Published on
The Portugal concert went ahead despite pressure for it to be cancelled, as has happened with his tours in other countries. Australia even refused the US rapper a visa. The same happened in the United Kingdom. Other European countries, including France, Poland, Italy and Czechia, cancelled West’s tour, also known as Ye.
In Portugal, the Israeli ambassador was arguably the loudest public voice calling for the rapper’s concert to be cancelled, but that did not happen. The show at the Algarve Stadium took place on Friday and, according to reports in various media outlets (source in Portuguese) and on social networks, everything went smoothly.
Winner of 24 Grammys (source in Portuguese), Kanye West is one of the most decorated Grammy artists in history, alongside Jay-Z, the most awarded hip-hop artist. West took to the stage at the Algarve Stadium 45 minutes after the scheduled start time.
Standing on top of a giant globe placed on the pitch, Ye performed well-known tracks such as “Stronger”, “Gold Digger”, “American Boy” and “I Can’t Wait”, invited his daughter, North West, up for a duet and did not make any controversial remarks or speeches, as he has done in recent years.
This was the third time the US rapper has performed in Portugal. His debut came in 2006 at Cool Jazz in Oeiras, followed by a show in 2011 at the Sudoeste Festival in Zambujeira do Mar.
Kanye West’s international tour, organised to promote his 12th album, “Bully”, has been mired in controversy, largely because of the antisemitic hate speech he has employed in the past and his declarations of support for Nazism.
“Someone who glorified Hitler, promoted antisemitism and claimed that slavery was a choice – a phrase that deeply offended millions of descendants of slavery victims. This is not provocation, it is hate speech”, said the Israeli ambassador in Lisbon, Oren Rozenblat, when he took to social media to call for the concert to be cancelled, arguing that such a show would be “a shame for Portugal and for the Portuguese”.
In a full-page notice in the Wall Street Journal (source in Portuguese), the rapper sought to make amends by apologising for his past antisemitic comments. West described his behaviour as “a four-month manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour” and said that he had “lost touch with reality”.
The Algarve concert was never the subject of social or media outrage in Portugal. The organiser of the event in Portugal told Euronews it was “a non-issue”, driven by “misinformation”, even suggesting it was being turned “into a political issue” when it should not be. “It is a music event that is going to take place”, said the CEO and co-founder of Raya Culture in April. “It would become a [political] issue if the authorities were to identify a national threat to public order, which is not the case”, he reiterated.
But Kanye’s stance is not limited to antisemitism and hate speech.
The US rapper has shared, on social media and at public events, episodes involving his wife, Bianca Censori, widely deemed degrading and sexist.
Among his many controversies, Kanye “Ye” West has been at the centre of several recent legal proceedings, including complaints from former employees accusing him of abuse, as well as a lawsuit filed by a former assistant accusing him of sexual assault, in which she alleges he strangled a model on the set of a music video in 2010.
After the concert in the Algarve, Kanye West is due to perform in Kazakhstan, at Almaty’s Central Stadium (14 August), before returning to the United States for two shows. The first is in New Orleans on 28 August, followed by Chicago on 3 September 2026.