Ed Sheeran concerts cancelled in fresh blow to tour
Ed Sheeran’s two US concerts this weekend have been cancelled in a further blow to the embattled artist.
The English singer-songwriter’s Friday and Saturday performances at the Gillette Stadium were pulled because of “severe weather warnings” as a storm approached Massachusetts.
It comes as another setback to Sheeran’s US Loop tour, which has been beset by controversy since Macklemore, a supporting artist, was dropped over his “Free Palestine” chants.
In a statement confirming the cancellation hours before the show was due to start, the tour promoter Messina Touring said: “Due to the severe weather warnings in place in Boston and New England throughout the weekend and following consultation with local officials, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Ed Sheeran concerts at Gillette Stadium.
“The decision was made with the safety of fans, staff and everyone involved in the shows as the top priority.”
Ticket holders would be refunded, it added.
The two concerts had been due to take place at the stadium owned by Robert Kraft, the US billionaire, who Sheeran has said was responsible for cutting Macklemore from the tour.
The Shape of You singer has broken down while performing amid the row about Palestine, which had led all his supporting acts to quit the US tour.
While on stage in Philadelphia last weekend, the tearful singer said his family and friends had “abandoned” him amid the furore, which has seen fellow singers accuse him of choosing “capitalism over doing the right thing”.
More recently, his estranged rapper cousin has joined the online chorus against Sheeran, labelling him a “coward” because he refused to back his opening act’s pro-Palestine sentiments. Jethro Sheeran – who records music as Alonestar – also claimed his younger cousin was “shady” and that he was “embarrassed” by an old photograph of them together.
Sheeran has apologised onstage for “making mistakes” in how he handled the Macklemore situation, saying last week that he could no longer “hide how I feel” about “this humanitarian issue”.
He said: “I’m used to my music being criticised … This week the criticism was about something much more important ... I am making mistakes and I am so so sorry. 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, compassionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.
“But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it any more.”
The musician said he sympathised with both sides of the Israel-Hamas war, telling the audience: “What happened in Israel, and at the Nova music festival on Oct 7, it was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.”
“What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate,” he added, stating: “My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation, loss of civilians’ lives. Children’s lives. At this systemic injustice, [what] we’re seeing unfolding in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
The musical acts who pulled out of his tour – including Irish folk band Beoga and Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother – said they were acting in solidarity with Macklemore.
Macklemore has since announced that he will be holding a “Free Palestine” tour, kicking off in Dublin on Monday, October 26.
The American rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, led a pro-Palestine chant during two of Sheeran’s concerts in New Jersey on September 4 and 5.
The chants led to Kraft, the pro-Israel owner of Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots American football team, demanding his removal from Sheeran’s Loop tour.
Taking to Instagram, Macklemore said there had been a “collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now”.
“Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work any more. People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves and be in community. To use the stage for more than entertainment,” he wrote.
Macklemore’s actions labelled ‘inflammatory’
Responding to the announcement that the OVO Arena Wembley would host Macklemore’s upcoming Free Palestine tour, the Campaign Against Antisemitism labelled the rapper’s past actions as “inflammatory”.
Writing to the arena through their X account, they said: “We are writing to Wembley Arena about its decision to host Macklemore.
“Macklemore is not just a musician advocating for human rights. He is a multi-millionaire with a large audience who chooses to defend rabid anti-Israel protesters and has appeared on stage in Germany and said that the only way for society to atone for the Holocaust is by calling for a “free Palestine”.
“Inflammatory actions like these only stoke the fires of anti-Semitism globally. This is not an underdog speaking truth to power. This is a celebrity using the current trendy cause – the war between Israel and Hamas – to their advantage, and claiming to speak for the victims of the Holocaust in a truly repulsive way.”
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