Macklemore's Free Palestine tour sells out 'immediately'
Less than a week after announcing three European arena shows, American rapper Macklemore says his Free Palestine tour has completely sold out.
Macklemore broke the news in an Instagram post on Wednesday. “All three shows sold out immediately,” the rapper wrote.
“I’m honestly blown away. We put these shows together fast and in community, believing that musicians can stand in solidarity with Palestine, use the stage to raise funds and show what collective action can look like,” he said, before adding that line-ups for the show will be announced soon.
The Free Palestine tour was announced as a result of the the rapper’s controversial removal from Ed Sheeran’s US tour earlier this month.
It all began at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4, when Macklemore used his opening slot to call for a “Free Palestine”, telling the crowd he wanted people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to know “we have not forgotten about them”. The speech, and his performance of the protest song ‘Hind’s Hall’, triggered a petition from the Israeli American Council and, according to Macklemore, a pressure campaign by billionaire stadium owners including Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots and the Gillette Stadium.
The fallout after kicking Macklemore off the tour has been substantial for Sheeran, whose remaining support acts — Finneas, Lukas Graham, and Irish band Beoga — withdrew in solidarity. Resale ticket prices for Sheeran’s shows at the Gillette Stadium in Massachusetts plummeted and last week, the tour’s promoters announced that his shows at the stadium will be cancelled “due to severe weather warnings”.
Macklemore, meanwhile, has framed the moment as larger than himself.
“When those in power try to silence our calls for liberation, art will always be a form of resistance,” he said towards the end of his Instagram post.











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