Ye is heading to Albania for a massive concert this summer after getting blocked from performing across most of Europe, and the setup is absolutely wild.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced on Facebook that the controversial rapper will perform in Tirana on July 11, 2026, marking one of his only European dates still standing after a string of cancellations.
The catch? They’re literally building him a brand new stadium called Eagle Stadium with a 60,000-person capacity just to house the show along the Tirana-Durres corridor.
The concert will be self-financed through ticket sales, with presale beginning May 5, 2026.
According to reporting from Balkan Insight, the Albanian government is positioning this as an economic opportunity, with the Ministry of Culture claiming the concert will have “an extraordinary impact on the promotion of tourism and the local economy.”
But not everyone’s happy about it. Human rights activist Sidorela Vatnikaj told reporters that hosting the concert “legitimizes an individual who has often used his popularity to justify and glorify Nazism.”
Isa Myzyraj, head of the Association of Journalists of Albania, called the decision incomprehensible, pointing out that Rama gave a speech supporting Israel at the Knesset just months earlier.
This move comes after Ye faced bans and cancellations everywhere else.
The UK blocked him from entering the country over antisemitic comments and his song “Heil Hitler.” Poland canceled his Chorzow show, Switzerland’s FC Basel pulled the plug, France scrapped his date, and Australia banned him from entry in 2025.
Meanwhile, he’s still got other European dates lined up in Portugal (August 7), Italy, the Netherlands (June 6), Turkey (May 30), and India (May 23), though whether those actually happen remains to be seen.
The contradiction is hard to ignore when you’re promoting someone who’s been widely criticized for pro-Nazi rhetoric.
Ye has tried to address the controversy before. He blamed his bipolar disorder for the antisemitic statements and took out a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal declaring “I am not a Nazi or an antisemite.”
The Albanian government’s decision to move forward with the concert despite international pressure shows just how isolated Ye’s touring options have become.