Macklemore turns the Ed Sheeran fallout into a night for Palestine in Dublin

Six weeks after being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s US tour over two words he said on stage, Macklemore opened a tour of his own in Dublin. Monday night at the 3Arena brought together Irish and international artists who have spent the past year saying much the same thing from their own stages.

The Grammy-winning rapper, born Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, had promised “many incredible surprise guests,” according to RTÉ, and he delivered a bill so crowded that he did not walk on himself until after 10pm.

Actor Liam Cunningham welcomed the crowd. Palestinian singer Lina Makhoul opened the music with a wordless a cappella passage. Video messages from Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon, Ilana Glazer and Julian Casablancas played on the screens between sets, alongside a filmed performance by the Al Hurriyah children’s choir in Gaza. Dead Prez and DJ Habibeats performed, Kneecap set off mosh pits on the floor, and Hozier drew one of the loudest welcomes of the night with "Too Sweet" and a stark reading of "The Prayer of Sheil", a 19th-century song written by Drogheda man John Sheil.

Macklemore closed the night with "Same Love", "Hind’s Hall" and "White Walls", pulled on a Bohemians jersey, debuted a new track called "Where Is Our Love?", and finished well past curfew with "Can’t Hold Us". The Irish Times gave the show four stars and called it the most emphatic answer Macklemore could have given to the Sheeran affair.

What actually happened with Ed Sheeran

The row began on September 4, when Macklemore was opening for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Introducing Hind’s Hall, his 2024 protest song about Gaza, he told the stadium that Palestinians had not been forgotten and chanted “Free Palestine” while footage from the war played behind him.

The backlash was immediate. The Israeli American Council launched a petition demanding his removal from the bill. Within days, Messina Touring Group, which promoted the US leg of Sheeran’s Loop tour, announced that Macklemore would not appear at the remaining support dates, saying venues had notified the company they would not allow concerts to go ahead with him on the lineup. He had been scheduled for eight of the final 10 US shows.

Macklemore then alleged on Instagram that New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft had rallied other stadium owners into issuing an ultimatum to Sheeran’s team. Kraft said in a statement that his position was not about diminishing Palestinian suffering, but that advocacy should not come at the cost of the Jewish community.

Sheeran broke his silence on September 15. “Macklemore coming off tour was the promoter’s decision; it was not mine,” he wrote in a statement posted to Instagram, adding that Macklemore’s contract was with the promoter rather than with him. Macklemore has maintained that he holds no personal grudge against Sheeran, whom he has described as a friend of 13 years.

Two Irish acts walked away in solidarity. Aaron Rowe and the Antrim trad group Beoga, who co-wrote Sheeran’s "Galway Girl", both withdrew from the tour. Beoga were on the 3Arena stage on Monday.

Why Ireland was first

Macklemore scheduled Dublin ahead of Paris and London, and he said so from the stage. He told the crowd he had called a lot of people over the previous six weeks and that Hozier and Kneecap said yes right away.

That reflects something broader. More than 2,500 Irish artists have signed a pledge to boycott Israel, according to the Irish Times, and Kneecap have made Palestinian solidarity a defining part of their public identity at high professional cost.

Hozier used his slot to press a specific case. He told the arena about 55 students in Gaza who have won fully funded scholarships to Irish universities but are still waiting on visa approvals, directing the crowd to a petition displayed behind him. “It’s baffling why it hasn’t been solved yet,” he said, in comments reported by TheJournal.ie. He and Kneecap were among the signatories of an open letter last week urging Taoiseach Micheál Martin to intervene.

Beoga’s bodhrán player, Eamon Murray, spoke about the band’s work with Irish Artists for Palestine and said the tide was changing, adding that he had never been prouder of where he is from.

Macklemore returned repeatedly to the question of why the phrase had caused so much trouble. He told the 3Arena that the words have “become more divisive than the suffering that made them necessary,” as reported by the Irish Times.

All proceeds from the tour go to organizations supporting Palestinians, including Gaza Soup Kitchen, Medical Aid for Palestinians and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund.