Photo Credit: Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos / Instagram)
eekend, opening with comments about Gaza amid the controversy surrounding his tour. His supporting acts all withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore.
On Saturday, Ed Sheeran played his Loop Tour stop in Philly solo after his supporting acts withdrew the previous week over the ongoing controversy. Macklemore’s pro-Palestine remarks during his opening sets in New Jersey were met with backlash from venue owners who provided the tour promoter with an ultimatum; the rapper was removed from the tour’s remaining U.S. shows.
Now, Sheeran has made it clear that he is prepared to continue the tour alone if necessary. But he also made his newfound position in the middle of the controversy known and opened his Saturday show by addressing the matter. While he reinforced that he wants his shows to focus on unity rather than politics, he described the attacks in Israel that occurred on October 7, 2023, as horrific and what is happening in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable.”
“I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,” said Sheeran during his show at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field.
Macklemore was the original opener for Sheeran’s U.S. shows, but he was quickly dropped in response to his remarks during a pair of shows earlier this month in New Jersey. Sheeran has said he was not responsible for that decision, which followed the urging of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, whose company owns a stadium where the tour is still scheduled to play.
Messina Touring Group, the U.S. promoter for the tour, made the final decision to drop Macklemore after being informed that some venues would not host the tour if the rapper were still on the bill.
“As the concert promoter for Ed Sheeran’s U.S. Loop Tour, we have been notified by venues on the upcoming U.S. tour dates that they will not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, which would result in the cancellation of the tour and impact hundreds of thousands of fans,” Messina Touring Group announced at the time. “After discussions with stakeholders, Macklemore will not be performing on the remaining support dates.”
But shortly afterward, all the remaining openers on the tour, as well as Sheeran’s backing band, the Irish folk group Beoga, announced their withdrawal from the tour in solidarity with Macklemore. That included Danish band Lukas Graham, who would have replaced Macklemore; Irish singer Aaron Rowe; and Finneas, Bille Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator, who was to join the tour in South America later this year.