Wireless Festival 2026: Kanye West confirmed headliner for all three nights after decade away from UK

He has not performed in the UK for more than a decade but controversial rapper Kanye West is making an explosive comeback headlining all three nights of Wireless Festival 2026. The news comes after the 48-year-old - now known as Ye - apologised for previous comments about Nazis.

Repeating Drake’s triple appearance at London’s flagship rap weekender last year, Ye will top the bill for all three back-to-back nights of the weekend in July. Billed as “a three-night journey through Ye’s most iconic records”, the residency promises to span everything from 2004’s The College Dropout through to this year’s Bully.

He last performed in the UK in 2015, headlining Glastonbury Festival 2015, during which he performed fan favourites such as Power, Stronger and Black Skinhead – which had to be stopped because of a stage invader – and a shortened cover of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

There is sure to be a mixed response to the news but the announcement will certainly generate attention for the festival and gives the singer an opportunity to reconnect with his UK audience. In January Ye took out an advert in US newspaper The Wall Street Journal to apologise for a number of statements about Nazis, Adolf Hitler and Jews, in which he said he was not asking for “sympathy or a free pass” and wanted to earn forgiveness from the public.

He also apologised to the black community, saying he had let them down, and added that a car crash 25 years ago led to him being diagnosed as bipolar. He said: “In that fractured state (of his bipolar diagnosis), I gravitated toward the most destructive symbol I could find, the swastika, and even sold T-shirts bearing it.

“One of the difficult aspects of having bipolar type-1 are the disconnected moments, many of which I still cannot recall, that lead to poor judgment and reckless behaviour that (often) feels like an out-of-body experience. I regret and am deeply mortified by my actions in that state, and am committed to accountability, treatment, and meaningful change. It does not excuse what I did, though. I am not a Nazi or an antisemite. I love Jewish people.

“To the black community, which held me down through all of the highs and lows and the darkest of times. The black community is, unquestionably, the foundation of who I am. I am so sorry to have let you down. I love us. In early 2025, I fell into a four-month long manic episode of psychotic, paranoid and impulsive behaviour that destroyed my life. As the situation became increasingly unsustainable, there were times I didn’t want to be here any more.”

In May last year, Ye released a single titled Heil Hitler, and was criticised for posting tweets of an antisemitic nature and describing slavery as “a choice”. Adidas, which produced his Yeezy trainers, severed its ties with the Power rapper in 2022, and donated more than 150 million dollars (£117 million) to anti-hate groups.

Ye has had three UK number one singles and three UK number one albums and is best known for songs including Black Skinhead, Gold Digger and Stronger.

Wireless 2026 tickets: How to register for presale

Pepsi Max presents Wireless festival returns to London’s Finsbury Park between July 10-12. Fans can visit the Ticketmaster website to register for the presale, which starts at 12pm on Tuesday, April 7.