PHILADELPHIA – Noting that he didn’t want to disappoint fans and has “never wanted to be an activist musician,” Ed Sheeran addressed the controversy surrounding his tour at the start of his Sept. 19 show at Lincoln Financial Field.
“I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes and I’m so, so sorry," Sheeran said of his reaction to promoters excluding rapper Macklemore from his tour.
The singer-songwriter took the stage solo Saturday, as he has on every date of the tour, and acknowledged that he has faced criticism about his music before, but this past week was “about something much more important.”
Sheeran addressed the very public and unprecedented controversy that left him with no openers or his guest band.
“This has
put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet,” he said, and was immediately met with cheers, whistles and applause from the crowd.
His shows and music are meant to be a "safe space" for everyone, he added. Honoring his commitment to his fans, he said, "is completely central to who I am, and that is why I'm here tonight, on my own, and continuing my current tour."
Then he spoke directly to the question of where he stands on the "situation in Israel and Palestine," saying he's avoided taking a political commentary in the past because he has always wanted his shows to be about “unity, not division, about humanity, not politics.”
“But this is a humanitarian issue, and I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore,” he said.
“What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on Oct. 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain,” Sheeran said.
“What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate,” he continued. “My heart’s been broken by the scale of devastation and the loss of civilians' lives. Children's lives."
Why did Ed Sheeran speak out now?
This was the first scheduled tour stop following rapper Macklemore being dropped from the show, a move Sheeran said was decided by promoters, not himself.
The clash started after Macklemore faced heavy backlash from stadium owners for making remarks about "Free Palestine" during Sheeran's MetLife Stadium show: "The truth is, a big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I can stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine," Macklemore said.
Macklemore has faced controversy before, including in 2014 when he wore a costume onstage resembling an antisemitic caricature.
In this latest incident, the rapper said in a lengthy statement online that he was dropped from Sheeran's tour after a number of stadium owners gave Sheeran the "ultimatum" that if Macklemore was on the tour, they would not be permitted to play the venue.
Sheeran addressed this issue as well. "I am deeply worried about the idea that venues [could] preapprove content [by] performers. This happens in so many places that I have performed around the world," he said, alluding to censorship in other countries. “It should never happen in the free world.”
Opening acts Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe were slated to perform ahead of Sheeran, though both dropped out of the tour in solidarity with Macklemore and the pro-Palestinian movement.
Sheeran's guest band, Beoga, also dropped out of the tour, though the musician was able to round up backing musicians, who he said had three days to learn the music.
“They said yes with the knowledge that the world may hate them too,” Sheeran said.
He seemed to get a little emotional as he wrapped up his remarks to a stadium crowd consisting of families, younger fans and older fans before launching into his hit “Castle on a Hill."
“This concert is still a place where everyone is welcome, and everyone here can stand beside people that have opposing views," he said. "And everyone here can stand by people who they don’t agree with on everything. But they can all agree on singing these songs."
The crowd cheered as he grabbed his guitar. “These songs are about love, hope and unity.”
Ed Sheeran says 'America is a scary place right now' at Philadelphia show
Toward the end of the show, Sheeran took another moment to speak to the audience, sharing that “the last week of my life has been one of the worst weeks of my life.”
“Tonight has been, honestly, the best show of my life,” he said.
“The world is a scary place right now, America is a scary place right now, this gives hope,” he said, gesturing to the crowd.
The singer doubled down on his shows being a place for love, while also apologizing, especially to parents, for his political remarks at the head of the show.
“I understand that people have children here, and I understand that families didn’t buy a ticket to hear that first bit of the show, but that was something I felt like I needed to say," he said. "I felt there were a lot of questions [that I] needed to answer.”
Kaitlyn McCormick is a Philadelphia-based reporter writing all things trending, breaking and city-related for USA TODAY's Philadelphia Metro Connect Team.
This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: 'I'm so, so sorry' Ed Sheeran admits 'mistakes' at Philadelphia concert
