PHILADELPHIA — Ed Sheeran opened a solo concert in Philadelphia on Saturday with comments about Gaza, saying what’s happening is “catastrophic and unjustifiable.”
Earlier a group of about 50 pro-Palestinian demonstrators congregated outside the stadium before the show. Hillary Steinberg, 34, of Philadelphia, said she got tickets a year ago but wound up getting a refund and attending the demonstration instead, disappointed that Sheeran did not take a stand. 5 show in New Jersey. Diane Savitz, a 53-year-old concertgoer from Stroudsburg, got her tickets to the show months ago and is a big Sheeran fan. Sheeran’s Loop Tour was the highest-grossing in the world, with an average box office gross of over $7 million per city, Pollstar said in May. Through the end of 2025, Sheeran was the No. 3 top-earning concert act since 2021.
Sheeran has performed much of his Loop Tour concerts solo, but he had been joined for several songs at each stop by the Irish folk band Beoga. Macklemore, Sheeran’s original U.S. opener, had been replaced by Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish singer Aaron Rowe before they backed out. “I think all art is political, and all music is political, and so this choice — even though he was saying that he wasn’t complicit — is a political choice. “A concert should be for people enjoying the music. “Everyone has their right to freedom of speech, but not every platform is the place for it.
Sheeran also said he wants his music and shows to be about unity and humanity, not politics. “I was, until this week, a big Ed Sheeran fan,” Steinberg said. The show comes after a tumultuous week that opened with Macklemore being dropped in response to exclaiming “Free Palestine” during a Sept. Sheeran has said he was not responsible for the decision, which came at the urging of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. She said she does not think that he did anything wrong or that a concert is the place for politics. Music should bring people together,” Savitz said.
His company owns a stadium where Sheeran’s tour was scheduled to play on Friday.
