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Levitating to Kanye West’s Donda

Last night in Atlanta, Kanye West performed his highly anticipated upcoming album, Donda, for the second time. The scene in the Mercedes-Benz Stadium, which has become Kanye’s new home, was livestreamed on Apple Music, along with every moment of preparation. The night opened with a Sunday Service-esque choir, and Kanye singing, “It’s the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.”

He’s the kind of artist with no separation between his own identity and work, so there was a thread of Kanye in every little moment — the constant wardrobe changes, the street-cast performers’ hype one moment, the next weeping, barefoot, crawling to what seemed like a church altar. Kanye stood solitary in the center, but was surrounded by a circle for most of the performance. All involved were covered from head-to-toe in looks symbolizing the protection and “covering” of his mother, wearing choir robes, Donda vests with full-face-covering masks, and jackets emblazoned on the back with a cross in the center of the Star of David. All the while, lyrics repeated Donda West’s name throughout the night, to invoke a kind of perseverance that she brought to Kanye, one that is forever part of him.

Every moment and lyric referenced the act of elevating and going higher. Donda West, who tragically passed in 2007, has continuously been an essential source of inspiration and a guiding light for him, a fact brought to life in the theatrical performance at the show’s end, as he was raised into the air, lying down on trapeze wires, almost as if he was ascending into heaven with spotlights around him.

Earlier in the week, Kanye announced that his close friend and Balenciaga artistic director, Demna Gvasalia , would be part of the project, and he wore a head-to-toe black look that included a spiked jacket from Balenciaga’s fall/winter 2020 collection. And with his continued partnership with Gap and commitment to make essentials feel more intentional, it seems as if West is making his dreams of becoming “ the next Steve Jobs” of fashion and culture a reality.

Guests like Chance the Rapper, Migos, Rick Ross, and a few Real Housewives of Atlanta were present, as well as Kim Kardashian, while Kanye played a new version of a song titled “Love Unconditionally” that opened with Donda saying the words, “No matter what, you never abandon your family,” as he repeatedly rapped: “I’m losing my family.” In this performance, though, he added a few lines to the song, saying, “Time and space is a luxury, but you came here to show that you’re still in love with me.”

Only Kanye could have people come and listen to — and be fully engaged with — an album, without actually dropping an album. Still, at the end of the night, there was at least a preorder for the infamous $200 red puffer jacket from Yeezy Gap online to hold people over.

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The Most Memorable Moments of Kanye West and Drake’s Reunion Concert

T he feud is over. Last night, two titans of pop music, Kanye West and Drake, publicly settled their longstanding differences in a joint concert at the L.A. Coliseum. In November, the music mogul J Prince helped broker a peace between them centered upon their mutual interest in the emancipation of Larry Hoover , a long-incarcerated Chicago gang leader. On Thursday, over two hours, the pair traded hits, paid each other compliments and talked about their religious faith. Here are the main takeaways from the show.

The concert was a display of friendly competition, emphasis on friendly

The bad blood between the pair runs deep: lyrical shots have been fired back and forth between their respective crews—West’s G.O.O.D. Music and Drake’s Young Money—for years. The rift hit its apex in 2018, when West’s close ally Pusha T traded vicious diss tracks with Drake, with the former publicly revealing that Drake had a son in “The Story of Adidon.” Drake would accuse West of spilling that personal detail to Pusha T, and proceeded to subtly diss West on the number one Travis Scott hit “SICKO MODE.” This year, Drake and West traded barbs in the press, on social media and in songs, with Drake going so far as to leak a song from Donda that featured André 3000.

But the pair agreed to reconcile last month, in part to raise awareness for prison reform activism. On Thursday, they appeared to be relieved, if not happy, to appear on stage together once again. They entered the stadium striding down the stairs shoulder to shoulder; when they got up onto the stage—a giant, barren white landscape that looked either like a hockey rink or a UFO—they hugged and exchanged heartfelt handshakes. They performed each other’s songs enthusiastically: West sang Drake’s 2010 hit “Find Your Love” (although he struggled to stay on pitch), while Drake returned the favor with a soulful version of “24.” “L.A.’s not finished, Ye’s not finished, Drake’s not finished,” he crooned. Later, West remarked on their collective accomplishments: “It’s like a hundred million hits between the both of us…we’d be out here for three days,” he said.

Drake covering Kanye West’s “24” #KanyeDrakeLive #FreeLarryHoover https://t.co/RTAn5DaWQT — XXL Magazine (@XXL) December 10, 2021

Kanye claimed the past, while Drake claimed the present

In this Verzuz era , fans have been clamoring on social media for a musical battle between the pair. On the Drink Champs podcast last month, West stoked the flames by saying that if he were to conduct a face-off with Drake, “I’m winning every situation.”

While the concert wasn’t officially a Verzuz battle, the subtext loomed over the night, and it was clear that each of them took the assignment very seriously. West came out swinging by energetically steamrolling through his biggest hits in semi-chronological order: “Jesus Walks,” “All Falls Down,” “Gold Digger,” “Stronger,” “All of the Lights.” It was a clear reminder that he’s ruled the past two decades of hip-hop and pop; that his body of work is nearly unparalleled. Drake acknowledged as much onstage, calling it a “dream… to be on stage with one of my idols while he’s running through one of the best catalogs in music, period.”

Drake and Kanye walking off stage last night pic.twitter.com/KT1bzuo2jJ — Drake Fan Page (@DrakeDirect_) December 10, 2021

But rather than trying to match West hit for hit, Drake took a very different tack: by using the concert as a showcase for his new album, Certified Lover Boy. “I came to do some new sh-t for you all,” he said, and fans at the stadium responded enthusiastically, crying out in excitement from the very first synth notes of “Girls Want Girls” (167 million Spotify streams) and screaming every word to “Way 2 Sexy” (228 million streams). While West’s throwback songs came from 2004, the earliest songs Drake performed during his set were from 2018 (“God’s Plan”). It was a clever tactical juke: a reminder that while West might have a deeper catalog, Drake currently remains one of the biggest, if not the biggest, pop star in the world today.

West made a direct plea to Kim Kardashian

For the last decade, one of the marquee moments at any Kanye West show is the outro of his 2010 opus “Runaway.” He uses the tortured song as a confessional, an opportunity to monologue his darkest or most controversial thoughts . While he typically delivers these rants in autotune, West instead stripped back the outro to just piano and voice, singing over and over: “When you run away, I need you to run right back to me.” And at the end, he left no ambiguity about who he was singing the song to: “Run right back to me/ More specifically, Kimberly.”

RUNAWAY BY KANYE WEST, MIKE DEAN VERSION 🐐🐐 #FREELarryHover pic.twitter.com/UsmbDIcE9o — 𝘈𝘕𝘎𝘌 ★ (@Laflame_World) December 10, 2021

Later in the show, West delivered a Kim Suite of sorts, first singing “Bound 2”—a 2013 love song detailing the early days of their relationship—before cutting himself off and launching into “Come To Life,” his heartbreaking recounting from this year that details the crumbling of their relationship. After singing the line “You know exactly where to find me,” he covered his face with his hands seemingly in anguish, and cameramen walked toward him slowly from all sides, as if personifying the oppressive glare of the spotlight. It was an extremely vulnerable moment in a night mostly characterized by bombast.

West censored a cringey lyric

For the concert’s last song, the pair reunited one final time to perform their 2009 collaboration “Forever”; it marked their origin stories and how far each has come. But the song’s performance was notable for another reason: rather than deliver an off-color lyric about statutory rape, West instead rapped, “nope, nope, nope,” and laughed uncomfortably.

Kanye skipping over the statutory line with “no no nope” and laughing sent me 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/GI74TRCchx — Jeff Wong (@jwongnyy) December 10, 2021

Mike Dean was the real MVP

The producer Mike Dean has long been West’s right-hand man, contributing in some way to nearly all of West’s studio albums. In more recent years, he’s joined West on tour to play synthesizer, piano and guitar. On Thursday, he never appeared visually, but dominated the night sonically by adding unpredictable instrumental jolts to West’s pristine production. He added a strobe-y synthesizer to “Touch The Sky” and menacing feedback on “Black Skinhead.” He absolutely shredded the riff to “I Wonder” on guitar, and his luscious piano noodling on “Runaway” was the ideal backdrop for West’s sermonizing to Kardashian. While Drake and West themselves more or less performed each other to a draw, it was Dean’s vital musicianship that pushed West’s set over the top.

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The Evolution of Kanye West’s Tours

By Jessy Edwards

Looking back to Kanye West’s very first nationwide tour, it’s incredible to see how much has changed.

It was 2004, and back then a good hip-hop show meant seeing your favorite artist perform their set without any major sound difficulties. The big-budget spectacles West pioneered existed only in dreams. In the years that followed, his live performance evolved from performing in front of a backdrop of Chicago’s skyline to ascending a literal mountain constructed on stage.

Over five headline tours and multiple spot performances, Kanye has transformed the expectations for a hip-hop. After the Yeezus tour of 2013, the New York Post raved that the show was more than just a concert, saying, “It’s an extravaganza of music and theater… an unmissable spectacle.”

Kanye has developed the live performance to be immersive and experiential, pairing with fashion designers, artists, and engineers to create shows that redefine the concert experience—even architecture magazines have marveled at Kanye’s work.

So as Ye prepares for the Saint Pablo Tour —his first in three years—we look back at the tours that came before: the looks, the designers, the opening acts, the artistry, and the drama.

Related: Kanye West By The Numbers

The College Dropout Tour

Length: March 16—May 5, 2004 Set designer: Unknown Supporting acts: Dilated Peoples, John Legend, GLC

Baggy jeans, striped polos and a college vibe were the defining elements of Kanye West’s very first headline tour, in 2004.

Well before West was sending his own models down the runway of New York Fashion week, he and his crew were rocking matching Ralph Lauren polos emblazoned with the mascot of his debut album and tour—the College Dropout bear.

The tour spanned 34 dates, from March to May that year, and a 26-year-old West leaned in to the collegiate theme. Not only did it kick off at Virginia Tech, it hit a number of college towns across the states—from Pace University in New York to George Washington University in DC, ending with three shows at House of Blues in West’s hometown, Chicago.

The tour started just months after the official release of West’s first album, which shot to #2 and sold almost 500,000 copies in its first week, and was opened by Dilated Peoples, featured John Legend and GLC, and had A-Trak as tour DJ.

A-Trak’s video from the tour describes the vibe: “There were lots of chicken wings, lots of shoes and lots of laughter,” he says. The footage, from more than a decade ago, shows how excited the artists were to fly on a G4 private jet to some of the locations.

Onstage, Kanye paced in front of seven slim LED-screens, and some footage has the Chicago cityscape as his background. While the tour is lo-fi compared to his modern-day setups, the venues were packed with people, and when West asked his crowd to “scream so loud when the music come on you can’t even hear it,” they did just that.

English musician Tom Wiseman, from hip hop group Community League , says one of his “greatest show experiences” came from seeing the tour stop in the U.K.

“When The College Dropout tour came to town for one night only back in 2004, it was a magical affair that went down as one of the best in the year that was soundtracked by the irrepressible Mr. West,” he recalls. “When Kanye launched into ‘Slow Jamz’ only to have the entire crowd sing the words back to him—his mic held loosely at his side, the expression of wonder on his face, it was priceless.”

The Touch The Sky Tour

Screenshot via YouTube

Length: October 12—December 11, 2005 Set designer: Esmeralda Devlin Opening acts: Fantasia and Keyshia Cole

Ye’s second tour started off with a few hiccups . He was making changes right down to the last minute.

As the story goes, West scrapped the Touch the Sky Tour’s entire lighting plan just two weeks before the opening show in Miami. According to Mark Beaumont’s book Kanye West: God and Monster , the tour was completely redone by new tour designer Es Devlin just a fortnight before opening night, and soon after Kanye was heard yelling “I’m not excited about going on tour! All y’all have is moving lights!” to his former designer.

And then, just days before Ye was meant to start touring, opening act Common announced he couldn’t make it—he’d just landed an acting role. This left West with Fantasia and Keyshia Cole for his opening acts.

In the end, the stage show was accompanied by a glamorous six-piece string section and featured live video of the show projected behind the stage. West kneeled by a hospital bed to sing “Roses”—about his grandmother’s illness—and later collapsed in front of a screen scrolling negative reviews behind him. The star changed four times and wore designer blazers, pants, and dark designer sunglasses.

Chicago fan and music writer Tre G describes the show he saw at the Breslin Center in Michigan as the “greatest thing [he] had ever seen at the time.” Not only was it the first concert he had ever attended, Tre still remembers being blown away by the lighting and visuals. “You could tell Kanye was all about production, even in his early years,” he says. “I remember vividly one part of the show, Kanye displayed on the screen what critics and magazines were saying about him at the time.”

And the performance itself didn’t disappoint.

“I went HAM when he performed ‘Get ‘Em High.’ It’s still one my favorites,” he says.

Despite calling him an “only average rapper,” a Rolling Stone reviewer admitted that, unlike many other hip-hop hits, some of West’s songs were better live. Mark Beaumont described the Touch the Sky tour as Kanye “stepping out onto the tour big leagues.” He played the Thompson-Bowling Arena in Knoxville, the Mizzou Arena in Columbia, and two nights at the theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York.

Speaking to an MTV reporter on opening night about his earlier setbacks , West was typically brash.

“F— that!” West said backstage shortly before showtime. “We not gonna wait for 10 shows from now, we gonna touch the sky tonight.”

And so it was.

The Glow in the Dark Tour

Length: April 16, 2008—December 7, 2008 Set designer: Esmeralda Devlin Opening acts: N.E.R.D., Lupe Fiasco, Rihanna

Kanye’s first world tour also included his first truly extraordinary stage.

The Glow In The Dark Tour crammed in more than 50 arena and festival shows in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. before heading to Mexico and then across the Pacific, via South America, to the Far East and Europe.

The concept pitted Kanye as a the pilot of a spaceship hitting a meteor storm, landing on a desolate planet of dry ice, and trying to find his way home through tracks from The College Dropout , Late Registration , Graduation , 808s and Heartbreak .

With design again done by Es Devlin, in collaboration with Martin Phillips and John McGuire, the stage was transformed into a barren series of landscapes—one resembling a giant moon—and fantastical glow-in-the-dark features: a giant, glowing-eyed monster and a robot moved within the haze, women shimmered in gold paint for the track “Gold Digger,” and stunning multi-colored light sequences lit up the often smoke-filled stage.

Ye himself wore sci-fi themed threads, glow-in-the-dark accessories, his signature stunna shades, and gloves.

The performance was a visual feast, “an attempt to push hip-hop into the arena rock league,” Mark Beaumont argued in his book Kanye West: God and Monster . It was even immortalized in the book of photography Glow in the Dark by Nabil Elderkin.

But again, the show was not without its hiccups. In Sacramento, Ye accidentally called the city Seattle, before quickly apologizing. At Bonnaroo, fans chanted “Kanye sucks” after a change in scheduling had West come on stage at 4:25 A.M. —almost two hours after he was meant to start.

Plus, Ye self-funded the tour after the original sponsor, Best Buy, pulled out, according to sources . But his hard work paid off, and the tour ended up a success, grossing $300 million.

The Fame Kills Tour

Length: N/A Set designer: N/A Opening acts: N/A

In 2009, Lady Gaga and Kanye West announced their joint Fame Kills tour, which was due to kick off in Phoenix in November and keep the stars touring through to the new year.

The tour sounded like it was all set, with Gaga going on air to describe the creative process for the tour: how she and Kanye had designed a stage that would traverse the entire arena.

She explained that Kanye would represent “the fame,” and she would represent “home and humble beginnings,” and the two artists would be aiming to reach each other from either ends of the stage.

In early October, however, the show was cancelled , with little reason given. Some speculated that it was related to negative publicity surrounding West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s VMA acceptance speech that month, and it would two more years before Kanye announced another tour.

The Watch the Throne Tour

Image via Wikipedia

Length: October 29, 2011—June 22, 2012 Set designers: Esmeralda Devlin, Kanye West, DONDA, Bruce Rodgers, Nick Whitehouse, John McGuire, Geodezik Opening acts: None

“Attenborough BBC wildlife content and lasers” was the brief given to stage designer Es Devlin by Kanye for his tour with Jay Z in 2011.

The result: the incredible Watch the Throne tour featured the two performers perched on massive video cubes showing sharks, Rottweilers, crows, and tigers in a sea of darkness punctuated only by cellphone lights and piercing lasers.

As the pair played “Otis,” a giant American flag lit up the backdrop.

Devlin used hundreds of laser beams to create a myriad of different frames to this alternate world of geometric shapes, cascading light, wild animals, and its stars: Kanye West and Jay Z. The two lived up to the hype, and then some. Their habit of playing the smash hit “N****s in Paris” eight, nine, 10, or 12 times in a row quickly become the stuff of legend.

Partnering with Givenchy, for the most part, Yeezy dressed in slick black: t-shirts, leather pants and a big gold chain.

The tour grossed $47 million in 2012, in addition to the $48 million it earned in 2011, Bloomberg reported , and in the summer of 2012, Kanye West launched his own design company , DONDA, focused on “content, product, and experience.”

The Yeezus Tour

Length: October 19, 2013—December 23, 2013 Set designer: DONDA and Esmeralda Devlin Opening acts: Kendrick Lamar, A Tribe Called Quest, Travi$ Scott, and Pusha T

Kanye’s last tour was his most ambitious and daring yet.

Featuring a man-made mountain, diamond encrusted masks, and a catwalk, it was this tour that had the New York Post reviewer praising “an extravaganza of music and theater that gives the world windows into [West’s] erratic persona.”

This visual feast was created through collaboration between set designer Es Devlin, West’s design company DONDA, fashion house Maison Margiela, artist Vanessa Beecroft, and more. This was the tour burned into memory through those full-face masks. This was the tour where Ye staged the reincarnation of Jesus and delivered sermons on the state of the world.

Super-fan Matt Nein, 20, saw the show three times as it toured the States: once in Philly, once at Penn State, and once in Atlantic City, calling it “the pinnacle of rap shows.”

“Kanye and his crew did things that pushed the envelope artistically and haven’t been done before,” he explains, pointing out that as a rap fan, many shows he’s seen have turned on an artist rapping over their own voice, with a posse standing behind them onstage.

“Whether it was using an Xbox to track Kanye’s movements during ‘Black Skinhead’ or making it snow in the arena during ‘Coldest Winter,’ Kanye made sure to do things that people wouldn’t expect.”

The Yeezus stage set and concept—featuring a giant mountain that occasionally turned into a volcano—was described by reviewers as “half biblical allegory and half motivational seminar”.

It kicked off on Oct. 19 in Seattle, and Kanye opened with “On Sight” in a custom-made Margiela mask that obscured his whole face. West worked closely with Maison Margiela to curate the show, and his wardrobe for the Tour was composed of 10 couture pieces, 20 ready-to-wear pieces, and an exclusive pair of sneakers, as well as the famous masks.

Onstage, Devlin had constructed a mountain, which was sometimes wreathed in flames, sometimes covered with women in long white dresses. At times it would split in two halves, or become a volcano. There was an iceberg, 12 nude-nylon clad dancers, and a catwalk, alluding back to the fashion show created with Margiela.

The speeches also became a key part of the Yeezus show. “Through the Yeezus tour the sermons came thick, fast, and very very long,” Mark Beaumont writes .

But the show wasn’t bulletproof. The tour was postponed for 18 days when one of the trucks holding part of the 60-foot LED screen was in a car crash, and the equipment damaged beyond repair. Several shows were postponed or cancelled while the gear was rebuilt.

But as always, the show went on, with Rolling Stone calling it “truly electrifying.”

The Saint Pablo Tour

Image via Tidal

Length: August 25—November 1 Set designer: DONDA SURROUND Opening acts: TBD

Last month, West announced The Saint Pablo Tour , his first North American tour in three years.

While very few clues to what fans can expect have been announced yet, more collaboration with visual artists, à la West’s “Famous” video, could be forthcoming.

The tour will visit nearly 40 cities across the U.S. and Canada—mainly playing arenas—including dates in New York City, Los Angeles, Toronto, Chicago, Montreal, Detroit, Washington DC, Miami, and more.

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Kanye west announces new ‘vultures listening party’ dates. get tickets.

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Against all odds, Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have extended their 2024 tour.

The controversial pair booked additional ‘Vultures 1 Listening Experience’ arena concerts all over the U.S. from April 7-14 in support of their recently released album.

Stops on the brief run include Nashville (April 7), Pittsburgh (April 9), Washington, D.C. (April 11), Charlotte (April 12) and Tampa (April 14.)

According to a press release, fans can expect to be treated to the duo’s controversial, chart-topping “Vultures” album “in a high-fidelity audio and visual showcase, crafted by Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign.”

Fans should be aware that West has delivered offensive lyrics at recent shows.

While wearing a Jason Voorhees mask onstage, West rapped “And I’m still crazy, bipolar, anti-Semite. And I’m still the king,” which led to the event’s livestream being cut off.

For fans that want to catch the listening party live, tickets are available for all five gigs as soon as today.

Although inventory isn’t available on Ticketmaster until Tuesday, April 2, fans who want to ensure they have tickets ahead of time can purchase on sites like Vivid Seats before tickets are officially on sale.

Vivid Seats is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

They have a 100% buyer guarantee that states your transaction will be safe and secure and will be delivered before the event.

Kanye West tickets 2024

A complete calendar including all dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below.

About “Vultures, Volume 1”

West and Dolla Sign’s 16-track debut collaboration is classic Kanye; lush arrangement along with juvenile lyrics.

The album’s lead track, which features a gorgeous orchestral beat is undercut by off-putting lines like “Keep a few Jews on the staff now/ I cash out.”

You can listen to the sonically adventurous yet lyrically immature “Vultures”  here .

Kanye West controversy

Over the past few years years, the 46-year-old Chicago native has generated quite a bit of ire.

His most notable recent dustup took place in late 2022 when he made a number of anti-Semitic statements which led to many companies he partnered with — including Gap, Adidas, and Balenciega — dropping him from their labels.

West has since apologized for his unfortunate comments on Instagram, although that post is no longer available to view on his account at the time of publication.

Following his statement, he made a number of anti-Semitic remarks at his inaugural ‘Vultures Listening Party’ concert in Chicago, according to the  New York Post .

Hip-Hop stars on tour in 2024

A number of the biggest names in the game will be on the road these next few months.

Here are just five of our favorites you won’t want to miss live.

•  21 Savage

•  Nicki Minaj

•  A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie

•  Megan Thee Stallion

•  Gunna

Who else is on the road? Check out our list of the  50 biggest concert tours in 2024 here  to find out.

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Kanye’s ‘DONDA’ Event Breaks Record for Highest-Grossing U.S. Tour Solely Off of Its Merch Sales

Generating $7 million usd in tee sales..

Kanye West has broken the record for the highest-grossing U.S. tour based on DONDA in-person merchandise sales alone, according to Billboard , which began tracking touring data in 1990.

Clocking in $7 million USD in revenue just from its merchandise, the second DONDA listening event on August 5 at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium beat out previous record holder Taylor Swift, who grossed a little under $7 million USD per show for 2018’s Reputation Stadium Tour.

#DONDA MERCH 👀 pic.twitter.com/s28laAKzg7 — HYPEBEAST (@HYPEBEAST) August 5, 2021

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Kanye West Profile

Kanye West is a rap artist originating from Chicago, Illinois. He is one of the most popular rappers of the last decade, but is polarizing and often full of controversy. He has released 7 studio albums so far and his 8th, tentatively titles LOVE EVERYONE, is due out on June 1, 2018.

Some of Kanye West’s most popular songs include “Power”, “All of the Lights”, and “Jesus Walks”. He new album is seven songs long and follows Kanye’s return to Twitter in early 2018 where he began promoting positivity and more inspirational messaging.

Kanye West’s last tour was the Saint Pablo tour in 2016. The tour was acclaimed for its stage, which hovered over top of the floor mosh pit and moved around each arena. The tour was cut short by 22 shows after Kanye West checked into rehab for opioid addiction and exhaustion.

Kanye West Upcoming Events: How to Buy Kanye West Tickets

Kanye West 2023 tour dates and locations are listed below! Use the links under the "Buy Tickets" heading to purchase your Kanye West seats from Ticketmaster or StubHub.

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Kanye West Setlist For 2023 Tour

Kanye west presale codes: 2023 presale tickets.

All of the latest Kanye West presale codes for the 2023 tour are listed below. Check out the Ticketmaster or StubHub pages for this tour to find out the onsale date and time for tickets.

We will post specific Kanye West presale codes as soon as we know them!

In the meantime, check out the onsale dates below and also check out our guide for American Express, Citi & Live Nation presale codes. These codes do not change and are standard for all concerts, so they will be valid for this tour! https://stadiumhelp.com/concert-presale-codes-american-express-citi/

Kanye West Merchandise & Media

Save money by buying your t-shirts and artist merchandise before you go to the show! Check out the most popular Kanye West merch on Amazon below.

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Kanye West Tickets: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How much are kanye west tickets.

Kanye West tickets to the 2023 tour start at $139.00 and go up in price from there. VIP tickets can cost as much as $249.00 or more.

When do Kanye West tickets go on sale?

The first Kanye West tickets to the 2023 tour are on sale as of March 13, 2024.

How do you buy cheap Kanye West tickets?

In order to get the cheapest Kanye West tickets, compare prices on multiple platforms. Check out Ticketmaster and Stubhub links for Kanye West and pay attention to the prices for each section. You will be able to save money on Kanye West tickets by comparing prices before you buy.

Why are Kanye West 2023 tickets so expensive?

Kanye West ticket prices are caused by a number of factors, including the demand to see Kanye West live, number of shows on tour, venue rental prices, and the amount of stage equipment, crew, and staff involved in making the 2023 tour happen.

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Kanye West Returns to the Stage With Travis Scott

The rapper, now known as Ye, had not performed live since a series of antisemitic comments last year led to rebukes in music and fashion.

By Ben Sisario

Ye, the rap star formerly known as Kanye West, on Monday made his first concert appearance after a series of antisemitic remarks on social media and in interviews last year, which led to his alienation from the music industry and loss of lucrative fashion deals with Adidas, Gap and Balenciaga.

Ye’s return to the stage came as a guest during a livestreamed album-release concert by Travis Scott at Circus Maximus, the park in central Rome that in ancient times was the site of a giant stadium where chariot races and other entertainment took place.

Scott, a protégé of Ye’s, brought his mentor out during a concert to celebrate his chart-topping new album, “Utopia.” With Scott dressed in white and Ye all in black — initially with a hood and mask, which didn’t stay on for long — they performed two Ye songs together: “Praise God,” from his 2021 album “Donda,” and “Can’t Tell Me Nothing,” a Kanye West classic from his 2007 album “Graduation.”

“There is no ‘Utopia’ without Kanye West,” Scott told the crowd. “There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West. There is no Rome without Kanye West.”

After years of erratic and controversial behavior, Ye finally crossed a line with the music and fashion industries last fall, after he showed up at Paris Fashion Week in a shirt that read “White Lives Matter,” and then tweeted that he would go “death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.” That led to his expulsion from social media, his ejection from the Creative Artists Agency and the loss of his Yeezy brand sneaker and fashion design partnerships. The deal with Adidas had been especially valuable, contributing more than 10 percent of the $2 billion in profit that the company made in 2021.

Despite widespread condemnations, Ye doubled down on his comments. Last December, he joined “Infowars,” the online talk show hosted by Alex Jones, the conspiracy theorist who has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion for promulgating lies about the Sandy Hook school shooting in 2012. On that show, Ye said, “I love Jewish people, but I also love Nazis,” and “I do love Hitler.”

Ye had largely kept a low profile since then, though last week Twitter restored Ye’s account. It had been suspended a day after the Infowars interview, with Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter — which has now been rebranded as X — saying that Ye had “violated our rule against incitement to violence.”

Before the Rome appearance, Ye’s last concert was in Miami in February 2022, promoting his album “Donda 2.”

Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. More about Ben Sisario

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Kanye West  

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Kanye West is a complete visionary who has shifted the course of pop culture time and time again, first as a producer and then as a rapper and fashion mogul.

Kanye was born in a middle class household in Chicago and was a creative from an early age, often writing poetry and becoming part of the city’s hip hop scene at a young age. He briefly attended college but dropped out when it became detrimental to the creation of his music.

He began producing beats for local artists, developing a signature style that utilized sped-up soul samples and before long he received his first big break when he became an in-house producer for Roc A Fella Records and was responsible for the now classic Jay Z Album ‘The Blueprint’.

Despite his production success, Kanye had maintained a desire to make it as a rapper but due to his unconventional style and background had struggled to secure a deal. Dame Dash reluctantly signed Kanye to Roc A Fella however Kanye was involved in a car accident which he was lucky to survive. With his jaw still wired shut, Kanye channeled his emotions into ‘through The Wire’, a single which would appear on his debut album ‘The College Dropout’ in 2004. The album is considered one of the most important Hip Hop debuts and had a lasting effect on the genre.

With each subsequent album Kanye changed up his sound and broken new ground. On 2008’s ‘808 and Hearrtbreaks’ for example, he embraced auto-tune singing and, although many were unsure at the time, it influenced the future sound of Hip Hop and Rnb (laying the framework for the likes of Drake to become huge stars). In 2013 he stunned fans again with the jarring ‘Yeezus’, which, with its industrial minimalism, shocked the genre to its core and won praise from critics in the process.

Live reviews

I gotta give it to Yeezus. He's still got the juice and for him to pack the 'Bowl' while performing a seven year old album is a testament to that fact. Show started an hour late and I had the feeling there would be some tech glitches, but you definitely couldn't hate on the effort. There was a small orchestra section stage right and on stage left what appeared to be a few DJ's and dudes on drum machines. The center of the stage featured 3 grand white staircases that were reconfigured between songs. There were fireworks at times which didn't quite fit the tone of the album, but who doesn't like fireworks. It was a party atmosphere and I felt a real connection with other fans simply based on the fact that WE LOVE THIS FUCKING ALBUM. We sang, we yelled, we danced, we laughed, and we reminisced about a Kanye that took us back to bring us forward.

Most memorable moments:

Staircases rotate to reveal 60 or so black men in rags and covered in dust. Very striking visual that reminded me of a slave ship. He used what I'll call "human props" throughout the show, but I felt like this moment resonated most.

Jeezy came out for Amazing, but the tech was ALL CHEWED UP. Sound was cutting in and out, poor lighting, pianist was even confused at one point.

At one point Kanye states that this performance is actually more of a dress rehearsal. I figured as much and even debated going to the Saturday show, but there was something about the rawness of an opening night that I wanted to be part of. I'm sure Saturday's show will be way more on point.

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I have never been a person who could pinpoint a moment in which divine providence had played some role in my life. That is, until I saw Kanye.

Watching Kanye West perform is a wholly religious experience. Someone you don't know and can barely see is instructing you to complete strange actions which seem nonsensical, like throwing your hands in there or singing lyrics or pointing your middle finger to the sky. Yet, you follow along. You are surrounded by thousands of people who share similar beliefs and interests as you. Everything is ridiculous expensive and you must pay your way in.

Kanye comes out pretty much an hour late, just because he can. When he finally emerges, it is on a platform suspended in the air. The platform rocks to and fro during the concert, bouncing right above the general admissions mosh pit. It is those in the mosh pit who are the most blessed. They seem positively energized by Kanye, dancing and thrashing for two hours straight.

When Kanye finishes his act, he performs "Ultralight Beam". Towards the end of the show, his platform lowers and he steps down onto the ground, showing us that the man we had seemingly worshiped with our screams and our expressions of adulation walks on the same ground we do. And maybe it was the weed smoke, or maybe the sheer excitement, but as I was swaying to the music, I felt a connection to a higher power, something greater than myself. It was a moment of absolute perfection where I didn't feel alone and hopeless in the world.

Whether his messianic stature is bona fide or self-professed, one thing’s still for certain: an evening with Kanye West will blow your freaking mind.

Love him or loathe him, there are number of things we say about ‘Ye for certain. The guy boasts a repertoire of hits hotter than Seth Rogen’s motorcycle seat. This is a guy with the talent to dethrone his mentor, with the vision to produce the totally unexpected, and with the ego to say and do exactly what he wants. All in all, those ingredients synthesise to produce the greatest live music experience on offer in the modern age. Hands down.

However it’s what we can’t say for certain about West that polarises crowds the world over. The rants, the fights, the Jesus lookalikes; to some extent, it’s no great surprise that the rapper has found himself at loggerheads with audiences on multiple occasions.

But if that’s the price we have to pay to accept this visionary into our lives, then show me where to sign. When Kanye delivers, he arrives first class. “One of the greatest hip-hop sets of all time”, so said the Hollywood Reporter of Coachella 2011. “I am so credible and so influential and so relevant that I will change things”, so said Kanye of himself. Hear, hear, Mr. West.

The sounds of hydraulic machinery filled Oracle Arena, as the stench of dirt weed mingled with the faux fog that had been pumping into the air over the past two hours. The opening samples of “Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1” were slowed down and turned elastic, thus leaving alien chemtrails of sound in the wake of the shadowy figure tethered to the hovering spacecraft. With heads upturned in anticipation of first contact, the crowd was lost in darkness. Chants of “Kan-ye! Kan-ye!” filled every empty space, until the object of their affection shone his light down on the chosen few.

The party-sized hoverboard had traversed the entire length of the arena (from a height of about 10 feet above the tallest head), before blasting spotlights on those below; instantly creating the largest circle pit a hip-hop tour has ever seen.

“Just wanna feel liberated, I, I, I…”

Kanye West had arrived in Oakland, and while many outside the venue failed to understand the appeal, those who had been waiting patiently (well past start time) were losing their collective mind.

See more at http://ilistensoyoudonthaveto.com/2016/10/26/kanye-west-oracle-arena-10-22-16/

Kanye was a lot more humble than I expected. I've always loved a lot of the lyrics of his songs as they speak about real stuff that's going on, like the media covering up on what's actually important and people higher up trying to make everyone conform. His concert was better than I thought it would be. He was entertaining, interactive with the crowd, tried to get the people on the floor to start a mosh pit (haha) and he talked about some shit in the media against him that wasn't true. The massive screen thing he had happening put an interesting twist to seeing Kanye as it was done in like negative colouring and you could only half see him a lot of the time, which was a bit frustrating but also added to the drama of him. I LOVED the freaky masks he wore half the time, very Kanye- all that bling. He played a good mix of his music from a bunch of new stuff right back to the older stuff. Almost the whole seated crowd were standing the whole time (something I've NEVER seen at a concert) I have a newfound respect for Kanye West and am really happy I finally got to see him. I'd definitely go back

it was fucking horrible as shit like really kanye?

i, as well as everyone else who came to see your show in sacramento, were so hyped. it was literally going to be the highlight of my thanksgiving break. i bought your tickets for $70 as well as a shirt for $20, only for you to show up AN HOUR AND A HALF LATE, perform three songs that you didn't even finish, and to listen to your inaccurate rant about politics. honestly man, i respected you so much as an artist; you were and still are a musical genius and i will forever support your music career, but i lost all respect for you as a person yesterday. you disrespected your fans last night, who have been nothing but loyal to you throughout your career. that was a real shitty move, and to be honest with you man, i feel sorry for you. the money so up in your mind that you don't know who you are anymore.

we miss the old kanye

the socially woke kanye

the finish the show kanye

we hate the new kanye

walk off the stage kanye

the hella fake kanye...

The beginning of the TLOP tour was soo epic ! He plays the extended sample of Father stretch my hands, and when you hear "If young metro don't trust you" the whole stadium goes crazy !! If you want to have a top 5 concert experience download the playlist shown below, bump that with your friends the week of the concert and be ready to leave the concert with no voice lol !!!!

##################################

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 2

Pop Style (Drake cover)

THat Part (ScHoolboy Q cover)

I Don’t Like

Black Skinhead

Freestyle 4

I Love Kanye

Can’t Tell Me Nothing

Blood on the Leaves

Jesus Walks

Devil in a New Dress

All Falls Down

Flashing Lights

All of the Lights

Niggas in Paris

Real Friends

#############################

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The Saint Pablo Tour was by far the dopest energy in one place that I have felt at a venue the size of Verizon Center. The stage was suspended in air and the attendees with floor seats were actually a mosh pit! They stood the entire time fueling the energy as he floated above their heads and out stretched arms. Everyone in the building stood the entire concert. Everyone. Though the lights were dim and the big screen had an hallucination type effect, the lyrics and his movement came thru with Kanye precision. I had the time of my life at this concert. The cherry on the top was that I was invited as a surprise from my love. The hands down best surprise I've ever received!! I love the old Kanye. I love the new Kanye. I love Kanye. Period.

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Find out more about Kanye West tour dates & tickets 2024-2025

Want to see Kanye West in concert? Find information on all of Kanye West’s upcoming concerts, tour dates and ticket information for 2024-2025.

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Can Kanye West Ever Tour Again?

• By Ethan Millman

Ethan Millman

For the first time in his career, Kanye West ’s controversial comments have not only landed him in another public relations nightmare — they’ve led to nearly all of his brand partners divesting from him as they’ve determined his volatile behavior is more trouble than it’s worth. Talent agency giant CAA dropped him this week, and Adidas ended its years-long partnership with West and his Yeezy brand, tanking the rapper’s net worth and revoking his billionaire status in the process. 

As much of the entertainment and fashion industry has cut ties with him following a string of virulent antisemitic remarks and false claims that George Floyd died of a fentanyl overdose, there’s still a question regarding one of the most lucrative aspects of any musician’s career: What happens to his touring business? Who would be willing to book or promote his shows after this, and would a music festival invite him to play?

“It won’t be a Live Nation or an AEG, no,” says one industry executive, referencing the two biggest promoters. “I think he’ll be compelled to do something live at some point. He could go try and go to a venue directly, and put up the money himself. He would hire freelancers willing to work with him. Or if a promoter worked with him, it would be somebody desperately trying to buy some buzz and some market share.”

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Another source with knowledge of the matter confirms that Live Nation hasn’t done anything with Kanye since the Miami event, adding that the company has had no contact with his team for over six months.

Live Nation, which also puts on major festivals including Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza, didn’t comment on whether it would book Kanye for a tour or give him a festival slot again, but a spokesperson for the concert giant confirmed that it doesn’t currently have any business with him in development. “Kanye worked with other promoters on his last few shows, so nothing active with him on our end,” the rep said. (A rep for West did not respond to a request for comment.)

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Beyond the question of who could promote his shows or help plan dates, another major challenge for West would be finding a venue willing to work with him. “He could try and find a venue owned by a cowboy somewhere,” the first source says. “This is a big country, there’s lots of places to try and go with.”

A booker for a regional concert promoter that oversees several venues tells Rolling Stone he expects that much of the live industry won’t book West for the foreseeable future. 

“I think there are venues that would accept him, but they would be few and far between. Whatever happens at that point would be the flashpoint, the canary in the coal mine for what comes next,” the booker says, pointing to the backlash that First Avenue in Minnesota faced when it booked Dave Chapelle this past July before canceling the show . 

As the booker says, any venue that takes on West would have to be prepared for further blowback. “Whether or not it’s intended, by booking Kanye at this point in time, you’re endorsing his words,” says the booker, who also expressed concerns for West’s mental wellbeing. “He needs to walk away from what he said before most venues would work with him.”

It’s rare for an artist facing this kind of controversy to continue to double down on their dangerous statements the way West has, and it isn’t clear how much any level of attempting to repair his image will work . And given that Kanye’s comments have already emboldened others to publicly share hateful, threatening rhetoric against Jewish people, there could even be a question of how safe it would be to put on a show by him. 

As the concert booker notes, one of his venues recently hosted a show for Ryan Adams, and they’ve got Louis C.K. booked in the next few months as well. (Both Adams and C.K. have been accused of sexual misconduct; Adams denied the allegations against him, but later apologized for having “mistreated people.”)

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Whether or not these artists should get a platform to perform is a subject of much debate. But that hasn’t stopped venues from taking them on, and it certainly hasn’t stopped customers from buying tickets. Right or wrong, the industry has long given second chances to problematic figures in the name of their art and the profits that come with it. How many chances will Kanye get?

“The reality is, you need to look at this through the lens of time,” the booker says. “Time is part of what helps put calluses on what’s obviously a very deep wound right now. Kanye’s [road back] will be even greater, because he has the ability to incite violence in people, and he’s not recognizing that. He has dug himself a deep hole, and it’ll take a much longer time to have anyone be comfortable enough to know he can be trusted again to do this.”

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Kanye West drops ‘Vultures’ and announces world tour with possible dates in Spain

“vultures” will be dropping any time soon, and features north west’s musical debut..

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Kanye West is gearing up for a new record and a world tour. “Vultures” will be dropping any time soon, and is the first record between West and Ty Dolla Sign, who’ve formed a duo known as ¥$. While the album has faced multiple delays (it was supposed to be released today), a new music video was released for the song “Talking/Once Again,” featuring Kanye West and Kim Kardashian ’s daughter North West in her musical debut . While discussing the project, West announced some possible tour dates, which include stops in Spain.

North West steals the show in Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign’s new song

North West shows off her impressive basketball skills in must-see video

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West teased his upcoming world tour on his Instagram stories, revealing some of the possible tour dates and locations. He shared a screenshot containing some text messages and an Excel sheet that outlined some tour dates and locations, including dates in arenas locateed in New York, Toronto, Los Angeles, and Chicago. It also featured dates in Egypt, London, Dubai, and Madrid. The stops in Madrid were scheduled for August 17th and 18th, at the Madrid Arena.

In another story, West said that he and Dolla Sign were toying with the idea of performing in emblematic international locations, like the Corcovado mountain in Rio de Janeiro, where the statue of Christ the Redeemer is located, the pyramids of Giza, and the Great Wall of China.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ye (@kanyewest)

More about North West’s musical debut

North West’s debut in “Vultures” marks her first time performing. She’s featured in “Talking/Once Again,” where she sings some verses and appears in the music video with her hair getting braided. At one point she’s recorded sitting on her dad’s shoulders and saying something in his ear.

“Vulture” will is a record that is scheduled to drop in three parts. These dates were initially listed as February 9th, March 8th, and April 5th.

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Kanye’s back – labels might care about his misdeeds, but the public doesn’t seem to

The rapper seemed to have blown his career up two years ago with a string of offensive comments. But now he has another album at No 1

O ver the course of about a month in late 2022, Kanye West seemingly blew up his career for ever. Weeks of increasingly erratic behaviour culminated in a slip into full-blown reactionary populism with a series of offensive stunts, including but not limited to: wearing a White Lives Matter T-shirt , reviving hoary antisemitic tropes about Jews controlling the media, and threatening on X (then Twitter) to go “death con 3” on Jews .

Within weeks, West’s record label and publisher – Universal Music Group and Sony Music Publishing, respectively – terminated their contracts with him; he was dropped by his agency, CAA; and Adidas, Balenciaga and Gap canned their continuing collaborations. The vast majority of his $2bn (£1.6bn) net worth evaporated overnight. Kanye Is Never Coming Back From This read the headline of one Rolling Stone article at the time.

Less than two years later, the opposite is true: West’s latest album, a collaboration with the singer Ty Dolla $ign called Vultures 1 , hit No 1 on the US Billboard 200 album chart and No 2 on the British charts. Its lead single, the Playboi Carti and Rich the Kid collaboration Carnival, reached No 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. He also recently headlined Rolling Loud Los Angeles – the rap world’s equivalent to Coachella – with Dolla $ign, despite reports that his agent was struggling to find venues willing to host him.

West’s career has always been defined by its peaks and troughs: he entered a period of self-exile in 2010, after receiving backlash for interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, only to return with his lauded career high My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy that November. But his more recent descent into troubled waters did feel like a marked shift away from erratic provocation into fringe conspiracy.

A large part of West’s celebrity for the past decade has been his sheer omnipresence: his music was everywhere, but so was his multibillion-dollar sneaker line; his collaborations with high-fashion labels and high-street brands alike informed the taste of millions. When he married Kim Kardashian, de facto leader of the world’s most famous family, in 2014, he expanded his reach even further. Without the backing of any of the blue-chip brands that elevated him to that status, it seemed likely that West’s hold on culture would be loosened, at least a little.

So why is the inverse true? West’s resurgence confirms what a lot of people in the entertainment industries have known for a long time: the general public doesn’t really care about an artist’s misdeeds if the art is still passable, no matter how unrepentant they might be. Artists such as Michael Jackson and R Kelly, for example, are still in high rotation on radio stations and hugely popular on streaming services. MJ, a new musical sanctioned by Jackson’s estate that’s currently playing in London’s West End, is a commercial success – suggesting that audiences aren’t exactly wringing their hands over celebrating the singer’s legacy.

This is doubly true for younger generations: Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti, two of gen Z’s most adored rap stars, have been accused of domestic assault and faced next to no backlash. TikTok virality is heavily driving West’s Carnival, and it seems likely that those coming to the track from that service don’t really care about West’s past comments – or potentially even know anything about West, or at least his past behaviour, given how easily TikTok and streaming services decontextualise music for their listeners.

For many, music is an escapist pursuit, meaning that questions of ethics around listening to someone who might not share your values – and thereby lining their pockets – don’t really come into the equation. West has also historically been deeply sceptical of the way the largely white entertainment industry sets up black entertainers for failure; I wouldn’t be surprised if this aspect of his music and celebrity has also created something of a buffer against any backlash or attempted cancellations.

Benefiting West is a culture in which rightwing, self-appointed “free thinkers” such as Andrew Tate and Jordan Peterson are already hugely popular among young men, who also make up the core of West’s fanbase. West is not necessarily as much of an outlier in public discourse as he may be perceived: his rightward shift seems fairly in line with a broader cultural movement towards conservatism. Last year, songs by Jason Aldean and Oliver Anthony that alluded to rightwing and QAnon talking points, respectively, hit No 1 on the Billboard charts.

The industries that initially dropped West, too, are extremely fickle when there’s good money to be made. Although West still doesn’t have a label or publisher, he does have the wholehearted support of major streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, which have each put songs from Vultures 1 on popular editorial playlists such as RapCaviar, Spotify’s flagship rap playlist. Adidas is still selling Yeezy-branded shoes; it has donated a portion of proceeds to anti-hate groups, which means that it is also keeping a portion of the proceeds. The announcement it would resume selling Yeezy shoes also resulted in a tidy bump in its share price.

It’s not hugely surprising that a festival such as Rolling Loud would choose to swiftly book West after his chart success; when companies sever ties with their clients over alleged misdeeds, they’re responding to the cultural temperature to insure themselves against potential backlash from consumers. Rolling Loud saw its audience was back on West’s side – if, in fact, it had ever really left – and acted accordingly.

It’s hard to say where this leaves West’s comeback: for now, at least, venues still seem resistant to his booking, although it’s not hard to see some kind of haphazard festival tour on the cards. If Vultures 2 and Vultures 3, his other two planned albums for the year, are even half as successful as Vultures 1, it will be hard for the broader music and entertainment industries to treat him as a pariah for much longer. The public have already voted with their wallets.

Shaad D’Souza is a freelance culture journalist

Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here .

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Kanye West and Ty Dolla Sign Cancel Next Round of Arena ‘Listening Sessions’ for ‘Vultures’

By Chris Willman

Chris Willman

Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic

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Anyone who was hoping to pay to hear the “ Vultures ” album played back in an arena in the near future may be out of luck. The next round of “listening sessions” with Kanye West , aka Ye, and Ty Dolla Sign for the album project has been called off, as the arenas that were scheduled to host the next round of large-scale playbacks in April announced over the weekend that the dates were canceled or otherwise quietly pulled the plug.

The canceled gigs had been scheduled for arenas in Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Charlotte and Washington, D.C. The shows were scrapped within a day or two of first being announced.

There was no immediate word on the cancellations from Ye himself, who apparently deactivated his Instagram account over the weekend.

The show cancellations come in the wake of mostly negative feedback over Ye and Ty’s opening-night gig at the Rolling Loud Festival in Inglewood, Calif., in which a set that was promised to consist of at least some live performance turned out to be another rolling of the “Vultures 1” tapes, with the two stars standing by on stage while wearing masks. No new material was premiered at the Rolling Loud playback.

The April gigs were being promoted as a “Vultures 1 & 2 Listening Experience.” But there has been no recent sign that the “Vultures 2” album is still on the way, even though the sequel was originally announced for a March 8 release. In recent weeks, Ye had put up Instagram posts indicating that he was toying with the idea of releasing “Vultures 2” only as a paid download, or through a new and exclusive streaming site, rather than a conventional rollout to DSPs.

The shows had been announced for Nashville April 7 at Bridgestone Arena, Pittsburgh April 9 at PPG Paints Arena, Washington, D.C. April 11 at Capital One Arena, Tampa April 14 at Amalie Arena, and Charlotte April 12 at Spectrum Center.

The Ticketmaster page for Ye currently shows no concerts listed. The Florida arenas post posted messages saying: “We regret to report that due to the time constraints for Ye and Ty Dolla $ign to curate production and meet logistic requirements, the upcoming dates for the VULTURES 1&2 listening experience will need to be revisited at a later date.” A rep for the Charlotte venue told the Clture website that the gig was off.

In the wake of the seeming broken promises about the Rolling Loud gig including live performance, the latest material for the “Vultures” gigs appeared to be careful about what was being promised. Before the page was removed, a listing for the “Vultures” event on the Nashville Bridgestone Arena website described it as “a hi-fidelity audio experience.”

In an interview with Big Boy that ran just after the Rolling Loud controversy, Ty Dolla Sign defended not performing at the arena-sized playback parties, maintaining, “It’s still better than other people’s shows that have a mic.”

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Kanye West Allegedly Told Donda Academy Students They 'Could Be Locked in Cages,' According to New Lawsuit

Former employee Trevor Phillips filed a complaint against the rapper, accusing him of discrimination and harassment

Taylor Hill/FilmMagic

A former employee of Kanye West ’s has filed a complaint against the controversial rapper, claiming he suffered “severe discrimination, harassment” and more while working for the star’s Yeezy brand and at his Donda Academy school .

Trevor Phillips filed suit against West, 46, on Tuesday in Los Angeles with a complaint that claimed the “Gold Digger” rapper once told students at Donda Academy that he was going to put a jail at the school where they could be locked in cages. He also claimed West often spewed hateful, antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric within earshot of students.

“By filing this lawsuit, we hope our injured clients’ rights are vindicated, and that the famous artist Mr. West understands that his messages — which we alleged preach discrimination, antisemitism and Hitler-love — have no place in the world,” Phillips’ attorney Carney R. Shegerian said in a statement.

A representative for West — who in 2021 legally changed his name to Ye — did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.

Phillips said in the complaint, which was obtained by PEOPLE, that he considered West an “inspiration” when the star hired him to work at his Yeezy clothing brand in November 2022.

Before long, he was also doing work for Donda Academy, where his daughter and younger brother attended school (West founded the K-12 Christian private school in 2022). Phillips alleges that West would often spout harmful rhetoric at the school, and praised Adolf Hitler while engaging Holocaust denial and threats to the LGBTQ+ community.

“In front of the schoolchildren, Kanye continued his dangerous rhetoric. Kanye started to openly discuss how he only likes to date white women,” the complaint reads. "Then addressing the two school children, Kanye told them that he wanted them to shave their heads and that he intended to put a jail at the school — and that they could be locked in cages. The staff quickly distracted the children, and escorted them out of the room.”

Phillips claims West would often “scream [at] and berate” his Black employees in ways he did not his white employees, and that he told his staffers he would fire anyone who was “fat.” The former staffer also described an encounter with West in which the star simulated masturbation during a bizarre dinner meeting at Nobu in Malibu.

Elsewhere in the complaint, Phillips says West bragged about spending $2 million of the school’s budget on a trip to Paris, and that he was forced to do dangerous electrical wire work in the rain.

Tensions between Phillips and West culminated in May 2023, when West allegedly berated Phillips in front of 100 people amid an “immature temper tantrum.”

Dave Kotinsky/Getty

“His dream of working for someone he once admired as a great artist was like his spirit — crushed,” the complaint says. “While Kanye considered himself a god or king, in reality he was an ill-tempered tyrant and despot, who sought to mentally obliterate and control those around him.”

Phillips — who worked his last day at Donda Academy in August 2023 — says his time working for West led to psychological and emotional distress, humiliation and mental and physical pain and anguish. He is seeking damages in excess of $35,000.

West was previously sued in April 2023 by two women who were fired as teachers at Donda Academy. They claimed the school allegedly violated multiple Department of Education requirements and did not follow state regulations.

West has been under fire in recent years for making antisemitic comments; in October 2022, he forfeited his status as a billionaire after losing deals with Adidas, Balenciaga and Gap.

The suit comes weeks after West and Ty Dolla $ign were sued by the estate of Donna Summer over an unauthorized interpolation of her song “I Feel Love” on their collaborative ¥$ project Vultures 1.

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Kanye West Sued by Ex-Donda Academy Staffer Who Says Rapper Threatened to Lock Students in Cages

The lawsuit, alleging discrimination and other wrongdoing, is just the latest to level bizarre claims about West's now-closed school.

• By Bill Donahue

Bill Donahue

Kanye West is facing another lawsuit filed by a former employee at his Donda Academy, this time accusing him of discriminating against Black staffers and seeking to lock students in cages.

In a lawsuit filed Tuesday (April 2) in Los Angeles court, Trevor Phillips says the embattled rapper (who now goes by Ye) treated the Black staff at the school “considerably worse than white employees” — and then subjected him to “incessant harassment” and “humiliation” when he spoke up about it.

Kanye West Sued By Ex-Employee Over Back Pay and Unsafe Working Conditions

Like the several other lawsuits filed by former Donda Academy employees, the new complaint includes a number of bizarre allegations about West and his conduct at the school. It claims he told students  to “shave their heads” and that he “intended to put a jail at the school” where students could be “locked in cages.”

In another odd alleged episode, Phillips claims West summoned him to a room at the Nobu Hotel, where the rapper put on The Batman and watched it in silence.

“After a long and awkward silence, Kanye finally spoke again,” Phillips claims in the suit. “Turning his attention back to Phillips, he began an unprovoked and bigoted rant attacking Jewish people.” Later that same evening, Phillips claims West lay on the bed and simulated masturbating while talking about having orgies.

Phillips claims he was finally fired last year.

The case is the latest lawsuit filed by former staffers of Donda Academy and the Yeezy Christian Academy that preceded it. One of them, filed in July , claimed that the school lacked windows because the embattled rapper “did not like glass” and that students were not allowed on the second floor because West was “reportedly afraid of stairs.” Another case, filed in April 2023, alleged that the only food available to students was sushi.

As with those earlier cases, the strange allegations contained in Tuesday’s lawsuit supported more straightforward legal claims, including discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.

A spokesperson for West did not immediately return a request for comment on Tuesday.

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Kanye West Cancels U.S. Album Listening Parties After Missing 'Vultures 2' Release Date

Kanye West and Ty Dolla $ign have canceled several upcoming arena listening parties across the U.S.

Fans were supposed to experience Vultures 1 and 2 in their entirety at the shows, but the second album still hasn't surfaced after the artists missed the planned release date last month.

A rep for West confirmed to Variety that the shows Tampa, Fort Lauderdale, Pittsburgh, Nashville, Charlotte and Washington, D.C, will not be happening. They were called off just days after they were announced.

"We regret to report that due to the time constraints for Ye and Ty Dolla $ign to curate production and meet logistic requirements, the upcoming dates for the VULTURES 1&2 listening experience will need to be revisited," the Amalie Arena in Tampa said in a Facebook post .

The change in plans came after the duo's listening party at the Rolling Loud Festival in Los Angeles received mixed reviews.

Fans didn't realize that West and Ty Dolla $ign wouldn't be performing vocals during the standalone spectacle the night before the rest of the event was set to begin. But some believe the pair was engaging in some next level trolling.

West and Ty Dolla $ign defended the performance during an appearance on the Friday, March 15 interview with Big Boy TV .

"It’s still better than other people's shows that have a mic," Ty Dolla $ign said. "What I've noticed a while ago is that there could be a band on a festival and they go up there and kill it, and there's a DJ that just goes out there solo, never grabs a mic, they pay him way more, you know what I mean? You can still do it without grabbing a mic."

West added that the show was "just a way to bring people into a different experience."

The controversial show came after Vultures 1 spent two weeks at the top of the Billboard 200.

That was the first time West had spent more than a week at the top of the chart since his 2011 Watch The Throne collaborative album with Jay-Z .

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The new album's success surprised many due to West's years-long string of antisemitic comments that preceded it.

Kanye threatened to go "death con three" on Jewish people in an October 2022 tweet. He also said he "loves" Hitler and Nazis during an interview with conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that December.

The musician has apologized for these remarks on several occasions, but many Jewish people believe that he's continued to engage in antisemitic behavior.

Kanye often wears merch from the black metal band Burzum. The group's frontman Varg Vikernes is a proud antisemite who's often described as a neo-Nazi.

The lyrics on the track "Vultures" have also been widely panned as offensive. "How am I antisemitic?" Kanye raps. "I just f---ed a Jewish b--ch."

North West, the rapper's eldest daughter with reality TV star Kim Kardashian, announced her upcoming album Elementary School Dropout during a Vultures 1 listening party last month.

"Hi, it's Northie, and I've been working on an album," she told the cheering crowd as her father looked on from nearby.