Ed Sheeran breaks his silence on Gaza at the first concert since Macklemore's exit

Ed Sheeran walked onto the stage at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia on Saturday night, his first show since Macklemore was removed from the Loop Tour, and started talking instead of playing. "This is not usually how I would open the show," he told the crowd, visibly shaken. He said the criticism this week was about something much more important than his music, that he has had to make difficult decisions, and that he is making mistakes. "I'm so so sorry."

He then set out where he stands. He said he has tried never to be a political commentator because he wants his shows to be about unity rather than division, but that this is a humanitarian issue and he can no longer keep quiet about it. What happened in Israel at the Nova music festival on 7 October was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain, he said, and what is happening in Gaza is "catastrophic, unjustifiable, and disproportionate." He added that the systemic injustice in the West Bank cannot be overlooked, that he is talking to people across the spectrum about making a contribution, and that he is listening and learning because he does not know enough.

On the row itself he repeated that the decision was not his. Sheeran has said the promoter Messina Touring Group made the call after venues objected, among them Gillette Stadium, whose owner Robert Kraft said he found Macklemore's MetLife Stadium remarks offensive. What Sheeran added on Saturday was a broader objection: he said he is "deeply worried about the idea that venues should pre-approve content for performers" and that it should never happen in the free world.

The cost of the week was visible on the bill. FINNEAS, Lukas Graham and Aaron Rowe all withdrew, and so did his backing band Beoga, leaving him without a single support act. He brought in the violinist Alicia Enstrom and others for Galway Girl, and said they agreed knowing the world might turn on them too. He also removed the B stage that normally sits in the middle of the crowd, telling Philadelphia he apologised for the unusual show but did not know whether things would be thrown at him.

Near the end he spoke again, and this one was rawer. The last week had been one of the worst of his life, he said, and he had not known whether the tour would carry on, whether he would get on stage again, or whether he wanted to be an artist at all. People he had known for years backed away; almost everyone told him to cancel. What changed his mind was the ticket sales. He said he saw no cancellations and 50,000 people who had not abandoned him, and that if the tour ends, love does not win. He also apologised to the parents who had brought children for a show that opened with a speech rather than a song.

The money and the fallout are still moving. Macklemore has pledged his one million dollars in tour earnings to organisations supporting Palestinians and challenged Kraft to match him; Kraft has said Sheeran asked him to commit two million dollars alongside his own donation. Billy Bragg, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Ken Casey of Dropkick Murphys and Hayley Williams have all criticised Sheeran's handling of it, and this is not the first time a pop act has paid a price over the subject: Singapore barred two Massive Attack members over a concert display earlier this year. The Loop Tour, which has already had six crew hospitalised in a Detroit stage accident, continues.