Macklemore has set new October headlining dates for his Free Palestine tour after his schedule “freed up a bit,” following his removal from Ed Sheeran's stadium tour earlier this month. The first show is set for Dublin on Oct. 26, with Paris and London to follow.
He said the tour will open at 3Arena in Dublin, continue at Ancor Arena in Paris on Oct. 29, and end at OVO Arena Wembley in London on Oct. 30. Macklemore also said U.S. dates will be announced in the future, leaving these three European shows as the only listed stops for now.
Macklemore on stage access
In announcing the tour, Macklemore said he spent the last week reaching out to artists who have shown up and used their stages to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people, and he said all proceeds will benefit organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement. He wrote that “If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years” and that there has 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.”
He also wrote that “the billionaire class can decide which voices are allowed on stage and which ones are too dangerous to hear,” framing his removal from Sheeran's tour as a dispute over speech rather than a scheduling change alone. For fans, the immediate result is simple: the new dates now give Macklemore a separate October run with a stated political purpose and no support lineup yet named.
Ed Sheeran in Philadelphia
Sheeran continued his tour without support acts in Philadelphia on Saturday after every opener dropped off his bill in support of Macklemore. At that show, he said, “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, “My concerts have always been a safe space for everyone, and that matters hugely to me.” He said honoring his commitment to fans was “completely essential” to who he is, and that is why he was performing on his own and continuing his current tour.
Michael Che and October
The practical next step is the future U.S. announcement Macklemore said will follow these European dates. Which specific artists will join him on the tour is not yet stated, so the October run now stands as three named shows built around the same dispute that removed him from Sheeran's bill.
