The artist formerly known as Kanye West will not be playing his two scheduled concerts in Russia after the venue announced
Saint Petersburg venue Gazprom Arena, an 80,000-capacity venue, announced on social media that it “did not sign any contracts for the stadium rent for the event.” The concerts have reportedly been canceled two months in advance, as the two shows were scheduled for Oct. 10 and Oct. 11. “There is no such agreement… Accordingly, the concert cannot take place on our site.”
As reported by the BBC, the agency behind the planned shows, Say Agency, posted on its Telegram channel expressing surprise at the sudden cancellation. “We learned about [it] at the same time as you did, through the media," the agency wrote. "As of now, the Ye concert has not been canceled. We are trying to contact the venue to find out the reason for the post and resolve the issue. We will keep you updated.”
The agency added that it announced the shows at Gazprom Arena after receiving “an official letter that was approved by” the venue. Say Agency admitted that the rental agreement hasn’t been signed yet, but the contract was not set to expire until later this week. Before the announcement, Gazprom Arena had promoted the concert on X, formerly Twitter.
There’s no indication that the shows were called off because of Ye’s extended history of antisemitic comments, which he publicly apologized for earlier this year in a full-page ad published in the Wall Street Journal. Despite speculation that he published the apology to win back favor with the public, he later denied that it was an attempt to revive his “commerciality.”
Earlier this year, Ye embarked on a world tour, performing in multiple cities across the United States and Europe. The tour hasn’t gone quite as well as he planned, though, as there have been almost as many cancellations as there have been actual shows. Shows in India, for example, were canceled due to security concerns, and his performance at Wireless Festival in London, UK, was canceled due to his antisemitism.
