After rapper Lil Wayne was a no-show without explanation at his tour stop in Bangor, Maine, his fans anxiously awaited his performance Friday at the BankNH Pavilion.
All of a sudden, he started popping up all over New Hampshire. Lil Wayne was spotted at not one, but two gyms in Concord and at stores, farms and restaurants in Gilford. The pictures were all over social media.
It turns out they were all AI-generated images of the rapper posted by local businesses having a little fun in anticipation of his Granite State appearance.
“People are texting me and calling me, like, ‘Did you sell him anything? Did he buy anything?’” said Kathleen Tognacci, owner of the Gilford Country Store. “I feel like I’m disappointing people, but we’re all still laughing about it.”
The country store posted a picture on Facebook of Lil Wayne sitting in its iconic oversized green lawn chair at 8:30 p.m. on July 3, not long before the “Love Me” artist was scheduled to begin his performance down the road.
Totnacci got the idea from Patrick’s Pub & Eatery, a restaurant across the street that posted the rapper flashing a peace sign next to a bartender that morning. She said the posts were meant to satirize the search for Lil Wayne after his absence from his Maine performance.
“One thing’s guaranteed tonight… dinner’s showing up,” reads the caption of Patrick’s Pub & Eatery’s post.
Right down the road, Beans & Greens Farm later joined in with an image of Lil Wayne and his opener, 2 Chainz, enjoying a couple of drinks behind their bar. On the Sawyer’s Dairy Bar Facebook page, the rapper can be seen sampling an ice cream flight.
“We all support each other,” Tognacci said. “So we all jumped on board, because we’re all within walking distance.”
An AI-generated Lil Wayne poses with a bartender at Patrick’s Pub & Eatery in Gilford. 
AI-generated Lil Wayne and 2 Chainz pose with drinks at Beans & Greens Farm in Gilford. 
An AI-generated Lil Wayne samples an ice cream flight at Sawyer’s Dairy Bar in Gilford. 
An AI-generated Lil Wayne kicks back at a Capital City Sports and Fitness poolside cabana.
In Concord, Lil Wayne showed up early at Flexable Assisted Stretching to stay limber before the show.
Capital City Sports and Fitness joked that Lil Wayne might ditch his concert in favor of one of their poolside cabana rentals. The quip rang especially true when the rapper was missing almost two hours after his performance in Gilford was supposed to start.
“Around 10:45, I left because I lost hope that he would show up,” said Mark Uicker, a recent Gilford High School graduate and “disappointed” fan of Lil Wayne.
The rapper took to the stage just before 11 p.m., which is the legal curfew for the venue’s music performances, according to the 1997 Gilford Planning Board site plan approval. He performed until midnight.
“It was very disappointing to everyone because a lot of us spent a lot of money to be there and took off work,” Uicker said. He left the stadium among a large crowd of disgruntled fans, who he said, were “yelling and booing” on their way out. None of them were entitled to a refund or reentry into the venue after the performance started.
Rumors circulated online that the rapper was subject to a fine of $1,000 per minute past 11 p.m., incurring a total of over $60,000.
Gilford’s Director of Planning and Land Use John Ayer said that won’t be the case. The zoning violation fines are $275 for a first offense and $550 for a second offense, according to RSA 676:17.
The AI-generated images of Lil Wayne only contributed to the confusion surrounding the July 3 performance. In a group chat, Uicker received a photo of a friend sitting next to the rapper in a car.
“We all thought it was real, but it ended up being AI,” he said.
