Hip-hop stars Ja Rule and Ashanti have been making the rounds on their current joint Australian tour and have been leaving a path of unsatisfied, disappointed, and in some cases furious punters in their wake.

The duo, who rose to fame in the early 2000s, were scheduled to perform two shows in Sydney on Sunday night, first at the Enmore Theatre and later at Max Watt’s. However, both shows were marred by late arrivals and short set times.

Punters in attendance at the Max Watt’s show claim Ja Rule and Ashanti did not hit the stage until 12.30am, an hour after they were originally scheduled to take stage, and only ended up performing for half an hour.

“Waited an hour for them to come on stage and then get a 20min show when they were suppose to be on for an hour and a half!” an angry fan wrote on Facebook. According to another commenter, someone in the crowd threw a bottle at Ashanti as she left the stage.

Taking to Twitter, Ja Rule apologised to angry fans, calling them “the victims of a bad situation”, adding, “It’s NEVER the intent of an artist to disappoint their fans… I’m sorry that y’all were cheated out of a great show!”

“Enmore wasn’t great either,” one fan protested on Facebook. “Doors opened at 7. We got crap DJs on repeat for 3 hours. They finally arrived at 10pm and we were back in our car by 11:20. They performed most of the big songs but it was bare minimum.”

The sentiment was similar in Victoria, with one Melbourne fan taking to Ja Rule’s official Facebook page claiming the rapper still hadn’t taken the stage “after 1 in the morning” despite tickets stating a 9.30pm start time.

“Unfortunately my husband and I had to leave as we live an hour away… Had I known he wouldn’t have come on until after 1. We wouldn’t have spent the little spare money on tickets for false advertising,” the fan wrote.

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Last week, fans in Geelong left The Pier angry and unsatisfied, again claiming that both Ja Rule and Ashanti were late to take the stage. Speaking to the Geelong Advertiser, Pier manager Darren Holroyd said the venue “copped attitude all night” from the artists and management.

“They were meant to come on at 9.30pm but we just copped attitude all night unfortunately — they were doing what they wanted and beyond our control, I was as disappointed as the crowd,” Holroyd said.

“[The crowd] were there nice and early in a good frame of mind but Ja Rule and Ashanti had gone back to the Novotel and didn’t come back until probably 10.15pm.” Taking to Twitter, Ja Rule claimed he and his tour partner weren’t scheduled to take the stage until 10.30pm.

Some readers will recall similar complaints arising earlier this year during a tour from fellow ’00s R&B star Ciara. The singer performed for just five minutes in Christchurch, but despite protests from punters, organisers refused to refund tickets.

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