Kanye West’s St. Petersburg concerts set to be canceled UPDATED

Kanye West’s planned concerts in St. Petersburg will not take place, Dmitry Kiselyov, director general of the Rossiya Segodnya media group, said on Thursday, September 24.

“[There] will be no Kanye West concert in St. Petersburg,” Kiselyov said, according to Russian media reports.

The fate of the rapper’s planned performances had remained uncertain since August, when a dispute emerged over arrangements for the shows at Gazprom Arena. The venue said it had not signed a lease agreement for the concerts, while Say Agency, the event organiser, maintained that preparations were continuing.

The concerts had originally been announced for October 10 and 11. The uncertainty deepened after the dates disappeared from West’s official tour schedule in September. Say Agency had continued to maintain that the performances were being prepared despite the absence of the dates from the rapper’s schedule.

Say Agency had also said that ticket holders would receive full refunds if the concerts were ultimately cancelled.

The latest announcement follows weeks of conflicting statements over whether the shows would go ahead. As recently as Thursday morning, Russian media reported that a partner of West’s touring operation had said the October 10 and 11 performances remained scheduled, underscoring the uncertainty surrounding the event.

The dispute began after Gazprom Arena said it was not the organiser of the event and had not concluded a contract to lease the stadium for West’s performances. The promoter, meanwhile, had said the concerts had not been cancelled.

13:40

US agency Access Opera, a partner of Kanye West’s concert tour, has confirmed that the rapper is scheduled to perform in St. Petersburg, Russia, a representative of the agency told TV channel 78.ru on September 24.

“The show is still in effect for October 10th and 11th,” he said.

The TV channel also reported that the poster for the upcoming concert had once again appeared on the website of the event’s organiser, Say Agency.

The confirmation comes amid uncertainty over the concerts, after Gazprom Arena, the St. Petersburg venue where the shows were planned to take place, stated in late August 2026 that Kanye West’s October 10-11 performances could not be held there because no rental agreement had been signed with the promoters, despite earlier promotional posts by the stadium.

By Jeyhun Aghazada