Travis Scott performed his newest album UTOPIA for the first time on Monday night at Rome’s historic Circus Maximus – the city’s largest chariot racing track from ancient times.
The majority of the performance centered around the rapper’s new album, with occasional interruptions by some of his most popular songs and even a surprise appearance by Kanye West.
“There has been only one human being on this motherfuckin’ planet that has walked side by side with me through anything and everything,” Scott said as he introduced West to the crowd, who has not performed live since Feb. of last year.
The two rappers performed Praise God from West’s 2021 album Donda and Can’t Tell Me Nothing from Ye’s legendary album Graduation.
“There is no UTOPIA without Kanye West. There is no Travis Scott without Kanye West,” Scott said. “There is no Rome without Kanye West. Make some noise for Ye.”
Scott originally planned to perform this debut UTOPIA concert at the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt on Jul. 28, but the Egyptian Musicians Syndicate revoked his license due to “contradicting” values.
“After examining social media opinions and feedback, as well as the news circulating on search engines and social media platforms, which included authenticated images and information about peculiar rituals performed by the star during his performance, contradicting our authentic societal values and traditions,” Dr. Mohamed Abdullah, a representative of the syndicate said according to many outlets. “The Syndicate’s president and board of directors have decided to cancel the license issued for hosting this type of concert, which goes against the cultural identity of the Egyptian people.”
LiveNation issued refunds and cited “complex production issues” as the reason why they canceled the concert.
This won’t stop the Houston rapper though, who recently announced a UTOPIA tour with concerts in the U.S. and Europe. It’s been over a week since Scott dropped UTOPIA. Is the album still in your rotation?