Macklemore has been removed from the rest of Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour in the United States after venue objections forced a last-minute shift to the lineup. The change affects eight of the 10 shows left on the U.S. leg and comes just days before the tour is set to resume Friday in Philadelphia.
Messina Touring Group said venues on the upcoming dates told the promoter they would not allow a concert to take place with Macklemore on the lineup, a move it said could have led to the cancellation of the tour and affected hundreds of thousands of fans. That means the artist who had been scheduled to appear at most of the remaining U.S. dates will not be part of the support act for the run’s final stretch.
The removal follows Macklemore’s onstage protest during two shows at MetLife Stadium outside New York City on Sept. 4 and Sept. 5, when he shouted “Free Palestine,” showed images from the devastation in Gaza, expressed solidarity with people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and performed “Hind’s Hall.” He later said a major reason he wanted the tour was to stand in stadiums and say those words.
The objections were tied to a chain of venue names that includes Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida. Macklemore said Ed Sheeran told him Robert Kraft would not let him play at Gillette and that Kraft had rallied other stadium owners, though Kraft’s own statement only said he made the decision to bar Macklemore from Gillette and cited Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage in New Jersey, and what he called a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.
That gap matters because the public explanation from Kraft stops at his own venue, while Macklemore’s account reaches much further and points to pressure from several stadium operators. What is clear is that the tour’s second U.S. leg is going ahead without him, and the next stop in Philadelphia will test whether the lineup change settles the dispute or only pushes it further into view.
