Ed Sheeran set for Philadelphia show after opening acts withdraw

By Rebekah Riess, CNN

(CNN) — Ed Sheeran is set to take the stage – possibly without an opening act – Saturday night at Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field, his first stop since Macklemore was dropped from the tour’s US dates over his pro-Palestinian remarks onstage, leading Sheeran’s other opening acts to resign.

The controversy has some ticketholders reconsidering whether to attend the English superstar’s concert, while others remain committed to seeing Sheeran perform.

Karen DeAngelis, who lives in Virginia, said she and her 10-year-old daughter are still planning to spend the weekend in Philadelphia, but after Sheeran didn’t defend Macklemore, she is no longer sure if they’ll attend the concert.

Macklemore, best known for 2012’s “Thrift Shop,” has publicly advocated for Palestinian rights since Israel began its yearslong bombing campaign in Gaza after the October 7 attacks.

Opening for Sheeran earlier this month at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the rapper wore a black-and-white keffiyeh tied around his neck.

“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place, was so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine,” he said, according to video of the event. He added that “to all of my Jewish brothers and sisters, criticism of Israel, criticism of apartheid, being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you.”

On Monday, days after the shows in New Jersey, Macklemore said on Instagram he’d been dropped from Sheeran’s remaining US tour dates.

Macklemore has pointed the blame squarely at Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts, where Sheeran and Macklemore were scheduled to perform later this month. Kraft, Macklemore said, had “rallied some of the other stadium owners” and given Sheeran an ultimatum: “if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”

Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, said this week he would bar Macklemore from performing at Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts this month.

“Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line,” Kraft said in a statement.

DeAngelis said she read Sheeran’s statement in response to Macklemore being dropped from the tour, in which he explained it had been the promoter’s decision, not his own.

Sheeran wrote that he “spoke with the venues at length all week to try to build a bridge” before Macklemore was dropped.

The mother said she wasn’t pleased with the singer’s response.

“It was very disappointing, to be quite honest, because we had followed along with what was said, and we thought, this is a message of peace. This is a message of hope. This is a message of a call to action,” DeAngelis said, adding, “Macklemore has been someone who’s spoken out for a bit now, so it certainly couldn’t have been a surprise, you know.”

“I thought, ‘you can’t stand up for free speech. You don’t want to stand up against something that’s so terrible,’” she said.

DeAngelis said she was also concerned by “the second side” to the controversy.

“Now I’m hearing about security concerns and about increased police force and protesting, and I think that’s fine for me, but I have a 10-year-old, so I don’t know,” she said.

A coalition of pro-Palestinian organizations said they would demonstrate near the concert venue Saturday afternoon to “return the conversation to Palestine, and return Philadelphia to action.”

The Philadelphia Police Department said it will continue to monitor the event and make “any necessary adjustments based on public safety needs.”

“As with all large events at the stadium complex, the Philadelphia Police Department is working closely with venue and event organizers to help ensure the safety of concertgoers, employees, and neighborhood residents,” the department said in a statement Saturday.

Heather Park said she was concerned the concert would be canceled due to a lack of support for the event.

Park, who has been waiting to see Sheeran in concert since the last time he came to Philadelphia, said the controversy that erupted surrounding Macklemore’s statement “is just ridiculous.”

“I’m still going,” Park told CNN. “Even if Macklemore was still opening up, I would still go. Like, he’s allowed to have his opinion. I’m allowed to have mine.”

The price tracking site TicketData noted while it is normal for many concert resale ticket prices to drop closer to the show date, resale prices for Saturday’s Sheeran show have fallen by a significant amount.

Notably, TicketData said, the promoter started allowing refunds for the show when ticketholders requested them through Ticketmaster’s chat support. The move effectively puts “a floor under the resale market,” Keith Pagello, founder of TicketData, told CNN, adding that an opening act dropping off is not typically a circumstance where a promoter would offer refunds, “so they are going above and beyond here.”

Debate continues ahead of curtain time

The concert, which was originally advertised as 5:30 p.m., is now slated to start at 8:00 p.m. CNN has reached out to the touring company, Messina Touring Group, for comment but did not immediately hear back.

It’s not clear whether the superstar will address the lack of opening acts during the concert, but British singer-songwriter Billy Bragg called on Sheeran to say “Free Palestine” from the stage.

“If Sheeran truly wants to regain his credibility, then he has an opportunity to begin that process tonight, when he takes to the stage at Lincoln Field in Philadelphia,” Bragg wrote in a post on Instagram.

Sheeran has not addressed the controversy since his Instagram post on Tuesday, when he said, “There is a reason I do not use my professional platform for politics — my audience includes young people, often children, of all backgrounds. Those who come to my shows do not expect a political forum. I respect Macklemore’s strength of purpose to stand up and shout for what he believes. However, there is room for multiple approaches to the same end: peace.”

Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, who along with Finneas, the Irish band Beoga and the Danish band Lukas Graham all withdrew from their opening slots and as Sheeran’s support band on the tour, called for the focus to be put on the stadium owner rather than Sheeran.

“All I keep hearing is Ed Sheeran this, Ed Sheeran that. When you really should be focusing on the likes of Robert Kraft,” Rowe said in a video posted on TikTok. “You should be using this opportunity to plaster Robert Kraft’s face everywhere. Someone who tried to shut down free speech. Someone who tried to silence the voices of people who are shouting about genocide.”

Palestine Legal litigation director Radhika Sainath said Sheeran should “have called Kraft’s bluff” in a statement. The organization says it aims to protect “the civil and constitutional rights of people in the U.S. who speak out for Palestinian freedom.”

“If Sheeran had fought back instead of giving in to censorship and bullying, not only would he have retained the moral high ground with his millions of fans – and been on the right side of history – he would likely have a strong case for hundreds of thousands of dollars in damages for whatever losses he incurred over Kraft’s threatened cancellation,” Sainath said.

But prior to his removal from the tour, Macklemore’s comments at the concert also prompted criticism from the singer Pink and a petition against his appearances.

The Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said in a statement it “believes in strong public debate and civil discourse, including on Israel and the Palestinians, and artists have every right to take part in it. Our concern is with the problematic history of the messenger and the specific message, as well as the venue he chose to deliver it in.”

The group referenced Macklemore’s 2014 performance – which he has publicly apologized for – when he wore what he called “a random costume” of a hooked false nose, wig and fake beard, but which observers widely read as an antisemitic caricature.

“Our position remains unambiguous: we are unwavering in our commitment to Israel as a free, prosperous, Jewish and democratic state, and we believe that Palestinians deserve to live in peace and prosperity as well. At a moment of extraordinary pain and polarization, we should be working to create spaces that recognize the humanity and dignity of Palestinians and Israelis alike,” the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia said. “A concert attended by tens of thousands of people from different backgrounds should be an opportunity to bring people together, not deepen the divisions between them.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.

CNN’s Danny Freeman, Sarah Boxer, Zoe Sottile, Miriam Elder, Maria Sole Campinoti and Choire Sicha contributed to this report.