Kanye West is aiming to tour Australia this year, according to a new report, but a clash with the Australian Football League (AFL) is said to have disrupted his plans for a concert at a stadium in Melbourne.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, West – now legally known as Ye – had planned to perform at Melbourne’s Marvel Stadium on March 21 as part of the tour.
However, an opening fixture between the St Kilda and Collingwood AFL teams is scheduled for March 18, with the gap between those dates not providing adequate time for West’s production crew to bump in for the show.
The newspaper reports that “two sources with knowledge of [West’s] plans for an Australian tour” said West’s tour promoters, TEG, approached the AFL, who own Marvel Stadium, asking them to move the match to another venue. The Herald points out the likely alternative venue would have been the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The AFL reportedly declined the request. The Herald’s sources claim the rapper will now perform at the venue before the AFL season starts, “most likely” the weekend beginning March 12.
When contacted by NME, the AFL had no comment. NME has also reached out to representatives for West and TEG.
The arena, in Melbourne’s Docklands area, has been named Marvel Stadium since 2018, after a negotiation between its operators and the Walt Disney Company. Taylor Swift performed at the venue in 2018 as part of her Australian tour, while U2 performed there the following year.
West last performed in Australia in 2014 as part of his ‘Yeezus’ tour. On that run, he performed at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena.
Last August, some venues in Australia were listed as locations for global ‘Donda Super Room’ events to launch the rapper’s latest album ‘DONDA’, causing confusion as some venues were in Australian cities that were under strict coronavirus lockdowns at the time and could not have legally held those events. Two of those locations, Arts Centre Melbourne and Adelaide’s Botanic Gardens, told NME that they had not actually been approached by West for ‘DONDA’ events.
Four songs from ‘DONDA’ ranked in the triple j Hottest 100 of 2021 countdown, the annual listener’s poll organised by Australian youth broadcaster triple j. ‘Hurricane’ came in at #44, followed by ‘Jail’ at #50, ‘Praise God’ at #82 and ‘Moon’ at #97.
Yesterday (January 27), West announced he would release new album ‘DONDA 2’ next month, also revealing it was executive produced by Future. The album is slated to arrive on February 22.
The post Kanye West plans to tour Australia in 2022, but had Melbourne stadium show date foiled by football match, says report appeared first on NME.
