After months of back-and-forth, two planned stadium gigs by Ye at Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg, Russia have reportedly been canceled. Ye (formerly Kanye West) was slated to perform on Oct. 10 and 11 at the venue, though the reportedly sold-out shows were in question from the time they were announced.
On Aug. 24, the venue posted on social media that the 80,000-capacity stadium “did not sign any contracts for the stadium rent for the event.” The post adamantly stated that there was “no such agreement” for the shows and that they would not take place at the venue. That came despite the venue hyping the shows on Instagram just a week earlier.
“Kanye West is at Gazprom Arena! Whaaat??? The legendary artist will be coming to Russia for the first time, performing a world-shaking show at the blue-white-and-blue stadium,” read the post earlier post. “This is no joke! Kanye West, the most influential music artist of our time, will perform two exclusive concerts at Gazprom Arena in St. Petersburg on October 10th and 11th as part of his record-breaking world tour.”
According to a Reuters report, the Moscow-based promoter Say Agency expressed its “sincere regret” about the cancellation in a message on Telegram, adding, “The Ye concerts in St Petersburg will not be able to take place on the scheduled dates.”
At press time, spokespeople for promoter Say Agency and touring agency Access Opera had not returned Billboard‘s request for confirmation on the cancellation of the concerts.
If the shows had gone on as planned, Ye would have been the first Western rap star to perform in Russia amid a global cultural boycott enacted in response to the launch in 2022 of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine.
Newsweek, citing Russian media reports, said that the decision to pull the plug on the Ye shows was made by Russian authorities, with the Kommersant newspaper reportedly saying that the organizers of the gigs were being investigated for fraud. It also said that local media reported that government officials had not approved the shows and that some politicians had expressed outrage at Ye’s past embrace of Nazi symbols and support for Adolf Hitler, which is a criminal offense in the country.
West has not said much this year as he’s mounted his ambitious stadium show across the world, playing gigs in Turkey, the Netherlands, Georgia, Albania, Portugal, Spain and Kazakhstan this year, as well as U.S. shows in Los Angeles, Tampa Bay, San Antonio, New Orleans and Chicago. Despite playing to huge crowds, West is still dealing with the backlash from years of antisemitic remarks and an embrace of Nazi symbolism and rhetoric which began in 2022 and led to the meltdown of the rapper’s once-formidable music, fashion and design portfolio.
As part of the lingering unease with booking Ye, this year he’s had concerts in France, Poland and the Czech Republic canceled, as well as a headlining set at London’s Wireless Festival; dates in Italy and India were also waved off citing “security concerns.”
