Kanye West, also known as Ye, was set to perform two stadium shows in St. Petersburg, Russia, this fall. Organizers announced that the concerts would take place at Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11.
The Kanye West Russia shows came after organizers canceled several of his planned European performances in recent months. The concerts would mark the first performances in the country by a major Western performer since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine more than four years ago.
Kanye West is set to perform two stadium shows in St. Petersburg after European concert plans were canceled
Ticket sales for the Kanye West tour dates began following Monday’s announcement. According to the concert website, tickets which cost more than $1,850, sold out within hours. Tickets in the lowest price category, priced at about $105, had also sold out by Monday evening in Russia.
Yunis Teimurkhanly, owner of the Helvetsia hotel in St. Petersburg, said the announcement triggered an increase in bookings, calls and messages.
“I experienced ‘an explosion of bookings, calls and messages’ after the concerts were announced,” he wrote on Telegram. “My entire address book went live at once.”
The planned performances also drew comments from Vitaly Milonov, a conservative Russian lawmaker. Milonov suggested that Ye perform traditional Russian songs during the shows.
“Maybe after this he’ll stop his disgusting antics and become a normal person,” Milonov said in a video statement.
Most American rap performances in Russia stopped after the country launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The source noted that some Western performers have appeared in Russia since then, including DaBaby and Tyga in Moscow last year and Jason Derulo in Moscow this summer.
Ye had previously been rumored to perform in Russia. In 2024, he attended a Russian fashion designer’s birthday party in Moscow.
He returned to live performance in Los Angeles in April, where he held his first full live show in the United States in five years. His European plans subsequently faced several cancellations.
In April, the British government announced that it was barring Ye from entering the country to headline a major London festival, saying his presence “would not be conducive to the public good.” Organizers later canceled his concerts in France, Italy and Poland.
Following the Kanye West concert ban in Britain, he performed in the Netherlands, Turkey and Albania. Ye also had three upcoming U.S. dates in Chicago and New Orleans beginning later this month.
TELL US- WOULD YOU ATTEND KANYE WEST’S OCTOBER SHOWS IN ST. PETERSBURG?
