Ed Sheeran used his Sept. 19 show at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field to address the Israel and Palestine controversy tied to the Loop Tour, speaking to the crowd before the concert began. The appearance came after Macklemore was removed from the tour and the rest of the openers and backing band also left.
Philadelphia Sept. 19
Sheeran told the nearly full crowd that he was “not a activist musician” and said, “I’m used to my music being criticized, and I’m always happy to take that because I’m lucky a lot of you like my stuff, and to be honest, I’m surprised.” He added: “I’m not surprised that other people don’t.”
He then shifted from the tour fallout to the conflict itself, 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.” That made the Philadelphia stop more than a routine concert; it became the first onstage explanation after the lineup had already splintered.
Robert Kraft Pressure
Macklemore was kicked off the tour after pressure from a group of venue owners led by Robert Kraft. The rest of the tour’s openers and Sheeran’s backing band dropped off in solidarity, leaving Sheeran to carry the show largely alone while the dispute stayed attached to the tour itself.
He also tied his remarks to the events he was reacting to, saying, “What happened in Israel at the Nova music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is is happening in Gaza is catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate.” He added that “the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
Love, Hope, Unity
Sheeran said, “I am already speaking to people across the spectrum to work out how to make a contribution that helps victims of these terrible times, and listening and learning because I do not know enough.” He also told the crowd, “This concert is still a place where everyone is welcome,” and said the songs were about “love, hope and unity.”
The practical next step is still the one Sheeran named himself: a contribution worked out through conversations with people across the spectrum. For now, Philadelphia was the first public reset after the tour lost Macklemore, the other openers and the backing band, and Sheeran chose to answer that fracture in person rather than let the night play like a standard stop on the Loop Tour.
