They say that sport and politics don’t mix. Well, this past week it’s been the music industry and politics that have really kicked off.
At an Ed Sheeran concert in New Jersey, his support act, Macklemore, launched into a political rant about supporting Palestine. This upset both the promoters and the stadium owners, who basically said that if Macklemore carried on, the gigs would be cancelled.
Who you may ask is Macklemore? He is an independent American rapper and activist from Seattle, Washington. He is best known for his massive global hits in the 2010s alongside producer Ryan Lewis, operating as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. ‘Thrift Shop’ and ‘Can’t Hold Us’ were two of their biggest hits. Does being the support act give you the right to air your political views and therefore put the whole tour in jeopardy? In my opinion, no. The key word here is ‘support’, he wasn’t tbe lead artist. Feel free to air your views at your own gigs but this paying public had bought their tickets to see Ed Sheeran not to listen to your political views.
It was a no-win situation for Sheeran, who, on the one hand, didn’t want to upset his fans, but also didn’t want to get involved in the political row that was brewing in the States and around the World. He therefore, reluctantly it seems, allowed Macklemore to be relieved of his supporting role.
This decision, however, caused more problems, as Irish singer-songwriter Aaron Rowe, Danish band Lukas Graham, American singer-songwriter Finneas, and Irish folk band Beoga all quit the tour too.
This then forced Sheeran to come out and speak about the situation at his next concert. Tearfully, he said:
“What happened in Israel at the 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, of children’s lives, and the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”
It looks like this has devastated Sheeran, who is known as one of the nice guys on the music scene. My brother-in-law, who is a musician and has played with the likes of Sting, Eric Clapton and the Lighthouse Family, to name a few, says he is one of the most generous musicians out there.
In June 2011, Sheeran released his official debut commercial single, “The A Team”. Despite being a dark folk ballad about addiction, it became a massive mainstream success, debuting at Number 3 on the UK Singles Chart.
This momentum culminated in September 2011 with the release of his debut studio album, [+] (Plus), which topped the charts, went multi-platinum and earned him the British Breakthrough Act award at the 2012 BRIT Awards.
Fast-forward to June 5, 2012, here in Mallorca, and Ed Sheeran appeared on stage at Mallorca Rocks. For those not familiar with the brand, Mallorca Rocks was a popular open-air live music venue and hotel complex located where the Fergus Club Waterpark is today. It operated from 2010 to 2014.
I remember thinking at the time how talented he was as he just stood there with his guitar, belting out songs. There were 3,000 people at that gig, which was just over half full, but he captivated the intimate crowd using nothing but his raw talent. Critics noted that he “left everyone smiling” by completely owning the open-air poolside stage with only his acoustic guitar, a microphone and his signature custom loop pedal.
When he returned to the hotel on July 22, 2014, the stakes were completely different. It was the hotels fourth-birthday celebration and a massive milestone for the brand, but it also marked a bittersweet chapter for them as they announced they were going to close at the end of the season.
Sheeran had transformed himself from the rising indie-folk star of 2012 into a global juggernaut. He had just released his massive second studio album, [x] (Multiply), only a month earlier, in June 2014. Before heading out to the island, he noted in a press release how excited he was to “get back out there in the sun and play some of the new songs this summer”. The crowd got a live taste of freshly released mega-hits like “Sing” and “Don’t”.
In 2018, we went to Wembley Stadium in London to see him play live in front of 80,000 people. He was exactly the same as when I first saw him at Mallorca Rocks six years earlier, in front of 3,000 people. A man and his guitar, belting out hit after hit.
I, for one, hope Ed Sheeran can come through this, as he is without doubt one of the most talented and generous music performers of our generation.
