In another blow for fans of musician Ed Sheeran, the Friday and Saturday night concerts at Foxborough’s Gillette Stadium are canceled due to the impending nor’easter moving up the coast.
The tour’s promoter Messina Touring posted on social media Friday morning: “Due to severe weather warnings in place in Boston and across New England ... we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Ed Sheeran concerts at Gillette Stadium.”
Sheeran’s Loop Tour has been embroiled in controversy in recent weeks.
The opening act, American rapper and Grammy Award-winning artist Macklemore, was removed from the tour. Robert Kraft, whose company owns Gillette Stadium, objected to Macklemore’s role as an opener. Kraft took issue with pro-Palestinian statements the rapper made during recent concerts, writing in a statement that the stadium’s events cannot “provide a platform for hate speech.”
Other performers quickly quit in solidarity with Macklemore.
Massachusetts’ attorney general announced Thursday that the event organizer had agreed to let fans receive refunds given the changes to the lineup. Now that the shows are canceled, ticketholders who purchased their tickets through Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded, according to Messina Touring.
At a concert in Philadelphia earlier this week, Sheeran opened his concert apologizing to fans for “making mistakes” after his tour was thrust into controversy.
