Kanye West drew a reported crowd of 118,000 fans to Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium on Saturday, May 30, claiming the show was the largest stadium performance in history.
"I just want to tell y'all, we just broke the record, 118,000, largest stadium performance of all time," West told the audience, according to Türkiye Today, as reported by Billboard.
The show began at 9 p.m. local time and ran through the night. It included DJ sets, laser and light shows, pre- and after-party gatherings, and performances by Turkish artists including Yener Cevik, Mavi, Sena Sener, Pera and Motive. Stadium gates opened at 3 p.m. to manage the crowds, which quickly filled metro platforms and corridors across the city. Travis Scott joined West on stage during the show, and the two recently collaborated on the track "Father" from West's latest album, Bully.
Fans traveled from Russia, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States and Poland to attend. The Istanbul date marked the opening night of West's first European tour in 11 years.
The celebration in Istanbul stood in sharp contrast to events elsewhere in Europe the same day. Italian authorities announced a ban on both West and Scott performing at the 103,000-seat RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia in July. West had been scheduled to headline the Hellwat Festival there on July 18. Scott was set to perform on July 17. According to Variety, Reggio Emilia prefect Salvatore Angieri ordered the cancellations citing security concerns, following calls from the city's Jewish community, anti-fascist resistance groups, trade unions and politicians who had sought West's cancellation since April.
Angieri cited the close timing of the two shows and the large crowd expected within 24 hours, as well as what he described as a "concrete risk" of protests over West, as reasons for the double ban. The Hellwat Festival team announced on social media that they will still try to bring West to Italy on July 18 at a location near Reggio Emilia but under a different jurisdiction.
West has faced a wave of cancelled and blocked shows across Europe. The U.K. government denied him entry in April, ruling his presence "would not be conducive to the public good," which led to the cancellation of his Wireless Festival headline slot. That show had already lost major sponsors including PepsiCo and Diageo. A Marseille show was postponed after French officials attempted to block it. Shows in Poland and Switzerland were also cancelled.
The bans stem from a series of public statements and actions by West that drew widespread condemnation. He has said "I Love Nazis" on social media, sold T-shirts featuring a swastika on his website, and released a song titled "Heil Hitler." In January 2026, he published a full-page apology in the Wall Street Journal, attributing his behavior to manic episodes caused by bipolar disorder.
Despite the bans, West's commercial output remains substantial. His album Bully debuted at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart. His catalogue includes 24 Grammy Awards and 10 Billboard 200 No. 1 albums. His remaining confirmed European tour dates include shows in the Netherlands on June 6 and 8, Tirana, Albania on July 11, Prague on July 25, and shows in Georgia and Spain later in the summer.
Scott's inclusion in the bans drew additional attention given his own history. He headlined the Astroworld festival in Houston in 2021, where 10 people died in a crowd crush.
