Day Out Festival: Better Late Than Never?

Few rappers can rock big spaces like Kanye West, and this weekend at Australia's Big Day Out festival, Yeezy brought it as only he can. The only problem: He started 45 minutes late, annoying fans evidently not accustomed to American hip-hop standards of punctuality.

As the Courier Mail reports, fans chanted "bulls---" as they waited for the Chi-town rhymer to take the stage. It had been raining on and off for hours, and in a blog post, event founder Ken West -- no relation, presumably -- defended Kanye, claiming that a "severe storm" had led to the delay.

Another possibility: West didn't want to compete with Tony Hawk, who had to delay his skateboarding exhibition while waiting for a ramp to dry. According to the Courier Mail, the hip-hop superstar was wary of performing at the same time as the skater and refused to go on.

The controversy came after 'Ye had reportedly made all sorts of outrageous backstage demands -- he'll take white furniture, thank you very much -- and angered rock band Soundgarden by doing his sound check during their set.

"Sounds like there's children playing music there, retarded children, retarded as in held back," singer Chris Cornell reportedly said. "There's no other word for it."

Regardless of the drama, Kanye finally came on at 9:15PM and made with his usual theatrics, sharing his beautiful, dark, twisted fantasies with the help of his ballet dancers.