Irish acts Beoga and Aaron Rowe lead walkout from Ed Sheeran’s tour after Macklemore was removed over Palestine solidarity.
Every scheduled opening act, plus Sheeran’s touring band, has pulled out of the Loop Tour in solidarity with Macklemore, who was dropped after saying “Free Palestine” onstage.
Four supporting acts, including all scheduled opening acts, quit Ed Sheeran’s tour on Tuesday after the rapper Macklemore was removed for pro-Palestinian comments onstage during a recent show. This is what happens when you court your Irish heritage by bringing Irish artists on tour – they will lead the way when it comes to showing Palestinian solidarity Ed.
Within hours of Sheeran posting about Macklemore’s removal and blaming the tour’s promoters, Irish acts Aaron Rowe and Beoga, Danish artist Lukas Graham and Billie Eilish’ brother Finneas all announced on Instagram that they were withdrawing. This is unprecedented levels of solidarity.
It’s an incredible story, one I had completely unforeseen today. I didn’t expect the other support artists to make such a fuss.
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Aaron Rowe
Upcoming Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe was the first artist to cancel the tour in the fallout, a truly brave stance for a young emerging artist to take in the face of Ed Sheeran’s vanilla comments defending what has happened.
“Ed has been a friend to me and has changed my life, I could never thank him enough for this”, said Rowe ,”But as Irish people we know all too well about genocide, forced famine and violent occupation.
“I cannot stand by and allow billionaires to use their position of power to silence the rightful voices of those who speak up against Israeli genocide and who highlight the savage murder of children. I would lose all respect for myself to carry on as normal.
I need to be true to myself and my ancestors who resisted colonisation, and fought for a freedom that I enjoy today in Ireland.”
Beoga
We have made the decision to depart as Ed Sheeran’s band on the remaining US Loop tour, following the silencing of Macklemore by zionist lobbies.
We are a traditional Irish band who never saw ourselves playing in stadiums of that size and that opportunity is not lost on us. We have been friends with Ed for over 10 years now and will continue to be. We believe in dialogue as a means of progressing the plight of the Palestinian people.
As musicians, playing to those crowds every night is the stuff of dreams but to play in venues that silence anyone advocating for a Free Palestine is simply not an option for us.
It’s important that everyone knows that the real enemy is the zionist lobby. They have worked tirelessly to silence artists who want to speak freely about a genocide happening before our eyes, for fear of retribution.
Research how much Robert Kraft has done to fight the BDS movement. That will give you a sense of what we’ve all been up against.
We were there for Macklemore’s performance and speech. We fully supported his message, so did most of the audience in Met Life Stadium which terrifies the lobbies. Go back and read the transcript if you’re in doubt.
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.
This whole episode is once again serving to distract from the real issue, over 1000 Palestinians have been killed since the most recent so-called ceasefire.
Up the workers.
Free Palestine.
BEOGA
FREE PALESTINE
Lukas Graham / Finneas
Finneas, who has spoken out for Palestinians before, posted a short statement: “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 thanked Sheeran and called it a difficult decision, but said wealth should not decide who gets to speak or whose suffering gets acknowledged. That was taken as a reference to billionaire Robert Kraft.
All of this was a response to what Ed Sheeran actually said:
Sheeran’s statement tried to hide behind the loyalty to his fans – children, his crew and the musicians who depend on him for work. Within hours, those musicians had spoken up in opposition to his words – which suggests he never even considered their thoughts in the first place. Rowe and Beoga both went out of their way to call him a friend, which makes the walkout harder to dismiss.
By choosing his apolitical stance, Sheeran has ended up without openers or a band ahead of Saturday’s Philadelphia show – just one solitary half-billionaire, his sad little songs and a loop pedal left until further notice. Can a loop pedal leave a tour in protest too?
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
