Less than a week after announcing the dates for his Free Palestine tour, Macklemore announced on social media that the three dates in Dublin, Paris and London were “immediately sold out”.
The Seattle rapper has announced his own headlining dates following the fallout from his exclusion from Ed Sheeran’s stadium tour for expressing support for the Palestinian people on stage. “I’m honestly blown away,” Macklemore began his post shared Wednesday. “We put on these shows quickly and as a community, believing that musicians can stand in solidarity with Palestine, use the stage to raise money and show what collective action can look like. When those in power try to silence our calls for liberation, art will always be a form of resistance.”
Macklmore thanked fans in Dublin, Paris and London “for showing up the way you did”. He added: “The response to these broadcasts is another reminder of how many people around the world are uniting for a free Palestine. The lines are coming soon. I can’t wait to be together.”
His Free Palestine Tour kicks off in Dublin on October 26, followed by Paris on the 29th and London a day later. US dates will be announced at a later date.
Earlier this month, Macklemore took the stage at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The rapper addressed the thousands of people present. “A big part of why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are close to my heart: Free Palestine,” Macklemore said. “I want these words to be loud and clear, so that people from Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten them. » His speech was met with cheers from the crowd while others reportedly left the room during his performance.
In a statement later shared on Instagram, Macklemore claimed he was dropped from the tour after Robert Kraft – the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium – launched a pressure campaign against Sheeran. Kraft, in his own statement, confirmed that he made the decision to ban Macklemore from performing at Gillette, saying it was based on his “recent actions, material shared on stage at Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe have been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community.” »
Sheeran continued his tour without supporting acts in Philadelphia earlier this month, with each opening match dropping off the bill in support of Macklemore.
In Macklemore’s announcement about the three-concert series, the rapper said he reached out to “artists who showed up and used their stages to express solidarity with the Palestinian people, regardless of the consequences.” He continued: “Artists who understand that our platforms don’t mean much if we’re only willing to use them when it’s safe to do so. »
Macklemore didn’t name any of these supporting artists because, as he said, he’s still working out the details. He wrote: “All profits will be donated to organizations supporting the Palestinian people and movement.”
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