Ed Sheeran says Oct 7 attacks horrific and Gaza catastrophic

Ed Sheeran opened a solo concert Saturday with comments about Gaza after controversy swirled around his tour as supporting acts withdrew in solidarity with opener Macklemore, who was dropped after making pro-Palestinian comments onstage.

Sheeran said he wants his music and shows to be about unity and humanity, not politics. He said the attacks in Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, were horrific and he considers what is happening in Gaza now to be "catastrophic and unjustifiable."

"My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians' lives, of children's lives," Sheeran said during his performance before the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia.

Sheeran has performed much of his Loop Tour concerts solo, but he had been joined for several songs at each stop by the Irish folk band Beoga. Macklemore, Sheeran's original U.S. opener, had been replaced by Danish band Lukas Graham and Irish singer Aaron Rowe before they backed out.

Finneas, Billie Eilish's brother and musical collaborator, was due to tour with Sheeran in South America later this year before he too dropped out earlier this week.

Before the show, a small group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators congregated outside the stadium. Hillary Steinberg, 34, of Philadelphia, said she got tickets a year ago but wound up getting a refund and attended the demonstration instead, disappointed that Sheeran did not take a stand.

"I was, until this week, a big Ed Sheeran fan," Steinberg said. "I think all art is political, and all music is political, and so this choice - even though he was saying that he wasn't complicit - is a political choice."

The show came after a tumultuous week that opened with Macklemore being dropped in response to exclaiming "Free Palestine" during a Sept. 5 show in New Jersey. Sheeran has said he was not responsible for the decision, which came at the urging of New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. His company owns a stadium where Sheeran's tour was scheduled to play on Friday.