Ye – formerly known as Kanye West – and Ty Dolla $ign have nixed Vultures listening parties that were slated to be staged in multiple U.S. arenas later this month, Billboard can confirm.
The listening parties were dubbed “Vultures 1 & 2 Listening Experience,” but notably, the Vultures 2 album, which was originally announced for release on March 8, about one month after the release of Vultures 1, still hasn’t materialized.
There’s still no word or sign of a Vultures 2 release, and, now, those listening parties have gone quiet. A spokesperson for Ye tells Billboard those playbacks will no longer go ahead, but is confident new replacement dates will be announced shortly. No explanation has been given for the change of plan.
At the time of writing, Kanye and Ty are still holding a listening party at the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt on April 21, with tickets on sale here.
The listening sessions were quietly announced, and largely overlooked by the mainstream media.
Evidence of those shows can spotted, however, at Ticketmaster which hosts a page for the Washington D.C. “experience,” with a broken link.
A statement from Amelie Arena in Tampa, FL reads, “We regret to report that due to the time constraints for Ye and Ty Dolla $ign to curate production and meet logistic requirements, the upcoming dates for the VULTURES 1&2 listening experience will need to be revisited at a later date.” Amelie Arena was scheduled to host the playback on April 14.
Variety’s Chris Willman was first to report the canceled U.S. playbacks, which were also penciled-in for venues in Fort Lauderdale, FL; Pittsburgh, PA Nashville, TN; and Charlotte, NC.
The delayed Vultures 1 project enjoyed a fast start around the globe when it finally dropped, including a back-to-back stint at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in February, for Ye’s eighth consecutive No. 1 album dating all the way back to 2005’s Late Registration.
That two-week stint at the summit for Vultures 1 marked the first time West held the top spot for more than a week since 2011’s collaborative album with Jay-Z, Watch The Throne. The latest LP also topped Australia’s ARIA Albums Chart and opened at No. 2 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart.
A handful of listening parties built the buzz for Vultures 1, and the hip-hop pair would appear on stage at Rolling Loud California on March 14, for a performance that divided audiences as either a spectacle of high-art or next-level trolling.
