Ye plays 41 songs at a sold-out New Orleans Superdome concert

Ye returned to New Orleans on Saturday, Aug. 28, playing the Caesars Superdome in front of more than 65,000 people. It was his first performance in the city in 13 years, the show sold out, and it ran close to two hours across 41 songs.

The staging put him on top of a globe. He came out around 9 p.m. covered almost entirely in red, in a suit, gloves, boots and matching mask that echoed Shotaro Kaneda from the 1988 animated film Akira, a film he has repeatedly cited as an influence on his videos and stage shows. The set opened with KING and stayed on the catalogue from there.

Father Stretch My Hands Pt. 1, Can't Tell Me Nothing, Black Skinhead, Power, Jesus Walks, All Falls Down, Through the Wire, Gold Digger, Touch the Sky, Stronger and Ghost Town all appeared. The version of Ye who used to stop shows for long monologues did not: he said very little and let the songs run.

Some moments showed how deeply embedded the material is. The Superdome sang Heartless back at him in full, All of the Lights turned into a laser show across the stadium, and when he walked to the keyboard and played the opening note of Runaway himself, the crowd erupted before the beat arrived.

Ty Dolla $ign came out for EVERYBODY, CARNIVAL and Fade, reuniting the Vultures collaborators after a stretch of public distance between them last year, and called Ye "the best artist alive" from the stage. Juvenile, Mannie Fresh, T.I., John Salley and Silkk the Shocker were among those watching.

The show arrived a day after federal agents arrested Milo Yiannopoulos, previously Ye's chief of staff, at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. The Department of Homeland Security said the UK citizen had overstayed his visa and was under a final order of removal after missing an immigration hearing. His presence in the city was believed to be connected to the concert, though that has not been confirmed, and there was no visible sign of it once the show began.

For the promoter it was a landmark too. IKON Presents, which produced the night, says the Superdome show pushed it past one million fans across more than 200 events since 2018. Ye remains one of hip-hop's most divisive figures, with a settled sexual harassment lawsuit from a former assistant among the year's other headlines, and further dates will appear on the tour guide.