Macklemore Opens Sold-Out Free Palestine Tour in Dublin, Six Weeks After Exit From Sheeran Tour

Six weeks after losing a supporting slot on Ed Sheeran's US stadium tour, Macklemore filled Dublin's 3Arena on Monday night, Oct. 26. The venue holds about 13,000. The show was sold out.

It was the first date of his "Free Palestine" tour. Paris is next on Thursday, Oct. 29, then London on Friday, Oct. 30. US dates are also planned.

How he got here

Macklemore, whose legal name is Benjamin Haggerty, shouted "Free Palestine" during two sets at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on Sept. 4 and 5. He also told Palestinians they were "not forgotten." He was removed from the remaining dates of Sheeran's Loop Tour on Sept. 14.

Jewish groups criticized him over the comments and over speeches in which he called the death toll in Gaza a genocide. Israel rejects that characterization. Israel says its troops operate in Gaza and the West Bank in self-defense and in accordance with international law.

The Gaza campaign followed the Hamas-led attack of Oct. 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage. More than 70,000 people have died in Gaza since, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable.

Who made the call

Sheeran has said the decision to drop Macklemore came from his promoter, not from him. Macklemore has claimed that Robert Kraft, CEO of the Kraft Group, which owns Gillette Stadium, called Sheeran personally to say Macklemore would not be allowed to play that venue. That account comes from Macklemore. Sheeran's stated position is that he did not make the call.

Sheeran later said at a Philadelphia concert that the situation in Gaza was "unjustifiable and disproportionate." Four other supporting acts, including the American singer Finneas, left the tour in solidarity with Macklemore. So did the Irish folk band Beoga.

The Dublin show

Macklemore told the crowd: "Six weeks ago, it was two words. Two words is all that it took." He called them "a call to recognise our shared humanity." He also said: "Somehow, those words have become more controversial than the suffering that made them necessary."

Hozier, the Belfast rap trio Kneecap and Beoga all performed. The Guardian's review also listed Dead Prez, the Palestinian American DJ Habibeats and singer Lina Makoul. Video messages came from actors Mark Ruffalo and Cynthia Nixon and from Strokes frontman Julian Casablancas. The Guardian's reviewer wrote that the tour is playing noticeably bigger rooms than Macklemore's last European run and that every date is sold out.

Fans lined up hours before doors opened. Vendors outside sold keffiyeh scarves, Palestinian flags and Kneecap merchandise.

"The USA is supposed to be the country of free speech and instead people are being shut down," said Grainne Healy, a 60-year-old retiree at the show. Maria Liddy, 40, said "artists should never be censored in any capacity." Michael Keating, a 31-year-old insurance worker, said Macklemore was "risking his popularity, his future."

The money

Macklemore said all proceeds will go to 12 organizations supporting Palestinians. They include Medical Aid for Palestinians, the Palestine Children's Relief Fund and Gaza Soup Kitchen. No total has been announced.

The constitutional free speech question is narrow here. No government silenced anyone. A promoter and a pop star's camp made a business decision about a stadium bill, and a paying audience of 13,000 answered it. Whether Kraft or anyone else pressured Sheeran's team is still an open dispute between Macklemore's account and Sheeran's.

The next test is whether Paris and London sell out as Dublin did, and how the US dates play, since that is where the original dispute started.

Macklemore has named the 12 recipients but not a fundraising figure, and that number will come only after the shows are done.