With comedian Trevor Noah unceremoniously cancelling both his standup shows in Bangalore due to technical glitches, a debate has ignited on social media about the artist’s responsibility and the event management in the city. While Trevor Noah took to X (formerly Twitter) to promise Bangaloreans “the best show ever”, next time, three-time Grammy winner and Bangalorean Ricky Kej didn’t mince his words to slam the comedian. Bangaloreans also defended the city and its venue.
Ricky Kej Blasts Trevor Noah For Not Conducting Soundchecks At Bangalore Venue
South African comic Trevor Noah’s show was supposed to happen in Bangalore at Manpho Conventional Centre in Manyata Tech Park on September 27. However, he cancelled both the shows in the city due to sound issues. Grammy award-winning musician Ricky Kej took to X to hold Trevor Noah responsible for not conducting a soundcheck beforehand. He called him “irresponsible”.
While I do agree that there were many Event Management related problems in the Bengaluru show for @Trevornoah .. there is something known as a "Soundcheck" and "Venue recce" that every responsible and caring artist caries out before a show.
If Trevor Noah really bothered about… https://t.co/uzhjGyLcya— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) October 4, 2023
In an elaborate post on X, Ricky Kej gave examples of renowned artists like Pink Floyd, Bryan Adams, Russel Peters, Beyonce, Deep Purple and others who conducted successful shows in the Karnataka capital. In fact, as per Bangalorean Ricky Kej even the world-renowned composer and pianist Yanni performed in the same Bangalore venue as Trevor Noah in 2014.
The Grammy winner is infuriated with Trevor Noah’s rant about Bangalore at his Mumbai event. In another post, Kej said that Trevor implied the audience seated in the front row were classist. This is because they didn’t understand that the ones behind couldn’t hear a thing. He says that this happens as people seated within the “optimum range of the sound system” find if difficult to believe that the ones at the back can’t hear what’s going on. Ricky Kej went on to add that Trevor Noah seems to have a general bias against India.
The way sound systems work is, the people who are within the sound field of the speakers get great sound quality. The people who are outside hear the reverberation, or sound bouncing off the walls.. and so words spoken are not clearly intelligible. There are ways to correct this,…
— Ricky Kej (@rickykej) October 4, 2023
Bangaloreans Took To X To Defend The City
Bangaloreans immediately took to the comments section of the Grammy winner’s post to defend Bangalore as a viable venue. Many even agreed with the musician’s statement about Trevor Noah’s bias towards India. @thepraneetc23 comments “Bro hes not doing a Shadi ka function. I don’t know a single Indian comic too including the big names who go early to the venue to do “soundcheck”. Noah really just exposed what’s the normal fly by night operator nature of events industry in India.”
Bangalore is the first choice of venue for all international gigs in India….
— Ashok P (@ashok20) October 4, 2023
Yes right, that can be seen in the kind of pics he has posted too… why put in a congested street with all kinds of wires overhead?? Was he actually seeing it for the first time?? I a sure even south Africa has pockets like these.
— Swati (@Nationalistwadi) October 4, 2023
@arch_deville quips, “Well said @rickykej. I too am of the same view as to how did his team not bother to check out everything a day prior. @Trevornoah perhaps an explanation from your team? And Yanni performing at the same venue ! This is news.
I think it was an utter shitshow on the part of the organizers. Being unable to handle audio for 1 person on stage is ridiculous. I’m sure yanni brought his own tech and did not rely on Indian vendors. No idea what you’re trying to defend here to be honest. Or why.
— Pranav Kay (@designeddevil) October 4, 2023
Meanwhile, if you’re a Bangalorean left disappointed due to the cancelled Trevor Noah shows in the city, do let us know your experience.
Cover Image Courtesy: @Trevornoah/ X (formerly Twitter)