Ice Spice has apologised after her set at Wildlands Festival in Brisbane, Australia was cut to just five minutes.
The 25-year-old rapper played the festival in three different locations, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide, but her New Year’s Eve (31.12.24) set was a disaster after her microphone was cut off at the start of her third song due to the festival’s strict curfew.
Ice Spice was due onstage at 10.30pm for a 30-minute set, but she didn’t end up coming out until 10:55pm, according to reports.
She managed to perform ‘Deli’, ‘Princess Diana’, and part of ‘In Ha Mood’.
Addressing her lateness during her set at the Perth edition on Saturday (04.01.25), Ice Spice said: “I’m sorry guys, surely y’all can forgive me.”
Referring to her Nicki Minaj collaboration ‘Barbie World’, she quipped: “It was my birthday, and it takes a long time to look like a Barbie.”
The festival’s organisers explained that they needed to stick to timings to ensure they could lead the countdown to the New Year and wrap the event at 12.30pm.
In a comment posted to Instagram after facing a backlash from disgruntled festivalgoers, Wildlands said: “We understand that Ice Spice’s delayed arrival caused some disappointment.
“Managing a stacked festival means that we have to be extremely firm with set times. We had a strict curfew of 12:30 and need to ensure that the final act went on stage on time, so everyone could enjoy the New Year’s Eve countdown.”
Journalist Brenton Larney was in attendance and told The Guardian: “At 11.01pm – they gave her an extra minute – they cut the mic and you heard the collective sigh from the crowd. They’d been waiting for a while and they get two songs?
“It was just really disrespectful how she walked off, she was laughing, they tried to give her flowers for her birthday and she just shrugged them off.”