Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour lost every one of its opening acts in a 24-hour span this week after Macklemore was removed from the U.S. leg for making pro-Palestinian comments during two MetLife Stadium shows. Finneas, Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Irish band Beoga, and Danish pop group Lukas Graham all withdrew on September 15-16, citing solidarity with Macklemore and objecting to what multiple artists described as the silencing of performers over political speech. The tour, which has grossed $98.6 million across 17 shows with 754,050 in attendance, resumes September 20 in Philadelphia with no replacement acts announced. The fallout raises questions about who controls what gets said on a concert stage and whether stadium owners now hold effective veto power over touring artists’ lineups.
Key Takeaways
- All four remaining opening acts on Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour withdrew within hours of each other on September 15-16 after Macklemore was dropped from the U.S. dates
- Macklemore said “Free Palestine” and performed his protest anthem “Hind’s Hall” during two MetLife Stadium shows on September 4-5, which led to his removal
- New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft called Sheeran and said he would cancel the tour’s Gillette Stadium date if Macklemore remained on the bill
- Macklemore accused Kraft of organizing a boycott among stadium owners and announced he would donate his $1 million tour salary to Palestinian relief
- Sheeran said the decision to remove Macklemore was not his, describing his shows as a “safe space” where fans do not come for a “political forum”
- The Loop Tour has grossed $98.6 million across 17 shows with 754,050 in attendance; nine U.S. dates and a South American leg remain
How the Situation Escalated From Two Stadium Shows to a Full Tour Crisis
The sequence began on September 4 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, when Macklemore, who joined the Loop Tour as a supporting act for the U.S. leg, performed his 2024 protest anthem “Hind’s Hall” and told the crowd that a “big part of the reason” he wanted to join the tour was to “stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine.” The following night at the same venue, Macklemore repeated and expanded on those remarks.
Within days, the business infrastructure around the tour began to move. Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots and controls Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, where Sheeran had a scheduled date, contacted Sheeran directly. Kraft said he would cancel the Gillette Stadium show if Macklemore was still on the tour. Macklemore said publicly that Kraft then organized a broader effort among stadium owners to pressure his removal from all remaining U.S. dates.
Macklemore announced on September 15 that he was no longer part of the Loop Tour. In the same statement, the rapper said he would donate his entire $1 million tour salary to organizations supporting Palestine. “I invite Robert Kraft to match my donation,” Macklemore wrote.
Sheeran released a statement the same day acknowledging the departure. Sheeran said the decision to remove Macklemore was not his, that he had tried to intervene, and that his concerts are intended to be a “safe space” where the audience does not come for a “political forum.” The statement attempted to separate Sheeran from the decision while acknowledging it happened on his tour, under his name, on stages he books.
Four Acts Walked Off in Rapid Succession
The first domino fell when Aaron Rowe, an Irish singer-songwriter who had been opening for Sheeran on the U.S. dates, posted a statement on Instagram announcing his withdrawal. Rowe called Sheeran a friend who had “changed my life” but said he could not stand by while “billionaires silenced voices speaking up.” Rowe cited his Irish heritage and the country’s own history, writing that “as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine, and violent occupation.”
Beoga, the Irish folk band that had been performing several songs during each show, including tracks co-written with Sheeran, followed within the hour. “We are Irish people who understand colonialism. As founding members of the Irish Artists for Palestine movement, we are committed activists for justice and will continue to be,” the group wrote.
Finneas, the American songwriter and producer who is also Billie Eilish’s brother and collaborator, was scheduled to open for Sheeran on six South American dates in late November and early December. Finneas withdrew from those dates as well, writing on Instagram: “Artists must not be silenced when they speak up for the oppressed. I have decided to withdraw from my upcoming tour dates with Ed Sheeran. I stand with Palestine and its people.”
Lukas Graham, the Danish pop group, was the final act to depart, posting minutes after Finneas. “We should be able to speak about war, about civilians being killed, about children who deserve to grow up. Wherever they live. Whatever flag flies over them,” the group wrote. “I can’t put these words out into the world and carry on with this tour as things stand.”
By the end of September 16, every listed opening act for the Loop Tour’s remaining dates had pulled out. Macklemore commented on each of the departing artists’ Instagram posts with a heart emoji and a Palestinian flag.
The Business Fallout for a $98 Million Tour With No Openers
The Loop Tour is not a small operation. Through 17 shows, the tour has generated $98.6 million in gross revenue and drawn 754,050 attendees, with the run spanning stadiums across Australia, North America, and, eventually, South America. The tour supports Sheeran’s eighth studio album, Play, and is his sixth headlining concert tour. Sheeran broke attendance records at several Australian stadiums earlier in 2026.
Losing every supporting act simultaneously creates both a logistical and an audience-experience problem. Stadium shows are structured around multi-act bills for a reason. Opening acts warm up the crowd, give early arrivals a reason to be in their seats, and provide a graduated energy arc that builds toward the headliner’s set. A stadium show with no opener means either a later start time, a longer headliner set, or a stretch of dead air that 50,000 to 80,000 ticket holders have to sit through. None of those options are ideal at the production scale the Loop Tour operates at.
The more pressing question is whether replacement acts can be booked on short notice for stadium dates. The Loop Tour resumes September 20 in Philadelphia at Lincoln Financial Field, followed by nine more North American shows before moving to South America. At the time of this writing, no replacement openers have been announced. Finding artists willing to step into a tour that has become a lightning rod, knowing the reason the slots are open and the public scrutiny that comes with filling them, narrows the pool of candidates considerably.
Sheeran’s team also faces the question of whether additional stadium operators will weigh in on future programming decisions. Kraft’s direct intervention in the lineup, contacting a touring artist and threatening to cancel a venue booking over a support act’s on-stage speech, establishes a precedent that extends beyond this tour. If stadium owners can dictate which artists appear and what they say, the power dynamic between venue operators and touring acts shifts in a direction that affects every artist who books a stadium date going forward.
The Broader Industry Question About Artist Speech and Venue Control
Concert venues have always had the contractual ability to impose certain restrictions on performers. Noise curfews, pyrotechnics limits, and content standards tied to local ordinances are routine. What is less routine is a venue owner calling a headliner and demanding the removal of a support act based on the content of the act’s on-stage speech at a different venue in a different state.
Kraft’s involvement introduces a layer of corporate pressure that sits outside the traditional promoter-artist-venue relationship. Kraft is not a concert promoter. He is a stadium owner whose primary business is professional football. His intervention in the Loop Tour’s lineup was personal and direct, according to Macklemore, who accused Kraft of rallying other venue owners to extend the pressure beyond Gillette Stadium. Kraft has not publicly denied the characterization.
For the touring industry, the episode surfaces a tension that has existed but rarely been tested at this scale. Artists have made political statements on stage for decades. Bruce Springsteen, Neil Young, Rage Against the Machine, and dozens of others have used concert platforms to voice positions on issues ranging from war to labor rights to environmental policy. What has changed is the concentration of stadium ownership among a small number of billionaire operators and the willingness of those operators to use booking leverage as a content moderation tool.
The Israel-Palestine conflict is the specific catalyst here, but the structural question applies to any issue that a venue owner decides is off-limits. If a stadium owner can remove an artist for saying “Free Palestine,” the same mechanism could be used to remove an artist for commenting on labor conditions, immigration policy, climate legislation, or any other topic that a venue’s ownership finds objectionable. The Loop Tour fallout has made that mechanism visible in a way that the touring industry will have to reckon with regardless of where any individual stands on the underlying issue.
Where the Loop Tour Goes From Here
Sheeran has not canceled any dates. The Loop Tour’s Philadelphia show on September 20 remains on schedule, as do nine additional North American dates and the South American leg that runs into December. The tour’s production, stage design, and headliner set are intact. What is missing is the supporting cast that was supposed to surround it.
Sheeran’s own statement positioned him as someone caught between forces he did not control. He said he tried to keep Macklemore on the tour and that the removal was not his decision. He framed the situation as one where his responsibility is to provide a concert experience, not a political forum. Whether that framing holds under sustained public scrutiny depends on what happens at the Philadelphia show and whether the remaining dates proceed without incident or further cancellations.
For the artists who walked away, the career calculus was straightforward. Rowe, Beoga, and Lukas Graham all had limited remaining dates. Finneas had six South American shows that were months away. The cost of walking was measured in lost performance fees and exposure. The cost of staying, after publicly watching a fellow artist get removed for political speech and saying nothing, would have been reputational in a music industry where solidarity among artists is a currency that compounds over time. Multiple Instagram users who said they had never heard of Aaron Rowe before his withdrawal statement commented that they had now become fans. The walkout, in other words, may have generated more visibility for the departing acts than the tour dates themselves would have provided.
The Loop Tour will continue. The question the industry is now processing is not whether Sheeran can fill stadiums without openers. He can. The question is what happens the next time a stadium owner picks up the phone.
FAQs
Why Was Macklemore Dropped From Ed Sheeran’s Tour?
Macklemore was removed from the U.S. leg of Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour after making pro-Palestinian remarks and performing his protest song “Hind’s Hall” during two MetLife Stadium shows on September 4-5. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft subsequently called Sheeran and threatened to cancel the tour’s Gillette Stadium date unless Macklemore was removed. Macklemore said Kraft organized a broader effort among stadium owners to pressure his departure.
Which Artists Quit the Ed Sheeran Tour?
Finneas (American songwriter and Billie Eilish’s brother), Aaron Rowe (Irish singer-songwriter), Beoga (Irish folk band), and Lukas Graham (Danish pop group) all withdrew from the Loop Tour on September 15-16. Their departures left the tour with no remaining opening acts for any scheduled dates.
Is Ed Sheeran’s Tour Still Happening?
The Loop Tour resumes September 20 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. Nine additional North American dates and a South American leg through December remain scheduled. No replacement opening acts have been announced as of September 18.
How Much Has the Loop Tour Grossed?
Through 17 shows, the Loop Tour has grossed $98.6 million with 754,050 in total attendance. The tour supports Sheeran’s eighth studio album, Play, and spans stadiums across Australia, North America, and South America.
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