Ed Sheeran returned to his Loop tour on September 19 at Philadelphia's Lincoln Financial Field, performing for the first time since a week of controversy that saw his entire support lineup and backing band exit the tour. The departures followed the removal of Macklemore as an opening act over a pro-Palestine speech he delivered at Gillette Stadium in New Jersey.
Macklemore's dismissal came after figures including Pink and the Israeli American Council called for his removal. Gillette Stadium owner Robert Kraft later said he found the speech «deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.» In the days that followed, all of Sheeran's support acts — FINNEAS, Lukas Graham, Aaron Rowe, and Beoga — dropped out, issuing statements in support of Macklemore. Sheeran had previously said he was «not complicit» and described himself as «appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine,» calling the suffering on both sides a «tragedy.»
Before the show began, Sheeran addressed the crowd directly. «I'm used to my music being criticized, and I'm always happy to take that because I'm lucky a lot of you like my stuff,» he said. «But this week, the criticism was about something much more important, and I've had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes, and I'm so, so sorry.» He went on to describe the October 7 attack on the Nova music festival as «horrific» and said it «compounded centuries of Jewish pain,» while calling the situation in Gaza «catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate.» He also said the «systemic injustice» in the West Bank «cannot be overlooked.»
Sheeran explained that the show's usual B-stage segment was scrapped for safety reasons. «I didn't know if they were going to throw things at me. I didn't know if people would be angry with me,» he said. He also described the scramble to replace his band, calling a friend he had toured with the previous year and asking her to perform. She agreed and brought musician friends who had three days to learn the songs. «They agreed to come on stage knowing that the world might hate them too for coming on stage with me,» Sheeran said.
Toward the end of the night, Sheeran sat at the edge of the stage and read a longer statement from a teleprompter. «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,» he declared. He admitted he did not know whether the tour would continue or whether he wanted to remain an artist. «In these situations, you really find out who your friends are,» he said, noting that many people had urged him to cancel the tour and that longtime acquaintances had backed away.
What ultimately convinced him to stay, he said, was the audience's response. «I saw ticket sales for this gig, and I didn't see cancellations; I saw people buying tickets,» he said. The show went on with a substitute band and no opening acts, and Sheeran closed by thanking the crowd, calling the concert a place where everyone is welcome and where people with opposing views can stand together and sing songs about «love, hope and unity.»