The annual festival kicked off on Friday at the Superdome in New Orleans, with the hip hop singer announced to be performing only a few days before. She was scheduled to play on Friday alongside GloRilla, Maxwell, Babyface, and the Isley Brothers. Although Hill is known for her late performances, her performance at the Essence Festival started at 2:30 am and finished at 3:37 am, the singer was supposed to take the stage at 12:35 am. However, on this occasion it was out of her control as the whole festival was running behind schedule, with GloRilla ending her set when the Isle Brothers were scheduled to end theirs.
Maxwell began performing minutes after 1am, as he finished his set crew members emerged on stage to change the setup for Hill's performance, yet even when the stage seemed equipped for a performance, the star was still nowhere to be seen. Technical difficulties were announced 10 minutes before Hill took to the stage, however at this stage, a venue that has a capacity of 83,000 people looked practically empty by the time of her performance. Nola.com reported that there were only several hundred people in the crowd for Hill's perfromance.
View this post on Instagram
Fans took to social media to express their frustrations with the delay and to comment on the lack of people in the crowd, with some saying that the festival should stop booking her as she is known for leaving her fans waiting for her performances. Other fans were quick to defend her, as her lateness was due to technical issues and the whole festival running late which were both out of her control. One fan took to X to clarify the situation, "Or, let’s post what actually happened. It’s very easy to get Lauryn Hill trending with false narratives. Let’s provide the facts. The entire festival was pushed back. This was literally not her fault. Me on the other hand, I would have gone home. Contract or not. Bye," the fan commented.
View this post on Instagram
