So that's Boega and Aaron Rowe, who I believe is also an Irish artist. The chips keep falling where they understandably should... And I hope Sheeran doesn't think everyone will simply accept "It was the Promoter's decision, not mine"... most of us see through that excuse, although clearly the Promoters and Stadium owners were the driving force in kicking Macklemore off the tour.
Not only is he known for it, him and Ed Sheeran are friends for a long time. Sheeran knew what Macklemore would likely do... what wasn't certain was what fallout would come down and how it would come down. Now we know.
An activist who’s been extremely vocal about Palestine for years. Dude even wrote a song about it a few years ago. This really shouldn’t be news to anyone.
Right. And has been vocal about Palestine at his concerts for years, and it’s never blown up to this degree. I believe they call that the Streisand effect.
And honestly, Kanye has still lost IMMENSE support, though still sellling out stadiums, so it's not that he didn't and doesn't still feel the reduced support. But he's still making bank when he tours. Just not as much as he would have if he hadn't been saying the stuff he says.
Ed Sheeran set the single night attendance record in Denver when he was there in 2023. I don't really listen to him, but he most definitely has that kind of pull.
Kanye just set the single night gross record in Chicago in 2026 a year after saying a bunch of positive stuff about Hitler, there's levels to this shit
It's hard for me to imagine Kanye selling more in a single night than Taylor Swift, Beyonce or BTS. This is very interesting, can you please link to that news story or that source?
Interesting, but you know what I just realized, wasn't Kanye's tour way more limited, like way fewer cities and dates around the US? That makes a difference. I don't think he overall could outsell Beyonce, Swift or BTS today. Or any day, really, but definitely not today. Interesting ot know he set the single day record and a 2 day record it sounds like, but if he's only playing say 15 shows in teh whole US, that does explain some of the greater demand.
I found them, looks like 10 US dates (including 2 cities with 2 shows each, one of them Chicago) and then 10+ international dates, including Russia and a few other interesting countries.
If it's indeed only 10 US dates, that is exactly my point. The record is still a record, but it's not the same meaning in terms of demand as pulling in almost as much but playing I dunno, 30 US dates?
In Chicago? His hometown and first headlining act there in 10 years, where he hyped up tons of guest stars and playing all his old shit? Yeah it doesn't surprise me at all, and to be honest the setlists and guests lived up to the hype from what I saw. He might be a POS but he has without a doubt one of the best discographies in all of rap music
While true, I was referring to attendance, not revenue. The cheapest tickets to Kanye's show in Chicago were five times the cost of the cheapest tickets to Ed Sheeran in Denver, not factoring in resale. Of course he grossed more.
Kanye is despite his many flaws one of the greatest rappers/producers of all time. Ed Sheeran makes music for white people who like to hang out at Margaritaville.
"good" optics for all of them is what I really think is going on. Both the acts pulling out now have better standing with the public ( although I believe why they did it) and Ed still has access to all these stadiums in the future for touring
Well, I'd guess that most acts the size of Boega and Aaron Rowe would NOT pull out. Because they're able to just say "Hey, we had ZERO to do with this, we had no say in it either way and we have already put a lot of our own money into doing this tour, so we can't afford to pull out now, we won't get that money back" (even though they'll get money from the tour, but they almost definitely had to pay out ahead of it to get the equipment and vehicles they need).
These 2 acts could have said that, but they're also Irish and way more familiar with these dynamics and also way more outspoken than most countries.
The owners put the pressure on, but they had no leverage - Ed did.
Ed easily could have said “Well this is my tour lineup, and it’s the lineup I’m bringing.”
There’s zero shot the venues or promoters had contractual final say or decision making power over who opened for him. Live Nation would have rented out the venues and signed rental agreements for the dates of the shows. Then LN would have signed a performance contract with Ed - industry SOP for tours. Ed did not sign anything with the venues, I can guarantee that.
The venues don’t actually have any power here, and if the owners refused to allow the shows to happen, Live Nation could sue them for breach of contract.
If the promoter (LN,) dropped the tour dates, then Ed could sue LN for breach of contract.
The venues just legitimately didn’t actually have any power here to dictate terms. It’s just not how these tours work.
Ed did have leverage here. He could have used it, but he didn’t.
Ed did have the most leverage. But the owners of the venues you're about to play saying "We are uniting and we won't let you play our venues, like we literally won't let you in" is leverage. How do you not see that as leverage? It's not like Ed can just rebook it for the same dates elsewhere... stadium schedules are mostly set months and months in advance, and any changes in dates or cities would cause a huge dustup in the tour's schedule and people's availability for alternate dates, if there even was anywhere to have the shows.
Because it's hollow. If they refuse to let him play, then they are in violation of the rental contract these venues sign with LN. They had no legal standing to make such a demand.
In the current national political environment, and given how the current leader of this country listens to and obeys the leader of the country starting with I, I'm pretty sure the stadium venue owners figured they would just lock the shows out (which is a huge deal) and then deal with it in court later. Who knows what crazy legal argument they might come up with to attempt to justify it, but they might well ask our country's current leader to step in and defend them. Far stranger things have happened.
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u/DontDreamItsOver3 Sep 15 '26
So that's Boega and Aaron Rowe, who I believe is also an Irish artist. The chips keep falling where they understandably should... And I hope Sheeran doesn't think everyone will simply accept "It was the Promoter's decision, not mine"... most of us see through that excuse, although clearly the Promoters and Stadium owners were the driving force in kicking Macklemore off the tour.