A stadium in Russia has said that the two planned Kanye West gigs “cannot take place”.
The two shows in St Petersburg were announced earlier this month, and tickets sold out within hours. They are set to take place at the Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11, and will make West one of the first major artists to perform in Russia following the country’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
At the time the gigs were confirmed, Russian lawmaker Vitaly Milonov spoke out and suggested that the rapper should perform traditional Russian songs at the event, instead of his usual setlist. “Maybe after this he’ll stop his disgusting antics and become a normal person,” he added in a video statement.
Now, Gazprom Arena has said that the shows “cannot take place on our site”.
Spokespeople for the arena said that there was no rental agreement that had been signed with the concert promoters. They also acknowledged complaints that had been sent in about West being booked to perform, and said that the company “was not and is not” behind the decision to book the rapper.
JUST IN: Kanye West is set to perform in Russia for the first time, with two concerts scheduled for October 10 and 11 at St. Petersburg’s Gazprom Arena, according to organizer Say Agency. pic.twitter.com/HXKrSuIiob
— Brian McDonald (@BrianMcDonaldIE) August 17, 2026
Instead, it is the Moscow-based Say Agency that booked the shows, they claimed. They also added the announcement that Ye would be playing at the arena came as a surprise and they “learned about [it] at the same time as [everyone else] did, through the media” (via BBC News).
Later in their statement, they said that “As of now, the Ye concert has not been cancelled”, and they are “trying to contact the venue to find out the reason for the post and resolve the issue”.
In response, Say Agency said that the Ye booking was based on an “an official letter that was approved by” Gazprom Arena. It also said that the stadium sent over a rental agreement, although it was not signed yet.
Last week, it was reported that tickets for the 70,000 capacity gig ranged from 9,000 roubles (£78) to 160,000 roubles (£1,394).
The shows come as part of West’s ongoing, controversial comeback tour, which kicked off at SoFi Stadium in California, and has since seen him play in the Netherlands and Turkey. At the latter, Ye claimed that he drew 118,000 people to his Instanbul show and break the record for the largest stadium performance.
Many of the dates have already been cancelled due to the rapper’s history of anti-Semitic comments and use of Nazi imagery – including London’s three-night Wireless Festival, which axed its 2026 event after the UK government blocked Ye from entering the country. Ye’s planned shows in Poland and Switzerland were also cancelled, a French date was postponed, and an Italian show was pulled over safety concerns too.
In the States, Florida Senator Rick Scott unsuccessfully urged the Tampa Sports Authority to cancel Ye’s two June shows, and the mayor of San Antonio also failed to get his show at the city’s Alamodome on July 4 scrapped.
I support canceling the @kanyewest concert.
Military City USA should not host someone with a record of hate speech and antisemitic comments in a city-funded facility like our Alamodome—not ever, and certainly not on July 4th, our Nation’s 250th birthday.
Standing up to…
— Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones (@Mayor_GOJ) June 20, 2026
West’s history of making antisemitic remarks dates back to 2022, when he made a series of offensive comments on social media. Those comments saw his accounts on both Instagram and Twitter suspended, and dropped by his lawyer, talent agency, record label, and fashion brands such as Balenciaga and Adidas.
At first, West gave several interviews, refusing to apologise for making the comments while suggesting that Jewish people should “forgive Hitler”. However, in 2023, West delivered an apology to the Jewish community, going on to blame alcohol for his behaviour the following year.
In the wake of that initial apology, numerous lawsuits were filed against the rapper with claims of extensive antisemitic behaviour. One former employee alleged that the rapper said Jewish people were “working together to hold him back”. West also shared a number of highly controversial posts in early 2025, when he took back an apology he previously made to the Jewish community for antisemitic remarks, and then declared himself “a Nazi”.
The rapper then claimed on X/Twitter that, “after further reflection”, he’d “come to the realisation that I’m not a Nazi”, followed only a few days later by yet more swastika apparel appearing on his X page.
Earlier this year, he issued a fresh apology for some of his previous remarks shortly before Wireless was axed, and later addressed the criticism in an update to his Wall Street Journal “to those I’ve hurt” letter, which he originally shared in January.
