American rapper Macklemore has launched his Free Palestine tour in Dublin, drawing a crowd of up to 13,000 after being dropped from Ed Sheeran’s tour last month over his pro-Palestinian remarks.
The rapper, whose real name is Benjamin Haggerty, performed at the sold-out 3Arena, with singer-songwriter Hozier, rap trio Kneecap and folk band Beoga among the surprise guests. Beoga had also performed on Sheeran’s tour.
Macklemore announced the tour days after being removed from Sheeran’s Loop Tour following political comments he made onstage in support of Palestinians. He has pledged to donate proceeds from the Free Palestine tour to organisations supporting Palestinians.
He is scheduled to perform in Paris on Thursday and London on Friday, according to BBC.
Macklemore faced criticism from Jewish groups after saying “Free Palestine” at two concerts and delivering political speeches, including describing the death toll from Israel’s military campaign in Gaza as a genocide, a characterisation Israel rejects.
Sheeran later clarified that the decision to remove Macklemore from the tour had been made by concert promoter Messina Touring Group, not by him.
Tickets for the Dublin concert sold out, with dozens of fans queuing outside the venue hours before it opened. Many wore Palestinian jerseys and keffiyeh scarves, while others displayed Palestinian and Irish flags. Vendors outside the arena sold Palestinian flags and bucket hats, alongside merchandise bearing the Kneecap logo.
Nicola McCollough travelled from Belfast with her daughter, Lily Rose Murphy, for the latter’s first concert. Both welcomed Macklemore’s public support for Palestinians.
“More people need to, if you have the platform, do it because not everybody has that kind of stage,” Nicola said.
“I would speak about anything if I'm supportive of it,” Lily Rose added.
Gillian Duffy, who travelled from Cork with her son Joshua, said demand for the concert reflected widespread support for Macklemore’s stance.
“If Macklemore had put on 10 shows in Dublin, all 10 would have been filled,” she said.
“This is the hottest ticket because people want to be here, they really, really want to show their support,” she added, predicting that chants of “Free, free Palestine” would be heard across Dublin that night.
Jess O’Riordan, another concertgoer from Cork, described Macklemore’s removal from Sheeran’s tour as “absolutely appalling”.
“I wish we had more people out there that would use their platform the way he does,” she said.
The controversy began in early September when Macklemore, performing as Sheeran’s opening act at a concert in New Jersey, told the audience that one of the main reasons he had joined the tour was to use the stadium stage to say “Free Palestine”.
The rapper, known for his hit “Thrift Shop”, then performed a song dedicated to pro-Palestinian protesters at Columbia University in the United States. Its lyrics criticise Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.
Macklemore was removed from the tour on September 14 and subsequently accused stadium owners of coordinating efforts to push him out. Billionaire stadium owner Robert Kraft also accused him of hate speech and antisemitic rhetoric concerning Israel and Gaza.
Sheeran said the decision had been made by the concert promoter. The controversy prompted all of Sheeran’s support acts to withdraw from the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, while some fans expressed frustration over the decision.
Sheeran later addressed the backlash at the start of a concert in Philadelphia, acknowledging that he had made “mistakes” in handling the fallout and apologising to fans. He described the Israel-Gaza conflict as a humanitarian issue, calling the October 7, 2023 attacks “horrific” and the situation in Gaza “unjustifiable and disproportionate”.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and saw 251 others taken hostage.
More than 70,000 people have since been killed in Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. The figures are considered reliable by the United Nations.
Israel maintains that its forces conduct operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank in self-defence and in accordance with international law.