Kanye West draws 118,000 to Istanbul amid European bans

Kanye West performed before a crowd of 118,000 fans at Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium on Saturday — his first European concert in more than a decade — as the rapper attempts a comeback following a string of cancellations tied to his history of antisemitic remarks.

Mr. West, who now performs under the name Ye, took the stage at roughly 9 p.m. local time and performed for nearly two hours, according to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency. Opening with “Father” and closing with “Stronger,” he performed from atop a giant spherical stage, running through hits including “Runaway,” “Power,” “Flashing Lights” and “Heartless.” Rapper Travis Scott joined him on stage during the show, according to Billboard. 

Mr. West claimed from the stage that the concert had set a world record. The stadium’s normal seating capacity is around 75,000, and the reported attendance of 118,000 would have required event-specific arrangements, including use of the field. Forbes noted the record claim is difficult to verify: Zach Bryan set the record for the largest ticketed concert audience in U.S. history with just over 112,000 in 2025, while free concerts — including Lady Gaga’s performance in Rio de Janeiro last year — have drawn far larger crowds.

The concert, organized in cooperation with NTRteam, attracted fans from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, Poland and countries across the Middle East. The show was also livestreamed on Mr. West’s YouTube channel. 

The Istanbul performance came after a series of cancellations across Europe. The U.K.’s Home Office blocked Mr. West from entering the country in April, saying his presence would not be “conducive to the public good,” leading to the cancellation of the Wireless Festival, where he had been booked to headline all three nights July 10-12. The booking had already drawn criticism from Jewish groups and politicians, and prompted sponsors Pepsi and Diageo to withdraw. Separately, a Marseille concert stop was scrapped after the city’s mayor refused to allow the venue to serve, in his words, as a showcase for those promoting hatred and Nazism, per Forbes. 

On the same day as the Istanbul show, Italian authorities banned Mr. West and Travis Scott from performing at a July show at the 103,000-seat RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia, citing security concerns following requests from consumer group CODACONS and Jewish communities in Modena and Reggio Emilia. 

Mr. West’s antisemitic conduct dates to 2022 and escalated through 2025, when he released a song titled “Heil Hitler” and sold T-shirts bearing swastikas on his fashion website. He published a full-page apology in the Wall Street Journal in January, writing that he owed “a huge apology once again for everything that I said that hurt the Jewish and Black communities.” He has attributed his past statements to manic episodes caused by untreated bipolar disorder.