The American rapper Macklemore opened his self-styled Free Palestine tour in Dublin on Sunday night, playing to a sell-out crowd of up to 13,000 at the 3Arena weeks after Ed Sheeran's promoters dropped him from the singer's stadium tour over his remarks about Gaza.
The show, the first date of a brief European run that reaches London on Friday, comes after one of the more unedifying spats in recent pop history, and it raises a question this country will have to face sooner or later: how much political agitation do we want on our stages?
How the row with Ed Sheeran began
According to the BBC, the trouble started in early September, when Macklemore, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, was performing as Sheeran's opening act at a stadium in New Jersey. Rather than simply warm up the crowd, he told tens of thousands of paying customers that a big part of why he had joined the tour was to stand up and say two words: Free Palestine.
He then performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University, with lyrics critical of Israel's military campaign in Gaza. He had already drawn criticism from Jewish groups after making the same declaration at two earlier concerts and delivering speeches in which he described the death toll from Israel's action in Gaza as a genocide, a characterisation Israel firmly rejects.
On 14 September he was removed from the tour. Macklemore accused stadium owners of conspiring to push him out, and the billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft accused him of hate speech and antisemitic rhetoric. Sheeran, for his part, has insisted the decision was taken by his promoter, Messina Touring Group, not by him.
A tour built on grievance
What followed was, by any measure, a shambles. Sheeran's support acts withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore, fans complained, and Sheeran was forced into an awkward apology on stage in Philadelphia, admitting he had made mistakes and calling the conflict a humanitarian issue. He described the 7 October 2023 Hamas attacks as horrific, and the situation in Gaza as unjustifiable and disproportionate. One might charitably call that an attempt to please everybody.
Macklemore, meanwhile, turned the affair into a commercial proposition. He announced his own benefit tour, with proceeds going to organisations supporting Palestinians, and dates in Dublin, Paris and London. As Complex reported, the concerts promptly sold out. Writing after the Dublin show, Joe.co.uk noted the rapper had played his Gaza protest song Hind's Hall, while the International Business Times quoted him telling the crowd that being a human being is not complicated.
The Dublin crowd and what it signals
The scenes outside the 3Arena before doors opened told their own story. Concertgoers queued for hours, some in Palestinian football jerseys, some with Palestinian and Irish flags tied round their shoulders, many wearing keffiyeh scarves. Vendors sold Palestinian bucket hats alongside merchandise bearing the logo of Kneecap, the Irish rap trio with its own record of controversy.
The BBC quoted several fans who had travelled from Belfast and Cork. One mother, Nicola McCollough, said more people with a platform should speak out. Another, Gillian Duffy, predicted that if Macklemore had put on ten shows in Dublin, all ten would have been filled.
That prediction, one fears, is accurate. There is plainly a large and eager audience for this sort of spectacle, and Ireland has become its natural home. When a pop concert doubles as a political rally, with chants of Free, free Palestine promised across Dublin, we are no longer watching entertainment. We are watching campaigning by other means, and it is worth asking whether British venues hosting Friday's London date will take any interest in what is being staged under their roofs.
The context nobody on stage mentions
It should not need repeating, but it does. Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza in response to the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage. Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry says more than 70,000 people have since been killed; the UN considers those figures reliable, and Israel says its operations comply with international law.
None of that complexity was much in evidence at the 3Arena. What was in evidence was a crowd of 13,000 people cheering a message, a rapper cashing in the goodwill, and a touring circuit that has learned there is money in grievance. Sheeran's promoter made a commercial judgement in September. Whether Britain's own venues will show the same resolve on Friday, when the tour reaches London, is another matter entirely.
FAQ
Why was Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran's tour?
His promoter, Messana Touring Group, removed him on 14 September after he said Free Palestine on stage in New Jersey and performed a song criticising Israel's military action in Gaza, remarks that drew accusations of antisemitism from Jewish groups and from stadium owner Robert Kraft.
Where is the Free Palestine tour playing?
Dublin's 3Arena on Sunday, Paris on Thursday and London on Friday. All dates have sold out, and Macklemore says proceeds will go to organisations supporting Palestinians.
What has Ed Sheeran said about the row?
He said the decision was his promoter's, not his, then apologised in Philadelphia for his mistakes in handling the fallout, calling the 7 October attacks horrific and the situation in Gaza unjustifiable and disproportionate.