Most major artists have avoided Russia since the war in Ukraine started. But Kanye West just booked a massive stadium in St. Petersburg, sold it out in hours, and is using the stage to try and rebuild a deeply broken reputation.
When a global superstar gets banned from the UK and cancelled across half of Europe, they usually lay low. Kanye West is doing the exact opposite. He is taking his massive stage show straight to St. Petersburg.
The rapper, who now goes by Ye, announced two October concerts at the 70,000-capacity Gazprom Arena. The tickets were priced up to £1,394 and completely sold out in just a few hours. It makes him the biggest Western act to play in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine four years ago.
This tour is supposed to be his grand apology tour. After spending 2022 declaring himself a Nazi and losing massive deals with Adidas, West bought a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal this past January to say he was deeply mortified. He blamed a severe manic episode and a brain injury.
But Europe was not entirely buying it.
The UK Home Office banned him from entering the country, wiping out the Wireless Festival. Shows in France, Poland, and Italy got pulled. He only managed to play in places like Spain and Turkey. In Madrid, a local reviewer noted the spectacular giant dome stage and joked, “We didn’t see any Nazis in the audience, by the way.”
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Now he is heading to Russia, where the reception is a bit more complicated.
Vitaly Milonov, a hardline conservative Russian lawmaker, did not exactly roll out the welcome mat. He suggested West should ditch his normal setlist and sing traditional Russian songs instead.
“Maybe after this he’ll stop his disgusting antics and become a normal person,” Milonov said in a video.
Since the war started, the Russian stage has mostly been filled by B-list rappers and artists willing to ignore the boycott. West is in a completely different tax bracket.
The stadium is packed. The giant dome is being built. The real test is whether the music can actually drown out the noise of the last four years.
