How Access Opera’s John Burton Kickstarted Ye’s Touring Comeback: ‘He’s Like the Michael Jordan of This Thing’
Categoria: Musica
Yeezy will hit the Atatürk Olympic Stadium stage in Istanbul on May 30, which is expected to be the largest concert of his career with over 100,000 fans in attendance.
Por Billboard | 30/05/2026
Looking outside his Istanbul hotel room, all John Burton has seen is yachts, submarines and oil tankers cruising off the Sea of Marmara’s coast. After getting Ye (formerly Kanye West ) back on the road in January to kick off his comeback with a pair of sold-out Mexico City shows in front of 80,000 fans at Monumental Plaza de Toros — his first concerts in Mexico in nearly two decades — Burton has West on the brink of performing the largest show of his career on May 30 at Istanbul’s Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Turkey. Related What’s the Future of Ye’s Touring Career? Is It Too Late for Ye’s Genius to Save Him From Himself? Ye’s Poland Show Canceled After Culture Minister Condemns Rapper: ‘We Cannot Pretend This Is Just Entertainment’ As of our Memorial Day interview, Burton estimates that 90,000 tickets have been sold and he expects to cruise past the six-figure mark to about 120,000 tickets, which he’s billed as the “Road to 100K” campaign. “I was like, ‘We got something, let’s continue to do this around the world,'” he recalls after seeing the success of Ye’s Mexico City’s shows. Burton, 43, launched Access Opera in 2017 as a production and management company for opera singers, who he refers to as “athletes of the voice” and classical events. He now serves as Ye’s agent handling overseas touring, independently booking his Mexico City and Turkey shows as well as a handful of upcoming European dates this summer. “The Road to 100k is a way bigger statement than just the capacity,” Burton adds. “It opens up a lot of opportunity for independent promoters that necessarily wouldn’t have access to an artist like this.” Like Ye, Burton’s a Southside of Chicago native and has been in the G.O.O.D. Music ethos since a teenager while growing up a super fan of Roc-A-Fella. He worked for longtime Ye affiliate and streetwear designer Don C, served as the executive assistant to John Monopoly, who’s held lengthy stints as West’s manager and then got his own management chops as Consequence’s road manager for multiple tours in the 2000s. Burton reconnected with Yeezy in 2019 after seeing him at a party where West asked him to come produce his upcoming operas after hearing about his business venture. Burton would helm operations for Nebuchadnezzar and Mary later that year, while also running point on the children’s choir for Ye’s Donda school. Courtesy photo By 2024, Burton relocated to Bangkok with his wife and the couple welcomed their first child. On a whim, Burton picked up the phone and called Ye with hopes of him being open to touring Asia in a market he saw oozing with potential opportunities. “I called Ye and said, ‘Do you want to tour?'” he recalls. West had already performed in Seoul and Shanghai in 2024 and 2025. Burton envisioned plotting something similar to Michael Jackson