Ed Sheeran declared that his Saturday night show in Philadelphia was the “best” of his life — despite the controversy and backlash that occurred in the week leading up to it.
Sheeran found himself embroiled in controversy after his support act, rapper Macklemore, was dropped from the tour over pro-Palestinian remarks he made on stage. The fallout continued when Sheeran’s other opening acts withdrew, while protesters gathered outside Saturday’s show.
After opening his Lincoln Financial Field concert — part of his ongoing U.S. leg of his Loop tour — by addressing the criticism he’s received, Sheeran made another statement near the end of his show.
“The last week of my life has been one of the worst weeks of my life, and today has been one of the weirdest days of my life. Tonight has been honestly the best show of my life,” the “Galway Girl” said.
“I really didn’t know whether this tour would carry on, I really didn’t know whether I’d get on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all. But, you know, in these situations, you really find out who your friends are. And it’s been a weird week,” he continued.
“I just feel like everything happened very quickly. And the whole time I have so many people telling me to cancel this tour, and I have so many people falling out of my life that I’ve known for years and years and years, people just kind of backing away.”
Sheeran continued, talking about the ticket sales for the Philadelphia show.
”Everyone’s telling me to cancel, and I’m feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandon me. And I look at the end of the week, and I see 50,000 people who haven’t abandoned me,” he said to the fans.
“People will say what they want, but I’m doing this for you. I love you. I love this. I love the unison we have here. I love the feeling this concert brings. I love bringing people together of all races, all religions, all political ideas.”
He continued: “A lot of people here have differing opinions, and we’ve had a great night. And you are standing next to people and dancing with people who you may disagree with. And you probably understand them better by being, you know, one and love. I have had so many opinions on this. But the root of it is love. And if this tour ends, love doesn’t win. Love doesn’t win. You know? I can’t let you guys down. That’s why I’m here tonight, on my own, for you guys.”
Sheeran opened his concert by acknowledging the politics at the heart of the controversy, saying, “What happened in Israel, and at the music festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate.”
“My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilian loss and loss of children’s lives. And the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfolding the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
The Philadelphia concert, originally scheduled to kick off at 5:30 p.m. ET, was pushed to 8 p.m. after Sheeran’s openers quit. He wound up taking the stage with a different group of backing musicians.
Earlier this week, Macklemore announced that he had been dropped as the support act for the remainder of Sheeran’s U.S. tour dates, claiming that the singer told him that Robert Kraft — the CEO of Kraft Group who owns Gillette Stadium — had personally called to say that he would not be allowed to perform at the venue.
Hours after Sheeran said he would not be drawn into a public debate about the Gaza war and that the decision to remove Macklemore was “the promoter’s decision,” Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga, the Danish band Lukas Graham, and Finneas announced on Instagram that they were withdrawing from the tour.
Rowe was one of Macklemore’s replacements for Sheeran’s remaining U.S. dates, while Beoga was serving as Sheeran’s touring band. Finneas, Billie Eilish’s brother and musical collaborator, was due to tour with Sheeran in South America later this year.
As the backlash over Macklemore’s firing grew, the rapper announced on social media that he would donate $1 million in net earnings from his appearances on Sheeran’s tour to organizations aiding Palestinians, while challenging Kraft to match the sum.
Kraft acknowledged that Sheeran asked him to match the “Shape of You” singer's $2 million donation. It has not yet been confirmed whether Kraft went ahead with the donation but he said in a statement that the pair planned to “work together to build bridges.”
Sheeran is next scheduled to perform September 25 at Kraft’s Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts.
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