Earlier this month, Ye (the artist formerly known as Kanye West) played two dates at Los Angeles’ SoFi Stadium on April 1 and 3 that grossed an eye-opening $32.6 million across 149,000 tickets sold, according to Billboard Boxscore. In the aftermath, the rapper, who had been in somewhat of an industry exile for years over his history of antisemitic statements, seemed on the verge of a live comeback — with Wireless Fest announcing on March 31 the rapper would headline all three nights of the event’s three-days.
Then the blowback began.
Just days after Ye played the final of the two SoFi dates — his first U.S. shows since the Free Larry Hoover benefit concert with Drake on Dec. 9, 2021 — sponsors of June’s Wireless Festival in the U.K., where he was scheduled to headline all three nights, began pulling out following widespread public backlash to the booking. Following this, the British government announced it had denied the rapper a visa to enter the country, and the festival decided to cancel — leaving fans and the industry wondering what it all meant for the future of the once-untouchable star’s touring career.
Billboard reached out to several industry professionals to get their perspective on Ye’s touring prospects moving forward. While the vast majority either didn’t respond or declined to comment on the record, those who spoke with Billboard prior to the Wireless Festival fallout said the SoFi dates’ $32.6 million gross meant a larger tour could absolutely be on the table. Following the Wireless cancellation, some began to reconsider that stance.
“It’s still raw to a lot of people,” Jarred Arfa, executive vp and head of global music at Independent Artist Group (IAG), told Billboard after Wireless Festival canceled — arguing that while fan demand is clearly there, the entities needed to get a full-scale tour off the ground may need more time. “If he had tried to do this next year in London, and it had been two years with no incident, I think people are more forgiving over time.
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“I think it might be a little too quick for him,” Arfa continues. “What did he have, ‘Heil Hitler’ out a year ago? You need a little time for people to forget that. Not the fans — the fans are there. But the authorities, the venues, the business side of it.”
Though Ye played several concerts in other countries starting last summer — including shows in Shanghai, Seoul and Mexico City — the beginning of his attempt at a full-fledged U.S. comeback came in January, when he took out a full-page advertisement in The Wall Street Journal to apologize for his past actions. He attributed his behavior to a 2002 car accident and revealed he’s been diagnosed with bipolar type-1 disorder. The letter came ahead of his most recent album, Bully, which arrived on March 28 and hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200.
On March 9, Ye announced the first of his two SoFi Stadium shows, which were presented by Rod Wave’s Live Nation-backed promotion company, Mainstay Touring. Also involved in the production was Christian Rainwater of Creatable Inflatables, which helped build the stage design for his SoFi shows, including the large inflatable globe on which Ye walked during the concert. (When reached for comment, SoFi Stadium directed Billboard to contact Live Nation, which did not respond to a request for comment.)
While Rainwater admits he had several hesitations when taking on the project — including Ye’s reputation for perfection and a fear that his company would not be able to complete the project, which would normally take several months, on time — none were due to Ye’s controversies.
“Because of this [project], he definitely helped 60 of my employees [who worked on it], if that makes any sense,” Rainwater says. “I’ve got to look out for my people, and that’s what we did. It definitely helped us a lot.”
Marcie Allen, co-owner of Nashville venue and record label Anzie Blue, said that while she “personally… cannot support an artist whose creativity has allowed hate towards women and the Jewish community to enter the chat alarmingly,” Ye’s huge L.A. concert grosses mean that many others likely will.
“Even if brands no longer sponsor his career or the events he is involved in, Kanye will still be successful — his revenue at SoFi Stadium proves me right,” Allen says. “If brands cannot resist the appeal of that achievement, they must understand that choosing to do business with hate will have consequences.”
The fact that Ye is able to rake in such high grosses is what drove many sources to admit that they, too, could see more people agreeing to work with him. While Wireless Festival ultimately canceled, it wasn’t due to the reservation of festival organizers, but to the revocation of Ye’s visa. Even after sponsors began pulling out, Marty Benn — managing director of Wireless Festival parent Festival Republic — rushed to the star’s defense. “Forgiveness and giving people a second chance are becoming a lost virtue in this ever-increasing divisive world and I would ask people to reflect on their instant comments of disgust at the likelihood of him performing (as was mine) and offer some forgiveness and hope to him as I have decided to do,” Benn wrote in a statement at the time.
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Benn is far from the only one who’s given Ye the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. Though the rapper’s Wireless Festival gig is no more, he has several European dates remaining on the calendar, including shows in Istanbul (May 30); Arnehm, Netherlands (June 6); Reggio Emilia, Italy (July 18); Madrid (July 30) and Algarve, Portugal (Aug. 7). But just as with the London shows, the governments of the countries he’s playing could have the final say; an insider close to the French interior minister Laurent Nuñez told AFP that the politician was looking to ban Ye so he would not be able to take the stage at his concert scheduled for June 11 at Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome. In response, Ye postponed the date.
“I know it takes time to understand the sincerity of my commitment to make amends,” Ye wrote on X. “I take full responsibility for what’s mine but I don’t want to put my fans in the middle of it. My fans are everything to me. Looking forward to the next shows.”
Beyond that, several sources who spoke with Billboard said a pop-up model — which is essentially the route he took for the SoFi dates — could still be viable for Ye if enough promoters and venues are willing to look past the controversy and work with him. As Arfa puts it, Ye’s ardent fans seem unlikely to turn their backs on him — as long as he continues delivering the goods in concert.
“Who knows what’s going to happen?” Arfa says. “He’s showing up, he’s playing his greatest hits. I think if he does more of that, it’ll only encourage fan confidence… there’s no shortage of demand. There are some who will not be able to separate the art from the artist, but I think there’s enough fans who don’t care. He kind of has a Trump-like effect, where people will support him no matter what he does.”
