Celebrity4 min(s) read
Ed Sheeran reveals reason he removed 'Stage B' from his show during tearful Macklemore apology
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Last night (September 19), Ed Sheeran publicly addressed the Macklemore controversy for the first time.
The British artist performed in Philadelphia on Saturday night, in his first show since all of his supporting acts dropped out of his Loop Tour.
Macklemore had released a lengthy statement on social media, explaining that he was removed from Ed Sheeran's tour after he made comments in support of Palestine.
Following his removal from Ed Sheeran's tour, every other artist involved, including the likes of Finneas and Lukas Graham, withdrew in response to the decision.
It comes after Sheeran took to social media to explain the decision, saying he didn't want his shows to become a 'political forum'.
After performing with no opening acts, Sheeran took responsibility for the unfortunate turn of events, explaining: "I've had to take, and make, difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes and I'm so, so sorry for them."
Ed Sheeran explained changes to Loop Tour
The 35-year-old emotionally admitted that his close connections were growing further away, telling fans: "Everyone is telling me to cancel, and I'm feeling all of my friends and family and people I know abandon me, and I look at the end of the week, and I see 50,000 people who haven't abandoned."
He also revealed exactly why there was no B stage at the show, saying: "At this point in the show, to be honest, I usually go out to a B stage, and I’m going to be totally honest with you, I didn’t know what this audience would be like tonight. I didn’t know if I’d have things thrown at me,
“I apologize that today is not the usual show. I took the B stage out because I was afraid what might happen if I stood in the middle and I will admit that. So, the show is a little bit different,” the Thinking Out Loud artist said.
Sheeran spoke about the absence of opening acts, in addition to his friends, Irish folk band Beoga, who usually fill in the role as his backing band.
But they too dropped out of the tour in support of Macklemore and Palestine.
"There are certain songs that just don’t work on the loop pedal," Sheeran admitted, adding: "So when my friends dropped out of this show, I was thinking, how am I going to keep the show the same? And how am I going to get musicians to stand on stage with me in a week when no one wants to stand on stage with me?”
He revealed: “I rung up a friend of mine who is superb, she’s a superb human being, and I toured with her all of last year, all the year before, and the year before that, and I said to her, ‘Would you stand on stage with me?’ And she said yes.”
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Speaking more about his friend, he recalled: "I asked her if she knew any musician friends, and she said yes, and they’ve had three days to learn these songs, three days to learn these songs, and I just want to say before they come on stage, they said yes to being on stage with the knowledge that the world thought I was a certain type of person.”
He said that they agreed to the tour, acknowledging that 'the world may hate them too' for standing with Sheeran.
"And I am so grateful that they’ve been here tonight to stand on stage with me to play for you guys,” he admitted, introducing them: “Mike on drums, CJ on keys, Eric on bass, Clay on guitar, and my dear, dear friend Alicia [Enstrom] on violin. Please make some noise.”