Three-time Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej on Wednesday slammed Trevor Noah in a lengthy social media post after the comedian posted a farewell note to sum up his 'Off The Record' India tour. Notably, the comedian's tour became a point of chatter and debate after both his shows in Bengaluru were junked due to audio issues at the venue. The comedian, in his post, promised to return to the city.
Mr. Kej, however, was not convinced by his note and partly blamed him for the show's failure. He noted that every ''responsible and caring artist'' does a thorough ''soundcheck" and ''venue recce'' before a show. Though the musician acknowledged event management-related problems, he said he was shocked that Mr. Noah did not personally conduct a ''reconnaissance'' of the venue, or communicate the technical requirements and specifications to event organizers.
''If Trevor Noah really bothered about his ticket-purchasing fans, then he would have made it a point to arrive earlier in the day (or the previous night) and personally carried out a reconnaissance of the venue, tested out his microphone and ensured that the sound was optimum. I am sure he does that at other prestigious venues all over the world, and I am shocked to realize he did not bother to do this in Bengaluru. This is the artist's responsibility. Every artist/comedian/band has personal sound requirements and preferences.. and to just show up for the event, without even checking your sound is hugely irresponsible,'' he wrote.
See the tweet here:
Not stopping there, the musician mentioned other international artists who have had ''super successful events'' in Bengaluru because they ''worked with everyone involved to deliver a spectacular concert.''
''When Deep Purple, Pink Floyd, Beyonce, Black Eyed Peas, Iron Maiden, Bryan Adams, Metallica, Symphony Orchestras, Russel Peters, etc. have had super successful events in Bengaluru, why is Bengaluru being trashed now?'', he wrote.
''Trevor also attributed this incident to "India" as a whole, which is in very bad taste. This is definitely a case of terrible event management, but more importantly a very complacent and irresponsible artist with a complete disregard for his paying fans (and India).. who blames everyone and everything but himself,'' he concluded his long post.
Mr Noah was to perform at the Manpho Convention Centre in Bengaluru last week as part of his 'Off the Record' tour. The organisers canceled both shows as there were audio issues at the venue. However, Mr. Noah apologised to his fans who came all the way to watch it and promised a full refund.
He performed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium, Delhi-NCR on September 22, 23, and 24, and in Mumbai on September 30.
