St. Petersburg stadium keeps stalling on Kanye West concert decision

The Gazprom Arena stadium in St. Petersburg says it remains in discussions with organizers of concerts by rapper Kanye West, also known as Ye, though no formal rental agreement has been signed, according to statements the venue's press service gave to the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Novosti and the outlet Bumaga.

On August 24, Gazprom Arena representatives said they had not signed any agreement to rent the stadium for the rapper's shows, meaning the event would not go ahead. Since then, however, the venue has told reporters that "the only thing is that the dates will most likely be pushed back."

Conflicting signals

The press service said it could not provide even tentative new dates, but that any delay being considered would be no more than six to nine days. It also urged fans "not to worry."

A separate source at Gazprom Arena, however, told the St. Petersburg outlet Fontanka that no talks about rescheduling were underway at all, and that the venue's position remained unchanged: the concerts cannot proceed without a signed rental agreement.

West had originally been expected to perform at Gazprom Arena on October 10 and 11. Organizers said more than 100,000 tickets had been sold for the shows. Both Gazprom Arena and the soccer club Zenit had previously announced the concerts on their social media accounts.

St. Petersburg news outlets reported on August 24 that the concerts had never been approved by authorities and were canceled following what was described as "a call from above" originating in Moscow.