PHILADELPHIA—Jody Hauck, 53, has been an Ed Sheeran fan for more than a decade—since his days as an opener for Taylor Swift. She got tickets to see the singer-songwriter for her birthday.
But when controversy engulfed his tour earlier this week, she wondered, “Are they going to cancel the whole thing?”
Shraddha Meshram, 30, was also excited: Sheeran’s show would be her first-ever concert. “There’s a lot of that going on, and that can stay on the side. If somebody wants to have a beer and sit down and talk about what’s going on in the world, we do that another time.
“We’re not here for any controversy,” said Bob Worthington, 67, who came with his wife, Anastasia Worthington. She loves “romantic songs,” and is especially fond of “Sapphire,” a collaboration with the Indian star Arijit Singh. “A lot of Indians love that song,” she said.
At the stadium in Philadelphia, more than a dozen fans were uninterested in even tolerating questions about the bust-up. A pro-Palestine rally near an Ed Sheeran concert in Philadelphia. Photo: Allie Ippolito/AP There was a small pro-Palestine protest at a subway station near the stadium. He doesn’t care much for the music of either Sheeran or Macklemore, but argued that the rapper shouldn’t have been booted off the tour. Hauck wasn’t comfortable with the way things played out, either. And she also wasn’t thrilled that she paid for a bill of several performers and ended up with one.
“We support Ed,” said others as they walked away. John Leslie, a retired 69-year-old, said he attended because “it offends me to my core that my tax dollars” go toward wars abroad “when children in this country go hungry. “There has to be some ability for performers to have opinions without their thoughts and ideas being constricted,” she said. Still, Hauck was excited to see Sheeran perform, especially her favorite song, “Perfect.”
