Kanye West reportedly pulled a massive crowd of 118,000 fans to Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium on Saturday, with the rapper boldly declaring on stage that the event had broken the record for the largest stadium performance of all time.
The show, which kicked off at 9 p.m. local time, evolved into an all-night festival experience complete with DJ sets, laser and light shows, pre- and after-party gatherings, and performances from Turkish artists including Yener Cevik, Mavi, Sena Sener, Pera and Motive.
Travis Scott also joined West on stage during the night. Fans travelled from across the globe to attend, with attendees coming from Russia, Kazakhstan, the UK, Germany, the US and Poland.
Organisers opened the stadium gates as early as 3 p.m. to manage the sheer volume of arrivals, with metro platforms and corridors across the city filling up well before showtime.
The Istanbul concert marked the opening night of West’s first European tour in 11 years — and came amid a wave of bans and cancellations across the continent.
The UK government denied him entry in April, ruling his presence was not in the public interest, which led to the scrapping of his Wireless Festival headline slot and the withdrawal of major sponsors including PepsiCo and Diageo. Shows in France, Poland and Switzerland were also cancelled or postponed.
On the same day as the Istanbul show, Italian authorities banned West and Travis Scott from a planned July performance, citing security concerns raised by consumer groups and Jewish communities in the region.
