Ed Sheeran’s two gigs at the Gillette Stadium in Foxborough in the US have been cancelled due to “severe weather warnings”.
The touring company behind Sheeran’s tour, which has seen all support acts withdraw after Macklemore was removed as a warm-up act for comments he made about Gaza, said the decision had been made on Friday and Saturday’s shows due to the potential impact on the safety of fans and staff.
A statement from Messina Touring, which is organising Sheeran’s Loop Tour, read: “Due to the severe weather warnings in place in Boston and across New England throughout the weekend and following consultation with local officials, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Ed Sheeran concerts at Gillette Stadium.
“The decision was made with the safety of fans, staff and everyone involved in the shows as the top priority.
“Refunds are available now at the point of purchase.
“Ticketholders who purchased through Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded.”
Robert Kraft, whose Kraft Group owns the Gillette Stadium, was among the people who contacted Sheeran and told him they would not be able to play the venue unless Macklemore was removed from the tour.
It comes after Sheeran played his first gig since the row last Saturday, with a new backing band and his b-stage removed, where he said he had questioned whether he “wanted to be an artist at all” after the furore.
Speaking in clips from the gig shared on social media, he said: “I didn’t know if I would have things thrown at me, I didn’t know if people would be angry with me.
“So today I apologise that today is not the usual Loop show, I took the b-stage out because I was afraid of what might happen if I stood in the middle, and I will admit that.”
The English singer said he had tried in the past not to be a “political commentator” because he wanted his shows to be about “unity”.
“I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore,” he said.
“What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7 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 civilians’ lives, children’s lives.
“And the systemic injustice we are seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
He also said that he is “deeply worried” about the idea that venues should “pre-approve” content, adding: “This happens in so many places that I perform around the world, but it should never happen in the free world.”
Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Grammy award-winning musician Finneas, who is Billie Eilish’s brother, and Danish singer Lukas Graham, as well as Sheeran’s backing band Beoga, all dropped out of the remaining dates following the rapper’s removal.
Macklemore’s departure from the Loop Tour came after he said he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten during a show at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
On Thursday, Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, announced a European tour named Free Palestine, which will see him perform shows in London, Paris and Dublin.
Announcing the tour, the Thrift Shop rapper said: “If these last couple of weeks have shown us anything, it’s that something has shifted over the last three years.
“There has been a collective awakening around Palestinian liberation, the power of billionaires that try to censor that call, and what we expect from artists right now.
“It’s 2026. Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore. People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves and be in community.
“To use the stage for more than entertainment. To push back when the call for a Free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it.”
All the proceeds from the concerts will go towards a number of organisations working in support of Palestinian people including medical care, humanitarian assistance, education, community support and advocacy.
