Two highly anticipated Ed Sheeran performances at Foxborough, Massachusetts’ Gillette Stadium, scheduled for Friday and Saturday this weekend, have been called off entirely amid active severe weather warnings across the New England region. The shows were a planned stop on the pop star’s ongoing United States tour, a run that has already dominated entertainment headlines for a heated political controversy surrounding the removal of opening act Macklemore.
In an official statement released Wednesday, venue management confirmed the cancellation, noting that after close consultation with local emergency officials and reviewing persistent weather forecasts for dangerous conditions across the Boston area and New England through the entire weekend, tour organizers and promoters made the tough call to scrap both performances. “Every decision we made centered on the safety of concertgoers, venue staff, and every member of the tour team, that was our non-negotiable top priority,” the statement added.
High wind warnings remain in effect across southern New England through early Sunday morning, with state transportation officials already urging non-essential drivers to avoid travel as much as possible to prevent accidents. Ticketholders will be eligible for full refunds: purchases made directly through the original point of sale can be processed immediately, while all tickets bought via Ticketmaster will receive automatic refunds to the original payment method.
This cancellation comes just weeks after the tour became the center of a fierce national debate over free speech and political expression in live music. The controversy erupted when Macklemore, the tour’s original supporting act, was dropped from the lineup after making public pro-Palestinian comments during earlier shows. The rapper had called for a free Palestine, described the humanitarian crisis in Gaza as genocide, and projected images of damage in Gaza during his sets, which sparked pushback from venue owners.
Among the most prominent opponents was Robert Kraft, owner of Gillette Stadium and the New England Patriots, who is Jewish. Kraft called Macklemore’s comments hate speech and stated the rapper would not be permitted to perform at his venue, and lobbied alongside other venue owners to have him removed from the tour entirely.
In the aftermath of the decision, Ed Sheeran moved to distance himself from the call, saying the choice to drop Macklemore was made by tour promoters, not him. Promoters clarified their position in turn, explaining that venue owners including Kraft had threatened to block the entire show from taking place if Macklemore remained on the performance bill.
The removal sparked widespread backlash: multiple other supporting and backing artists on the tour dropped out in protest of the decision, and a heated national conversation emerged over whether venue owners should have the power to cede artists for political statements. When Sheeran returned to the stage the following weekend, he addressed the controversy for the first time, telling fans: “I’ve had to make hard calls along this tour, I’ve made mistakes, and I am so, so sorry.”
What was already one of the most debated stops on Sheeran’s 2024 U.S. tour will now not go forward, as weather concerns take priority over live entertainment for the weekend.