Fans of the legendary group A Tribe Called Quest were disappointed this weekend after Q-Tip, Ali Shaheed Muhammad, Jarobi and Consequence were no-shows at the 10th anniversary Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco, California.
Tribe was scheduled to co-headline the festival among acts like Lorde, Gorillaz, The Who and Metallica, but the group canceled its Friday night (August 11) set and rescheduled for Saturday (August 12), citing “unforeseen travel issues.”
Fans were unhappy and understandably disappointed by the last-minute cancellation.
Tribe was sympathetic to their fans and subsequently offered a long-form explanation, which was published in the LA Times on Monday (August 14).
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“Upon the eve of playing for you, we performed not to a mixed crowd of festival patrons but a filled house of solely Questers,” the statement began, referencing their recent show at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. “The beautiful Red Rock amphitheater was filled with voices helping us get through a difficult performance without our brother Phife. You would think that with every performance we heal a little more and the sadness is easier to handle. Sometimes that is the case and sometimes the grief and loss is compounded. Although the house was filled with love and we felt it all, we also felt the huge void of Phife’s absence. We walked off that stage deep in grief.”
After finally regaining their composure for the Saturday set, it still didn’t come together. “We wanted to play for you, and we wanted to honor Phife’s wife in their hometown … we are deeply sorry. We look to correct this and regain your confidence.”
The statement closed with, “We are not making excuses for our absence. We just wanted you to know that we are still grieving and yet we want to honor every one of you for 28 years of music love.”
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The current tour is being billed as their final run under the A Tribe Called Quest moniker. A plan of action to “correct and regain confidence” has not yet been announced.
Check out video of the Red Rocks show above.
