Nine arenas said no, according to the rapper
Macklemore has said that nine large arenas in the United States would not stage his Free Palestine fundraising tour. In an Instagram statement, the rapper named New York City's Madison Square Garden, Los Angeles's Crypto.com arena and Brooklyn's Barclays Center among the venues that declined. He also listed UBS arena and Prudential Center in the New York tri-state area, Los Angeles's Intuit Dome and Kia Forum, San Francisco's Chase Center and Seattle's Climate Pledge arena.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
According to his account, the refusals did not arrive as a flat no at first. He wrote that by mid-September the arenas had offered available dates running through the end of the year, but that those dates disappeared once staff understood the concerts were benefits for Palestine. He described the outcome as doors closing, with conversations that differed in tone yet ended identically: the shows would not be permitted in those buildings.[S1]
A European run he calls a triumph
The American dates were meant to follow shows in Dublin, London and Paris last month. The Guardian's Alexis Petridis reviewed the run approvingly. Macklemore wrote that the three European arenas sold out and that tens of thousands of attendees of varied backgrounds and faiths gathered, with more than forty artists and speakers lending their names and platforms to the cause. He argued that love, not hatred, filled those rooms, rejecting characterizations of the movement as bigoted.[S1]
The tour's American leg follows a rupture with Ed Sheeran. After Macklemore delivered a short onstage speech supporting the occupied West Bank while opening for Sheeran in early September, Sheeran removed him from the bill. Sheeran said US venues had told him they would not host the show if Macklemore remained the support act, and insisted he was not complicit while keeping his own views on the conflict private. All four opening acts and Sheeran's live band then left the tour in solidarity with Macklemore.[S1]
What Macklemore says he is willing to lose
In the statement, which ran across seven slides, Macklemore said he had stopped worrying about damaging ties with music industry figures. He characterized the treatment he received as a tactic powerful people use to keep entertainers quiet, and said he was long past caring about business or personal relationships with anyone who does not back a free Palestine. He added that he would rather forfeit every opportunity in the industry than keep protecting people he says prize dealings with Israel above Palestinian lives.[S1]
Connecting the situation to this week's midterm elections, he contended that US politics is shifting. As evidence he cited Abdul El-Sayed's Senate win, achieved on a platform calling for an end to the genocide in Gaza and a stop to American weapons shipments to Israel, noting that AIPAC poured $42m into opposing him and still failed. Macklemore's point was that billionaires confuse influence they have bought with people they have bought, and that the fans who purchase tickets and pack venues can topple those empires.[S1]
He closed by promising further Palestine shows, saying he would keep collaborating with artists and organizers and continue from where the European dates ended, possibly taking the performances outdoors. He said his commitment to fundraising and to solidarity with Palestinians is unchanged, and argued that while owners may control the arenas, they do not control the crowds inside them.[S1]
