Macklemore says major US arenas refused to book ‘Free Palestine’ tour

Macklemore, the indie rapper who was kicked off Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour in September over his public support of Palestinians, said on Saturday (AEDT) that nine arenas in the United States refused to book him for a “Free Palestine” benefit tour he had planned.

In a social media post, Macklemore wrote that in mid-September, after being removed from Sheeran’s tour, his team contacted arenas in the United States and “received available dates at these arenas through the end of the year.”

“But once they found out these were my benefit shows for Palestine,” his statement continued, “those dates were suddenly off the table.”

Macklemore named nine venues: Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and UBS Arena in New York; Prudential Centre in Newark, New Jersey; Intuit Dome, Kia Forum and Crypto.com Arena in and around Los Angeles; Chase Centre Arena in San Francisco; and Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle, Macklemore’s hometown.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Madison Square Garden said: “We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he’s not an arena-level act.”

A spokesperson for Kia Forum said the venue had no comment. None of the other venues responded to requests for comment.

Macklemore, who had breakout success in the early 2010s with songs like Thrift Shop and Can’t Hold Us, was removed from Sheeran’s tour after he appeared at two shows at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in early September.

There, he proclaimed “Free Palestine” and performed Hind’s Hall, his protest song against Israel’s conduct of the war in the Gaza Strip, which came in response to the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. In that song, Macklemore accuses Israel of genocide.

Macklemore said that owners of the venues where the Sheeran tour had been scheduled demanded he be removed. Robert Kraft, whose company owns the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium outside Boston, said that his venues do not allow “hate speech,” and that Macklemore’s statements at MetLife had crossed that line.

Macklemore’s removal renewed debate about the power of billionaires to control free speech, and the power of artists to resist it.

After Sheeran said he had played no part in the decision, every other musician associated with his tour, including opening acts and his backing band, dropped out in solidarity with Macklemore. Sheeran continued the tour, at first alone and then picking up other musicians.

In his statement on Friday, Macklemore added: “We live in a country that prides itself on freedom of speech. Yet we’ve reached a point where a handful of billionaires can decide which causes are acceptable, which voices are welcome and which human lives are worth defending.”

In late October, Macklemore played arena shows in London, Paris and Dublin as part of a benefit tour. When that tour was announced, representatives of Macklemore said they expected additional dates to be booked in the US, but none were.

Though Macklemore has never been a stadium-level touring attraction, he has maintained a steady fan base for years. In October, he played a solo concert at Red Rocks Amphitheatre, near Morrison, Colorado.

In 2023, he went on a tour of arenas and theatres, including Climate Pledge Arena.