Macklemore Opens Free Palestine Benefit Tour at Dublin’s 3Arena

Macklemore began his Free Palestine benefit tour at a sold-out 3Arena in Dublin on Monday. The show was advertised as “Macklemore and Friends,” with no guests named beforehand. The friends turned out to include Hozier, Dublin rap group Kneecap, and Beoga, the Irish folk band that had been backing Ed Sheeran on his US stadium dates.

That last name sets the tour’s context. Macklemore had been booked as an opener on Sheeran’s US run before being dropped last month, a decision reportedly made under pressure from Patriots owner Robert Kraft over Macklemore’s position on Gaza. Several of Sheeran’s other openers withdrew as well. Macklemore has said he will give the $1 million he earned from those dates to Palestinian aid, and that the proceeds from this tour will go to the same cause. Only three shows were announced at first, with more promised.

The Dublin bill reached beyond the names on stage. Dead prez’s M1, singer-songwriter Lina Makoul, DJ Habibeats, Tones & I and Mary Lambert appeared, alongside remote messages from Julian Casablancas, Mark Ruffalo, Cynthia Nixon and Ilana Glazer. Actor Liam Cunningham and activists Nadia Greenspan and Samir Eskand addressed the crowd.

Hozier performed the Irish folk ballad “The Prayer Of Shields,” which he learned from Lankum’s Ian Lynch, while a screen behind him carried a QR code linking to a petition asking Ireland to expedite processing for 55 Palestinian students whose scholarships have been approved but who are still waiting. A member of Beoga told the room the tide was changing.