Ed Sheeran opened his Saturday night concert at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia alone on stage, without an opener, after a week in which multiple supporting acts pulled out of his Loop Tour over the firing of rapper Macklemore.
Macklemore, Sheeran’s original U.S. opener, was dropped after shouting “Free Palestine” during a Sept. 5 show in New Jersey. Sheeran has said he was not the one who made that call — it came at the urging of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, whose company owns a stadium where the tour was set to play on Friday.
Within hours of Sheeran issuing a statement on the matter Tuesday, his remaining supporting acts walked. The Irish folk band Beoga, who had joined Sheeran for several songs at each stop, dropped out. So did Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish singer Aaron Rowe, who had been brought in to replace Macklemore. Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and collaborator, was scheduled to join Sheeran’s South America dates later this year — he pulled out too.
Sheeran told the nearly full stadium in Philadelphia that he never wanted to be an “activist musician,” but that the situation had dragged him into what he called “the most complex political issue on the planet.”
“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,” Sheeran said.
He called the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks on Israel “horrific,” said they “compounded centuries of Jewish pain,” and separately described what is happening in Gaza as “catastrophic and unjustifiable.”
But the sharpest line of the night was aimed squarely at the venues, not at the war. Sheeran said he worries about stadiums and promoters vetting performers’ speech before they’re allowed on stage.
“This happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world,” Sheeran said.
He told the crowd that everyone is welcome at his shows, and that fans can hold opposing political views while still singing along to songs he says are about “love, hope and unity.”
Sheeran has repeatedly said the promoter, not him, made the call to cut Macklemore. He said this week he “spoke with the venues at length all week to try to build a bridge” before Macklemore was ultimately dropped, and insisted he would never willingly abandon fans or the touring crew whose livelihoods depend on the show going on. Industry observers note that while promoters and venues hold real power over tours, an artist of Sheeran’s stature — the No. 3 top-earning concert act of the millennium so far, according to Pollstar — typically has final say over what happens with his own shows.
Reaction outside the stadium was split
A small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside Lincoln Financial Field before the show. Hillary Steinberg, 34, said she had held tickets for a year but got a refund and joined the protest instead, saying she was disappointed Sheeran didn’t take a firmer stand.
“I was, until this week, a big Ed Sheeran fan,” Steinberg said. “I think all art is political, and all music is political, and so this choice — even though he was saying that he wasn’t complicit — is a political choice.”
Diane Savitz, 53, of Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, held her tickets and went to the show. She said she’s a longtime fan, doesn’t think Sheeran did anything wrong, and doesn’t believe a concert is the venue for political debate.
“A concert should be for people enjoying the music. Music should bring people together,” Savitz said. “Everyone has their right to freedom of speech, but not every platform is the place for it.”
Macklemore announced Wednesday he is donating $1 million to Palestinian relief efforts and challenged Kraft to match it. A spokesperson for Kraft said the billionaire and Sheeran have each agreed to donate $2 million, though no specifics have been given on where that money will go. Sheeran’s representatives have not responded to multiple requests for comment.
