Singer Ed Sheeran’s Boston concerts stand cancelled

British singer Ed Sheeran’s two concerts scheduled for this weekend at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, have been cancelled due to severe weather, according to a US media report.

Sheeran’s Friday and Saturday night shows, which were to have been held at the stadium of the N.F.L.’s New England Patriots in Foxborough, Mass., were called off along with several other events as the nor’easter is expected to bring in potentially damaging winds and heavy rain.
The promoter for Sheeran’s “Loop Tour” said in a statement on Friday that anyone with a ticket for the Gillette Stadium shows can be refunded.

“Due to the severe weather warnings in place in Boston and across New England throughout the weekend and following consultation with local officials, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Ed Sheeran concerts,” Messina Touring, the tour promoter, said. “The decision was made with the safety of fans, staff and everyone involved in the shows as the top priority.”

Sheeran’s opening acts and his backing band had dropped out after the rapper Macklemore was kicked off the tour. He had said “Free Palestine” onstage at two of Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey this month. 

Robert Kraft, whose company owns the Patriots and Gillette Stadium, had decided Sheeran’s tour could not play in the stadium if Macklemore was also performing. Mr. Sheeran initially said in a statement the decision to remove Macklemore was “not mine,” which touched off the resignations of his band members and supporting acts.

Sheeran became the target of criticism for not talking about his views on the issue and for appearing to acquiesce to Mr. Kraft. But he has continued to tour, opening a show in Philadelphia last week with an apology for “mistakes” in handling the situation.

By Thursday nearly 200 people had already complained that they had had trouble getting refunds for the Gillette Stadium shows, the Massachusetts attorney general, Andrea Joy Campbell, said in a statement that predated the cancellations.

The attorney general said at the time that she had received a commitment from Ticketmaster to refund tickets purchased through the platform because “changing nearly all of the acts and performers at the same time constitutes such a dramatic change in the service.”

Sheeran’s tour will continue. He’s slated to perform next at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta on October 3.