Travis Scott’s reputation for lives shows couldn’t be worse, but that didn’t stop him from performing at one of this year’s Coachella afterparties. The rapper, whose own Astroworld festival left 10 people dead and hundreds injured six months ago, appeared at the Revolve x Bootsy Bellows party on Saturday to put on a quick show for fans. The act marks Scott’s first public performance since Astroworld.
The rapper only just returned to the stage last month, when he put held a short, private set at Darren Dzienciol and Richie Akiva's pre-Oscars 2022 party. Scott was previously rumored to be joining Coachella headliner Kanye West — an adamant supporter of the “Sicko Mode” singer throughout the backlash of Astroworld — but Ye pulled out of the festival just two weeks before his scheduled performance. Fans of Scott, or at least those left after Astroworld, were notably disappointed.
Hype granted —
Those at the Revolve x Bootsy Bellows bash, however, were in for a seemingly welcome surprise: “Travis got in the DJ booth with the DJ Chase B,” a party attendee told E! News. “He played the bangers but ‘Goosebumps’ was the crowd please[r].” According to the source, “people were super excited to see [Travis]. Everyone was dancing and singing along.”
The scene is a major shift from just a few months ago, when even the most devoted Travis fans were burning the rapper’s merchandise and calling for him to be removed from music streaming platforms after the deadly crowd surge at Astroworld. Subsequent lawsuits have since exposed the poor execution behind the event — and the lack of empathy by those running it — while Scott has tried to redeem his image with a partnership with mental health app BetterHelp, a dismissive interview, and a new philanthropic effort called Project Heal. Now, it seems all the rapper needed to reclaim his reputation was a room full of clout-chasing influencers.
All for show —
Scott’s performance took place as an after party to Revolve Festival, an invite-only Coachella event that’s currently shrouded by complaints about its own conditions. Influencers invited to the festival, hosted by namesake retailer Revolve, likened the event to Fyre Festival (and luckily for Scott, not Astroworld).
“Influencers stranded in the dirt with no water, under the hot sun for HOURS, waiting for buses that aren’t coming to bring them to actual festival,” tweeted Los Angeles Magazine reporter Joseph Kapsch. “@LAMag told that police are coming. AND in an Only in LA Moment: Coachella Edition: Security had crowds of influencers yelling how ‘important they were and why they deserved the first seat.’”
Like Scott himself, it seems the people attending his surprise performance are all about image too.
