Ed Sheeran Dates at Gillette Stadium Cancelled Due to Severe Weather Warnings

Ed Sheeran‘s shows at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. this weekend have been canceled. An Instagram message from the singer’s Loop Tour promoter Messina Touring on Friday morning (Sept. 25) confirmed that the shows originally slated for Friday and Saturday (Sept. 26) are the latest victims of a giant nor’easter storm bearing down on the East coast.

“Due to the severe weather warnings in place in Boston and across New England throughout the weekend and following consultation with local officials, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the Ed Sheeran concerts at Gillette Stadium,” read the statement.

“The decision was made with the safety of fans, staff and everyone involved in the shows as the top priority,” the statement continued, adding that refunds are available now at the point of purchase, with those who purchased through Ticketmaster to be automatically refunded.

The call-off of the shows is the latest hiccup to hit Sheeran’s tour, coming on the heels of the huge fallout over former opening act Macklemore’s statements in support of Palestine. The “Thrift Shop” rapper was originally scheduled to open both shows, but was removed from the tour after chanting “Free Palestine” at a concert at MetLife Stadium on Sept. 4 and performing his politically charged protest track “Hind’s Hall” at the show.

“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: Free Palestine,” Macklemore said from the stage that night.

The comments led to the Israeli-American Council launching a petition to have Macklemore removed from the tour. Then, after performing on two shows, Messina Touring Group announced that Macklemore had been dropped from the tour, after which the other opening acts on the outing — Aaron Rowe, Finneas, Lukas Graham and Sheeran’s backing band Beoga — said they were leaving of their own volition in solidarity.

Sheeran performed a pair of shows in Philadelphia last weekend solo, telling the crowd that he wanted his concerts to be about unity and humanity instead of politics. “What happened in Israel and at the Nova Music Festival on October 7th was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain. What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable, and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, of children’s lives, and the systemic injustice we’re seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked,” Sheeran said from the stage at Lincoln Financial Field.

He was referring to, respectively, the massive assault by Hamas militants on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 in which 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 kidnapped, and Israel’s punishing retaliation in the years since, in which the Gaza Health Ministry has said more than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 170,000 injured.

The nor’easter is forecast to bring strong, damaging winds to areas near the cost, with gusts in the Foxborough area predicted to reach 40-55 m.p.h., peaking Friday night through Saturday night. It has already claimed another music event in the area after the Ocean Calling Festival announcedon Thursday that the first day of the three-day event was canceled due to the expected impact of the storm.

Sheeran’s next scheduled show is in Atlanta at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Oct. 3.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.