{"id":447990,"date":"2026-11-05T05:26:09","date_gmt":"2026-11-05T05:26:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/447990\/"},"modified":"2026-11-05T05:26:09","modified_gmt":"2026-11-05T05:26:09","slug":"after-losing-openers-and-backing-band-in-free-palestine-fallout-ed-sheeran-arrives-in-tampa-to-close-us-stadium-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/447990\/","title":{"rendered":"After losing openers and backing band in &#8216;Free Palestine&#8217; fallout, Ed Sheeran arrives in Tampa to close US stadium tour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img data-perfmatters-preload=\"\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"780\" height=\"520\" data-attachment-id=\"109292\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/music-2\/review-in-tampa-ed-sheeran-stages-fiery-mathematical-career-retrospective-on-360-degree-stage-photos-15678459\/attachment\/ed-sheeran-sandrasonik-com-5-20-23-1345\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ed-sheeran-sandrasonik.com-5-20-23-1345.webp?fit=1200%2C800&amp;ssl=1\" data-orig-size=\"1200,800\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-title=\"ed-sheeran-sandrasonik.com-5-20-23-1345\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;Ed Sheeran plays Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida May 20, 2023.&lt;\/p&gt;&#10;\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cltampa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/05\/ed-sheeran-sandrasonik.com-5-20-23-1345.webp?fit=780%2C520&amp;ssl=1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/ed-sheeran-sandrasonik.com-5-20-23-1345.webp\" alt=\"A concert performance photograph by Sandra Sonik showing Ed Sheeran plays Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida May 20, 2023. Captured in a medium shot during his Mathematics Tour, singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran sings into a microphone while playing a compact natural wood acoustic guitar. He features signature tousled ginger hair and visible arm tattoos, wearing a black t-shirt printed with yellow and red text reading &quot;TAMPA&quot; across the chest, set against a dark stadium stage background with glowing blue and purple LED display lights.\" class=\"wp-image-109292\"  \/>Ed Sheeran plays Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida May 20, 2023. Credit: Sandra Dohnert \/ Creative Loafing Tampa Bay<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last September, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/news\/macklemore-removed-from-tampa-show-with-ed-sheeran-following-free-palestine-statements\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran\u2019s fall stadium tour over saying \u201cFree Palestine.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The rest of the tour\u2019s opening acts, and Sheeran\u2019s backing band,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/music-2\/free-palestine-openers-and-backing-band-drop-out-of-ed-sheerans-tampa-show\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/music-2\/free-palestine-openers-and-backing-band-drop-out-of-ed-sheerans-tampa-show\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> left the run in solidarity within a week<\/a>. Now, the Irish-Brit songwriter, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Ddjg4V7kViA\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/Ddjg4V7kViA\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">played victim<\/a> in the shows following the Macklemore fallout, has Isaac Slade from The Fray playing support.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tickets start as low as $34.20 before fees.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/community.cltampa.com\/event\/ed-sheeran-loop-tour-20768033\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/community.cltampa.com\/event\/ed-sheeran-loop-tour-20768033\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Tickets to see Ed Sheeran and Isaac Slade at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa on Saturday, Nov. 7 are still available and start at $34.20.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/1793856369_962_hqdefault.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"360\" data-pin-nopin=\"true\" nopin=\"nopin\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/altnewsfoundation.org\/cl-tampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"has-normal-font-size wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/tampa-newslettersignup-page\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow us:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAiECLjru3gB6BLYKOKFLfkVZsqFAgKIhAi467t4AegS2CjihS35FWb\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsbreak.com\/@c\/1599764?s=01\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/CreativeLoafingTampa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cltampabay\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cltampabay\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/cltampabay.bsky.social\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"collection-link has-small-font-size\">This article appears in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/collections\/oct-29-nov-04-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Oct. 29 \u2013 Nov. 04, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tRead his 2016 intro letter\u00a0and disclosures from 2022 and 2021.\u00a0Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief&#8230;\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<a class=\"author-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cltampa.com\/author\/rroa\/\" rel=\"author nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tMore by Ray Roa\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran plays Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida May 20, 2023. Credit: Sandra Dohnert \/ Creative Loafing&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[159089,1864,11708,135,1865,137,136],"class_list":["post-447990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-ed-sheeran","tag-live-music-in-tampa","tag-raymond-james-stadium","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-concerts","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}