The Pulse of Gaia Festival, formerly Hellwatt, loses its main protagonist. The Prefecture of Reggio Emilia has banned “for reasons of public order and safety” the Kanye West concert scheduled for Saturday 18 July. With the same press release, the Prefecture also banned the Travis Scott concert which had not yet been confirmed, nor canceled after the name change of the festival and had initially been announced for July 17, when the festival was still called Hellwatt.
«The Prefect of Reggio Emilia, Salvatore Angieri, following the requests presented by Codacons and the Jewish Community of Modena and Reggio Emilia, which expressed concerns regarding the concert by rapper Kanye West scheduled for 18 July at the RCF Arena in Reggio Emilia as part of the Pulse of Gaia Festival, has called a meeting of the Provincial Committee for public order and safety on 25 May 2026», reads the press release from the Prefecture.
«The meeting was dedicated to examining the public order and safety profiles connected to the American artist's concert and the Travis Scott event, also scheduled at the RCF Arena. Based on the assessments that emerged during the Committee and further in-depth investigations relating to the aspects of safety And securitythe Prefect has adopted a provision pursuant to art. 2 of the TULPS, banning both concerts”.
The second article of the Consolidated Law on Public Security Laws cited in the press release provides that in the case of urgency or serious public necessity, the Prefect has the power to adopt the indispensable measures for the protection of public order and public safety.
«The decision concerns two events scheduled on consecutive dates at the RCF Arena, a structure with a capacity of approximately 103,000 spectators, and was taken for the needs of protecting public order and safety, taking into account the close temporal connection between the events and the high influx of public expected within 24 hours. Furthermore, the cancellation of previous concerts by the American rapper in other countries and the concrete risk of counter-demonstrations took on importance in the overall assessment.”
The meeting was attended by the Mayor of Reggio Emilia, the President of the Province, the Police Commissioner, the provincial Commander of the Carabinieri, the provincial Commander of the Guardia di Finanza, the Deputy Provincial Commander of the Fire Brigade, the Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia, the Deputy Commander of the Local Police of Reggio Emilia, the President of the C.Volo SpA Company and the President of the Coopservice SpA Company
