With doors set to open at 5pm, and the concert due to begin at 9pm, the concert marks the US musician’s third performance in Portugal.
US musician Kanye West, who now goes by the name Ye, performs tonight at the Algarve Stadium in Loulé as part of a new international tour promoting his album Bully.
It will be the rapper’s third concert in Portugal, following his debut at the Cool Jazz Fest in Oeiras in 2006, and his return in 2011, when he performed at the Sudoeste festival in Zambujeira do Mar.
According to the promoter, Kanye West has become “an inescapable figure in global music, responsible for redefining the boundaries of hip hop, music production, and pop culture itself”. In March, he released Bully, his 12th studio album.
On Thursday, 6 August, a post on the Instagram page the musician created for his Portugal concert stated that 99% of tickets had been sold. The remaining tickets were priced between €100 and €209.
Organisers also warned that “under-16s must be accompanied by an adult”, with both required to have a valid ticket.
West released his debut album, The College Dropout, in 2004, followed by Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007) and My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (2010), the latter winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.
In 2019, after changing his stage name to Ye, Kanye West released the gospel album Jesus Is King.
However, his career on stage has repeatedly been overshadowed by controversy, including antisemitic messages, comments suggesting that the trade of slaves into North America was a choice of those who were enslaved, and claims that the Covid-19 vaccine was the “mark of the beast”.
In 2022, he announced that he would run in the 2024 US presidential election, and said he had offered Donald Trump the position of vice-president.
Oren Rozenblat, Israel’s ambassador to Portugal, called for the cancellation of the concert at the Algarve Stadium, commenting that the performance is by an artist who has “glorified Hitler and promoted antisemitism”, and as such is “a disgrace” for Portugal.
In a video message posted on social media on Thursday, 6 August, the diplomat said Kanye West had “publicly declared ‘I like Hitler’ and ‘I am a Nazi’, as well as claiming that ‘slavery was a choice’”.
That remark “deeply offended millions of descendants of the victims of slavery”, the ambassador said, adding that “this is not provocation, it is hate speech”.
Portugal should therefore follow the lead of several other countries and prevent the US rapper from performing, he argued, citing Australia, “which revoked his visa”, the UK, “where he was prevented from entering the country”, as well as France, Poland, Switzerland, and Slovakia, where “his concerts were cancelled”.
Rozenblat said he was surprised that someone who “glorifies Hitler, promotes Nazism, and advocates antisemitism” could be given a stage at a stadium “which belongs to the municipalities of Faro and Loulé and, therefore, to their citizens”.
This, he stressed, should be “a red line in a democratic society”.
The Israeli ambassador also stressed that the issue had nothing to do with Israeli politics, but rather with Portuguese people supporting an artist who promotes discrimination.
“No one is obliged to agree with Israel. That is not the issue,” he said, asking whether those planning to attend the concert would do so if the artist in question promoted hatred against black people, Muslims, Christians, or LGBT people.
“If the answer is no, why should it be any different when the target is Jewish people?” he argued.
The Israeli diplomat also said he had spoken directly to the Mayor of Faro, asking him either to cancel the event or to appeal to Faro residents not to attend.
“I sincerely hope that Portugal chooses to be on the right side of History. And cancels this concert. If this concert goes ahead, it is a disgrace for Portugal, for the Portuguese people, for the people of the Algarve and for everyone who attends this concert,” he concluded.
In January this year, Mr West published an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal in which he apologised for behaviour he regrets and said had “destroyed my life”. He also recalled that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, which he said had caused him to “lose touch with reality”.
“Things kept getting worse the more I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love most were the people I treated the worst. They endured fear, confusion, humiliation, and the exhaustion of trying to reach someone who was, at times, unrecognisable,” he said.
Kanye West has previously had concerts cancelled or postponed in Poland, France, the UK, and Switzerland. In July, a concert by West and another by rapper Travis Scott were cancelled in Italy, with security concerns cited as the reason.
In April, the British government banned the musician from entering the UK over his prior antisemitic statements, leading to the cancellation of the Wireless Festival, where he had been due to perform.
The European Jewish Congress (EJC) also issued a statement in June, arguing that Kanye West’s concert in Portugal ought to be cancelled, and that this was necessary “to ensure that antisemitism, the glorification of Nazism, and hatred are not rewarded with public platforms, legitimacy, or support”.
Source: LUSA
Photo credit: Muhammed Ali Yigit/Anadolu via Getty Images
