Kanye West Draws 30,000 Foreign Visitors, Jakarta Governor Says

Ye drew praise from Jakarta’s governor after the rapper’s October 24 concert brought thousands of foreign visitors to the city.

Governor Pramono Anung estimated that roughly 30,000 foreigners attended the show at Gelora B### Karno Main Stadium, according to Katadata. He put the overall crowd at about 60,000 while speaking October 25 after a church event at GMAHK Taman Harapan.

In remarks translated from Indonesian, Pramono said, “Last night there was a Ye concert. Roughly 60,000 attended, 30,000 of them foreigners. That had never happened before.”

Before the show, promoter Raw Vision Collective had counted 20,500 overseas ticket buyers, giving an earlier look at demand from foreign fans. Karen Tjahja, the promoter’s marketing and communications lead, shared the sales figures at an October 22 press conference, Indonesia Expat reported.

The show had been billed as Ye’s only Southeast Asian stop, giving fans across the region one city to target on his tour. Fans could also buy hotel packages alongside concert tickets when the Jakarta date was announced, with travel part of the pitch from the start.

Fans from Australia bought the most overseas tickets, followed by strong sales to fans in Malaysia and Singapore.

The concert put more than 5,000 Indonesian workers to work, according to promoter figures reported by Katadata.

Pramono also pointed to the Jakarta Running Festival as another big event that brought foreign visitors into the city that same weekend. The October 24-25 race drew 37,000 runners from 48 countries, including more than 1,000 overseas participants, according to Katadata.

City aide Cyril Raoul Hakim said the city wanted the events to help hotels, transport services, food shops and small firms.

Other events that week had squeezed flight bookings, Tjahja said, adding, “we even had to arrange additional charter flights to ensure that the available seating could meet the demand from ticket holders.” MRT Jakarta scheduled extra trains from midnight until 1:30 A.M. on October 25, with services running every 14 minutes after the concert.

Jakarta’s government said 52.8% of first-day ticket purchases came from fans in 73 countries, citing the concert promoter’s early sales figures.