Kanye West is taking Donda, his 10th studio album named after his late mother, back to the beginning by hosting a third listening event in Chicago.
The rapper announced on Instagram Wednesday (Aug. 18) that he will host the third of a series of listening events dedicated to his latest, still-unreleased body of work at Soldier Field stadium near the South Side of Chicago on Aug. 26. According to his post, the show will begin at 10 p.m. ET, and tickets will go on sale on Aug. 20 at 1 p.m. ET.
The last two events, a Donda listening event on July 22 and a subsequent Donda release event on Aug. 5, were both held at Atlanta’s Mercedes Benz Stadium, where he was living as he completed work on the album.
Similar to the Atlanta Donda events, Jonathan Josell will be producing the show with involvement from Balenciaga creative director Demna Gvasalia, West’s confidant Ameer Sudan tells Billboard. West’s personal videographer, Nico Ballesteros, will also be filming the live event, which will again be livestreamed on Apple Music.
The Chicago production will be grander than the previous Donda events, says Sudan: “Expect a more detailed show on a whole other level.”
West’s most recent Donda event earlier in August churned out astonishing stats, ranging from four vaccines that were distributed to the 40,000 fans in attendance to 5.4 million viewers on the Apple Music livestream (a record on the platform) to $7 million made in in-person merchandise sales. His streams have also surged significantly following both Donda events (albeit without the actual new album out): On July 23, West posted 16 million total on-demand streams (including both his solo work and working alongside Jay-Z as the Throne), according to MRC Data. And on Aug. 6, his streams reached 13.6 million, up 31% from the 10.4 million he posted the Friday before.
While Yeezy fans have clamored on the internet over superstar collaborations he’s cooked up with Jay-Z, The Weeknd and Lil Baby, Roddy Ricch, Baby Keem, Lil Durk and many more artists, the album has not been given an updated release date. Donda was slated to arrive the Fridays after both Thursday listening events but — to many people’s dismay — never materialized on streaming services.
See ‘Ye’s latest Donda flyer below.
