The Anyma Istanbul show scheduled for Saturday 12 September will not go ahead. The İstanbul Governor’s Office withdrew permission for the ÆDEN world tour stop at Ataköy Marina Arena after a social media campaign accused the production of using imagery tied to satanic ritual. Turkish Minute and Türkiye Today both reported the decision on 3 September, and DJ Mag followed on 4 September. It is a rare case of a government body pulling one of the largest touring productions in electronic music purely over what appears on its screens.
What the İstanbul Governor’s Office decided
The sequence is straightforward. Clips from the ÆDEN tour circulated on X, campaigners described the figures and symbols in the show as references to satanic ritual, and calls to scrap the concert built quickly enough to reach local officials. Turkish media then reported that the governorate had declined to let the event proceed.
No detailed public statement has been published explaining the reasoning in full. The nearest thing to official confirmation came through Teyit, the Turkish fact checking organisation, which obtained a comment from Provincial Press and Public Relations Director Emin Gökçegözoğlu confirming that the show was cancelled over alleged “satanic elements”. Turkish Minute noted that the satanic characterisation has appeared mainly in social media posts and in coverage of the cancellation, rather than as an independently established description of the production.
Why the Anyma Istanbul ban matters now
Matteo Milleri is not a fringe booking. As one half of Tale of Us and co founder of Afterlife, he built the melodic techno template that a decade of festival stages now runs on, and his solo project has since scaled into arena and stadium territory, complete with a dedicated Sphere Las Vegas page on his own website. When a production at that level loses a permit days before doors, the cost is not only the ticket revenue. Freight, crew, local staffing and venue holds are all committed long in advance.
The wider signal is about routing. Touring shows built on dark, cinematic visual concepts now carry a market risk that has nothing to do with demand: a permit can be revoked after a campaign that no promoter can price in. Istanbul is a large, hungry market for electronic music, and losing a marquee date there for reasons unrelated to sales changes how agents plan the region.
The ÆDEN show at the centre of the claims
ÆDEN is Anyma’s newest audiovisual production. His own site says it debuted during his headline performance at Coachella this year and describes it as a show that combines music, visual design and technology to push past the format of a standard concert. The Istanbul listing framed the seaside setting at Ataköy Marina Arena as part of the appeal.
The visual language is the point of the project, and it is also the thing under attack. The production leans on digital animation, humanoid and robotic figures and a cold, futurist palette. Those elements were read by critics online as ritualistic symbolism. Anyone who saw the show in Ibiza this summer will recognise the aesthetic: we spent a night inside ÆDEN at his [UNVRS] residency and found a science fiction narrative rather than an occult one.
A pattern of concert bans in Turkey
This is not an isolated decision. In February the Beşiktaş District Governor’s Office cancelled performances by Russian band Slaughter to Prevail and Polish band Behemoth at the Zorlu Performing Arts Center, saying the shows were incompatible with “our societal values”, and also banned other ticketed events across the venue complex for two days. Days later the Irish instrumental group God Is An Astronaut had a concert cancelled hours before it was due to start, with guitarist Torsten Kinsella saying the band was “deeply disappointed” and had been “fully prepared for the show”.
Turkish Minute traced the pattern back further. In May 2022 the Eskişehir Governor’s Office imposed a fifteen day ban on outdoor events that forced the cancellation of Anadolu Fest. In August 2022 the Burhaniye District Governor’s Office refused permission for the Zeytinli Rock Festival. Two concerts by Iranian musician Mohsen Namjoo were cancelled the same year after conservative groups campaigned against his tour. In 2025 İstanbul officials cancelled shows by Enrico Macias and Robbie Williams, citing concerns about protests and public safety. The stated grounds vary. The outcome does not.
What is still unconfirmed
Several important pieces of this story remain open, and the reporting does not fully agree.
- Neither Anyma nor his management has commented publicly on the cancellation.
- As of Saturday, the official ÆDEN tour page still listed 12 September Istanbul with a live ticket link to the Passo platform. DJ Mag reported that on 3 September the platform was still telling callers the show was going ahead.
- There is no confirmed refund process for ticket holders.
- Your EDM reported that a two day ban on all events was placed on Ataköy Marina Arena after the Anyma decision. Turkish outlets attribute a two day venue ban to the Zorlu complex in February instead. No published document settles which is correct.
- Outlets also disagree on Milleri’s nationality, describing him variously as Italian, Italian American and Italian Argentine. He was born in New York and grew up in Italy.
What happens next for the ÆDEN tour
The rest of the routing is intact. Anyma’s [UNVRS] residency in Ibiza runs through 15 September, and the tour continues immediately after:
- 19 September, Milan
- 26 September, Madrid
- 17 October, Sydney
- 31 October, Athens
- 21 November, Mumbai
- 4 December, Abu Dhabi
- 12 December, Paris
- 31 December, Santiago de Chile
The Abu Dhabi booking is worth noting. The same production that lost its permit in Istanbul is scheduled to play a Gulf capital ten weeks later, which suggests the objection was local and campaign driven rather than regional. Full dates are listed on the official ÆDEN world tour page.
Frequently asked questions
Why was the Anyma Istanbul concert cancelled?
The İstanbul Governor’s Office withdrew permission after a social media campaign claimed the ÆDEN production contained visuals linked to satanic ritual. Officials have not published a detailed statement, though a comment obtained by the fact checking organisation Teyit cited alleged “satanic elements”.
When and where was the show meant to take place?
Saturday 12 September 2026 at Ataköy Marina Arena, an outdoor venue on the Istanbul waterfront.
Has Anyma responded?
No. As of publication neither Anyma nor his management has issued a public statement, and the Istanbul date was still listed on his official tour page.
Will ticket holders be refunded?
No refund process has been announced. Tickets were sold through Passo, which was still confirming the event as scheduled on 3 September.
Is this the first time Turkey has cancelled a concert like this?
No. Istanbul authorities cancelled shows by Behemoth, Slaughter to Prevail and God Is An Astronaut earlier this year, and a longer run of festival and concert bans stretches back to at least 2022.
The bottom line
A show sold on the strength of its visuals lost a date because of them. What makes the Anyma Istanbul decision unusual is not the outcome, since Turkish authorities have cancelled plenty of concerts, but the target: a mainstream electronic act with no lyrical content to object to and no history of provocation. That widens the category of what can be blocked, and it does so through a pressure loop that runs from a handful of clips on X to a governor’s desk in a matter of days. Promoters routing large productions through the region will be watching for an official explanation. So far there is not one.
Sources: Turkish Minute, Türkiye Today, DJ Mag, Your EDM and anyma.com.
For more on how club and event policy is shifting elsewhere, read our report on the smart glasses nightclub ban in New York.