Surprise: more than 24 hours after they went on sale, there are still seats left on Wednesday for the Sunday event in Paris by Kanye West, American rap heavyweight escorted by controversies and now called Ye. On the website of its French show producer, more than 780 tickets for the Accor Arena in Bercy had not found a buyer on Wednesday afternoon.
This is not significant for a room whose configuration is around 20,000 seats. But conversely, Beyoncé, last year, or DJ Snake, for 2025, filled the Stade de France (80,000 seats) in a few minutes. Ye is undoubtedly paying for a late announcement – Saturday on its networks – and the price of places, from 90.50 euros (category sold out) to 200.50 euros.
The concept of this Listening Experience, namely “a unique immersive experience in the presence of the artist”, we can read on the Bercy website, and not a concert strictly speaking, may have confused some fans. The event is designed around his latest album Vultures 1, available since February 9, after many postponements. Ranked at the top of the American charts, this record was developed with his compatriot Ty Dolla $ign. With a shower of controversies to boot.
The estate of Donna Summer, a disco star who died in 2012, accuses Ye of having sampled her hit “I feel love” without authorization. The title in question, Good (don’t die), is now deleted from Spotify and cannot be listened to on this platform. Kanye West was also tackled on social networks by Ozzy Osbourne, leader of Black Sabbath, the founding group of metal. The rocker denounces the unauthorized broadcast of a sample of “Iron Man”, one of his emblematic songs, during a promotional event in Chicago at the beginning of February. Ozzy Osbourne explains that he refused this sample to Ye because it is “anti-Semitic”. Kanye West apologized to the Jewish community at the end of December, a year after anti-Semitic remarks which provoked outrage and ended lucrative commercial contracts between big brands like Adidas and the rapper.
Ye says he wants to work on the issue and “learn from this experience to have more sensitivity and understanding in the future.” A statement welcomed with caution by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a major American group fighting anti-Semitism.