Ed Sheeran Ticket Prices Plunge After Macklemore Backlash - Newsweek

Prices for tickets to the remaining dates on Ed Sheeran’s U.S. tour have plummeted in recent days, after the British singer failed to contain the backlash that followed the removal of American rapper Macklemore over his pro-Palestinian comments.

According to figures from the website TicketData.com, resale prices have fallen for nine out of the 10 shows left on Sheeran’s Loop Tour over the past week, with those for Saturday’s concert at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia dropping by 45 percent to $75 as of midday on Friday.

This comes after Macklemore was dropped as the opening act following comments he made in support of Palestinians, a decision Sheeran has blamed on the tour’s organizers and promoters.

Keith Pagello, founder of TicketData.com, told Newsweek that there were a number of factors influencing the trend—described as “not atypical”—including customary declines in price in the days leading up to any event. However, he said the drop for the upcoming Philadelphia show was “clearly pushing the edge of what you'd normally expect.”

“I think it's safe to say that any further decline today would be a strong sign that demand, and ticket prices, are falling by a newsworthy amount, at least for that show,” Pagello said.

Newsweek has attempted to contact representatives of Sheeran for comment.

According to TicketData, prices for Sheeran’s remaining tour dates on websites like StubHub and SeatGeek have dropped by up to 45 percent, with “get-in” prices now ranging from $74 to $426 and only the October 24 show in Arlington, Texas, having seen no movement.

Prices for upcoming shows have seen steeper declines since the Macklemore speeches, though Pagello said drops of this kind are typical as events approach.

“Across the whole universe of concerts, more shows decline in price as the date approaches than rise,” he said.

For the 17 shows that took place before the drama unfolded, Pagello said get-in prices fell by “an average of 22 percent over the final 2 weeks leading up to the show. So some softening in the run-up to the show is not atypical for this tour.”

However, offering evidence that the events of September 4-5 were having an impact on fan interest, Pagello pointed to Macklemore’s show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado on October 22.

TicketData figures show that prices for the concert, in contrast to Sheeran’s for similar dates, have risen 35 percent over the past week.

“That's a surge we can say with confidence would not have happened absent this week's events,” Pagello said. “Some of the moves on Ed's shows are harder to separate from what could have possibly happened anyway.”

In two short speeches onstage at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey earlier this month, the Grammy-winning rapper Macklemore—real name Benjamin Haggerty—said he wanted “the people from Gaza, all the way to the occupied West Bank, [to] know that we have not forgotten them.”

Macklemore thanked pro-Palestinian activists for their “bravery,” told his “Jewish brothers and sisters” that “being against genocide in no way is a criticism of you,” and several times called for a “free Palestine” and global solidarity with oppressed groups.

This triggered a petition from the nonprofit Israeli American Council, which called on Sheeran and the tour’s organizers to “remove Macklemore from the remaining Loop Tour dates on which he is scheduled to appear.”

Days later, Macklemore announced on Instagram that he had been removed from the remainder of Sheeran’s tour, blaming it on pressure from New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. Kraft owns Gillette Stadium, where Sheeran is set to perform on September 25-26.

In a statement on Tuesday, Sheeran said he was “appalled by the conflict between Israel and Palestine,” called the suffering on “both sides” a “human tragedy,” and said it was the decision of promoters and venue owners to fire Macklemore from the remaining concerts.

But the statement has faced significant backlash, with all of Sheeran’s band and all of his supporting acts dropping out of the tour, and his music being pulled from certain radio stations, notably in Ireland.

Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Dave Siminoff.