Macklemore opens Free Palestine concert series in Dublin with Hozier and Kneecap

Opening night in Dublin

Macklemore began his Free Palestine concert series at Dublin's 3Arena on Monday, 26 October, before a crowd of up to 13,000 for a show whose tickets had sold out. Hozier, Kneecap and Beoga shared the bill, and the audience also watched a children's choir in Gaza perform by video. Hozier used a surprise appearance to press the Irish government to approve visas for Gaza students who hold scholarships in Ireland, pointing the crowd to a petition displayed behind him. Kneecap thanked Ed Sheeran for helping make the night possible, one of the lighter moments in a programme of appeals and fundraising. Macklemore came on after 10pm, and outside the venue vendors sold Palestinian flags and keffiyehs.

Sheeran's tour and Antonoff's criticism

Macklemore was removed from Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour in September after pro-Palestinian remarks during shows in New Jersey. The tour's promoter said venues had indicated they would not host concerts featuring him, and Sheeran later stated that the decision had been the promoter's. Robert Kraft, who owns Gillette Stadium, reportedly threatened to cancel Sheeran's Loop Tour unless he dropped Macklemore as an opener, and the Independent reported that Kraft also gathered other stadium owners to block him. All four of Sheeran's supporting acts withdrew in solidarity, Beoga among them. In an interview with The Guardian published on Sunday, 25 October, Jack Antonoff said Sheeran should have cancelled the whole tour and played for free outside each venue instead of letting a promoter decide. Antonoff said he had backed Palestine for some time but felt "way more emboldened" to say so now, and he described Macklemore's position as far from controversial.

“It's not in any way a strange, uncomfortable or controversial thing to say, it's a deeply human thing to say.”

Macklemore's remarks and the Gaza backdrop

Addressing the crowd, Macklemore said he had been moved by the evening and linked it to a difficult run of shows.

“I have been blown away this entire evening. It has been a crazy six weeks,”

He tied the night to his shortest tour, two nights at MetLife Stadium, and called it fitting that the series opened in Ireland. The Israeli military campaign in Gaza followed a Hamas-led attack on 7 October 2023 that killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel and took 251 hostages. According to the Hamas-run health ministry, whose figures the UN considers reliable, more than 70,000 people have been killed during the campaign. Israel maintains that its operations in Gaza and the occupied West Bank are acts of self-defence carried out under international law. Macklemore has said the proceeds from his Free Palestine tour will go to organisations supporting Palestinians.

Crowd reaction and next dates

Dozens of concertgoers queued at the venue hours before the doors opened, many wearing keffiyehs and carrying Palestinian and Irish flags. Nicola McCollough travelled from Belfast with her daughter for the girl's first concert, and said she was glad Macklemore had spoken out.

“More people need to, if you have the platform, do it because not everybody has that kind of stage,”

Another concertgoer, who travelled from Cork, said ten Dublin shows would all have sold out. The tour moves on to Paris, where Macklemore is scheduled to perform on Thursday, 29 October, and to London on Friday, 30 October.