Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, Chicago concerts start tonight at Soldier Field
The stage was set and the air was humid as rapper Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, took the stage for the first of two Chicago concerts at Soldier Field Thursday night.
The South Side native last played in the city in 2021, when he held a listening party for his album "Donda" at Soldier Field.
Well before the start of the concert, Ye fans waited in long lines to get his merchandise. The 24-Grammy-winning rapper is touring his 12th album and his fans are pumped he's back at home.
"I've loved Kanye since he started man was at the UIC Center probably 20 years ago," said fan Roberto Castellanos, who was at the concert with his son.
CBS Skywatch flew over Soldier Field before the show, and spotted the moon and Earth base, and a mannequin standing in for the star. West, on this tour, has been known to rap circling the moon, giving his fans an out-of-this-world experience.
"Anybody who takes a lot of pride in Chicago and the music game that comes out of Chicago has a love for him," said Christian Alvarez.
Once hugely popular in his hometown, Ye had his honorary degree from the Art Institute of Chicago stripped and a mural painted over in Fulton Market after a number of antisemitic remarks. In 2025 he released a song called "Heil Hitler," and advertised a swastika t-shirt on his online store. He also made headlines in 2022 for having dinner with white nationalist Nick Fuentes and then-former-president Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Trump was not in office at the time of that dinner.
At the beginning of 2026, Ye apologized for those remarks in a full-page ad in the Wall Street Journal, saying the car accident he famously suffered before and then wrote about in his debut album "The College Dropout" had caused an injury to the right frontal lobe of his brain, leading to his bipolar disorder. He said he wasn't properly diagnosed until 2023.
"I lost touch with reality," Ye says in the ad. "Things got worse the longer I ignored the problem. I said and did things I deeply regret. Some of the people I love the most, I treated the worst."
"It does not excuse what I did, though," the ad continued. "I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people."
In the ad, he also apologized to the Black community, writing, "I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us."
"Regardless of where the artist stands now and his relationship with the Jewish community, the impact is real," said Rebecca Weininger, senior regional director for the Anti-Defamation League.
The Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish advocacy organization that was founded in 1913 to identify and combat antisemitism and has subsequently expanded its work to track and combat hate crimes, hate speech and hate groups targeting other races, religions and ethnicities, is also on-site at Soldier Field Thursday night, working with staff to ensure no hidden hate symbols entered Soldier Field, by the artist or the fans.
Ye's second show will be at Soldier Field Friday. After the Chicago stops, Ye travels to Russia for two shows in October, then a concert in Jakarta, Indonesia, before returning to the U.S. for late October and November shows in Houston, Dallas and Phoenix, Arizona.
