Ed Sheeran Opener Aaron Rowe Pulls Out of Tour After Macklemore Dropped: ‘I Cannot Allow Billionaires to Silence Rightful Voices’

Aaron Rowe, the Irish singer-songwriter, has withdrawn from his supporting slot on the North American portion of Ed Sheeran's Loop tour. His exit follows the removal of fellow opener Macklemore, who was taken off the bill after making pro-Palestine remarks. Rowe announced the decision via Instagram, pairing the news with a personal statement of solidarity with Palestine.

Calling the choice agonizing, Rowe said Sheeran had been both a friend and a transformative mentor whom he could never adequately thank. Nevertheless, he argued that remaining on the tour would have required him to abandon his principles. Drawing on Ireland's own history, he invoked genocide, forced famine, and violent occupation, and declared he could not stay quiet while billionaires leveraged their power to silence critics of Israeli genocide and the killing of children. To carry on as if nothing were amiss, he wrote, would strip him of his self-respect. He closed by pledging loyalty to himself and to his ancestors who resisted colonisation, ending with the phrase "Free Palestine." Rowe, whose breakout single "Nobody" arrived in 2021, had previously opened for Sheeran on the Australian leg of the Loop tour earlier this year before rejoining the lineup in June for the North American dates.

Lukas Graham remains scheduled to support the tour when it resumes on September 19 in Philadelphia, while Finneas will back the South American shows in November. The Loop tour ranks among the year's highest-grossing concert runs, and the political friction surrounding its support acts has drawn heightened attention. Rowe's departure is expected to sharpen questions about how much control artists genuinely exercise over their own tours when promoters and venues hold the contractual advantage. That imbalance is nothing new: in the live music industry, headliners frequently discover that routing, venue agreements, and support-act approvals rest with promoters rather than the performers themselves, a dynamic that has quietly shaped tours for decades.

Macklemore's removal preceded Rowe's. He was dropped after delivering forceful "free Palestine" comments while opening for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey on September 4 and 5. MetLife Stadium, situated in East Rutherford, is among the largest venues in the NFL and has hosted the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup final. On Monday, Macklemore issued a statement accusing Robert Kraft, the billionaire owner of the New England Patriots, of mobilizing fellow stadium owners to ban him from the tour over his remarks. Kraft, who has owned the Patriots since 1994 and is a well-known philanthropist, has not publicly responded. The allegation lays bare the often invisible leverage that team owners and venue operators hold over who performs, irrespective of an artist's fanbase or touring success.

Sheeran addressed the matter on Tuesday morning, stating he played no part in the decision to remove Macklemore. In his account, the move was made at the discretion of promoters and venues. He further noted that he prefers to remain publicly neutral on political issues and pushed back on the idea that such neutrality renders him "complicit." His remarks highlight the mounting pressure on artists to pick sides amid intensifying global debate over the conflict, even as tour logistics stay largely in the hands of promoters and venue owners.