Macklemore’s impassioned mid-set protest speech about the state of affairs in Gaza and the occupied West Bank drew accusations of hate speech and antisemitism from several prominent Jewish voices, including singer Pink, the Israeli American Council and billionaire Robert Kraft. Following a reported direct intervention by Kraft, who owns the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA, where the tour will stop later this week, Macklemore was forced to leave the run, allegedly by Sheeran’s management team.

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The ensuing backlash saw Sheeran come under continuous fire on social media for dropping the American rapper for speaking out, and saw Sheeran’s own morals scrutinised for his attempts to remain politically neutral throughout. As the dominoes fell, all of the support acts withdrew themselves from the tour – US genius FINNEAS, Danish group Lukas Graham, and Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Boega all pulled out, before even Sheeran’s backing musicians also left. Coming into the most recent night of the Loop Tour on Saturday September 19, there were doubts that Ed Sheeran would be able to perform at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field at all. However, in a parallel to the beginning of his career where he gained a reputation for busking and playing hundreds of pop-up shows around the UK, on the night Sheeran turned up and made most of it happen with just a guitar and a microphone (along with some help from new backing musicians). But before the music commenced, he opened the evening with an acknowledgement of the events of this week. He first weighed in on how he’s used to criticism for his music, which he remarks isn’t for everyone, before saying “but this week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I’m so, so sorry.”  

 

 

 

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“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,” he added, before speaking about how his priority is to make concerts safe spaces for fans and continue to run the tour for them. Speaking indirectly about the boycott on Macklemore by Kraft and other stadium-owners, he said “I am deeply worried about the idea that venues should pre-approve content for performers. This happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.”

He then finally spoke about Israel and Palestine, saying “I’ve tried in my career to not be a political commentator of any kind because I want my music and shows to be about unity, not division, about humanity, not politics. But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it any more.” He cautiously addressed both sides of the ongoing conflict, continuing “what happened in Israel at the Nova music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives. And the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”

Later in the show, Sheeran began another statement of how close he came to calling it quits over the tour, and his career as a whole. “Tonight has been honestly the best show of my life,” he told the crowd – “I really didn’t know whether this tour would carry on, I really didn’t know whether I’d get on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all.” He then thanked the fans for sticking by him and celebrated the amount of tickets that continued to sell after the fallout from Macklemore’s removal.

For many of his detractors, Ed Sheeran’s emotional speeches may be too little too late, but as a gesture Sheeran, Robert Kraft and Macklemore have all reportedly made large donations to Palestinian charities, with Macklemore donating his full takings from the two nights of the tour he performed on. The Loop Tour continues with two nights at the Gillette Stadium on September 25 and 26 – check out Ed Sheeran’s setlist from the Lincoln Financial Field below:

1. Castle on the Hill
2. Shivers
3. The A Team
4. Sapphire
5. Don’t
6. Eyes Closed
7. I’m a Mess
8. Take It Back / Superstition / Ain’t No Sunshine
9. Lego House
10. Supermarket Flowers
11. Tenerife Sea
12. Give Me Love
(with backing band)
13. Galway Girl
14. Nancy Mulligan
15. I Don’t Care
16. Old Phone
17. Camera
18. Celestial
19. Photograph
20. Eastside / 2002 / Cold Water / Little Things / Love Yourself
21. Thinking Out Loud
22. Perfect
23. I See Fire
24. Blood Stream
25. Afterglow
(Encore)
26. You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
27. Shape of Yourself
28. Azizam
29. Bad Habits