{"id":854195,"date":"2026-09-20T09:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854195\/"},"modified":"2026-09-20T09:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-20T09:44:09","slug":"ed-sheeran-says-security-concerns-caused-him-to-change-stage-setup-in-philadelphia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/854195\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran Says Security Concerns Caused Him to Change Stage Setup in Philadelphia"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/artist\/ed-sheeran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Ed Sheeran<\/a> admitted that he was unsure how audiences would receive him during his <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/09\/ed-sheeran-macklemore-comments-philadelphia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">first show back in Philadelphia<\/a> on Saturday night following the <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/live-coverage\/macklemore-ed-sheeran-tour-controversy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Macklemore tour fallout<\/a>, prompting him to make adjustments to the live setup, including scrapping the B-stage typically positioned in the middle of the crowd.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m gonna be totally honest with you: I didn\u2019t know what this audience would be like tonight. I didn\u2019t know if I would have things thrown at me,\u201d Sheeran said during the show. \u201cI took the B-stage out because I was afraid of what might happen if I stood in the middle, and I will admit that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sheeran was also forced to assemble a new live band on short notice after Beoga withdrew from the tour in solidarity with Macklemore. He said he called longtime collaborator Alicia Enstrom, who helped put together a group of musicians willing to join him onstage.<\/p>\n<p>Related Video<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019ve had three days to learn these songs. Three days to learn these songs!\u201d Sheeran explained. \u201cAnd I just want to say, before they come on stage: they said yes to being on stage with the knowledge that the world thought I was a certain type of person. They said yes with the knowledge that the world may hate them, too, for standing on stage with me. And I am so grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s show marked Sheeran\u2019s first concert since Macklemore was<a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/09\/macklemore-robert-kraft-ed-sheeran-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"> removed as a support act<\/a> from the tour. Sheeran opened the night\u00a0by <a href=\"https:\/\/consequence.net\/2026\/09\/ed-sheeran-macklemore-comments-philadelphia\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">addressing<\/a> the controversy, concerns over venues restricting artists\u2019 speech, and his own views on Israel and Palestine.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udfa5| Ed introducing his new band tonight to the crowd in Philadelphia and telling them how they only had 3 days to rehearse <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/G12uSCE6Bv\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/G12uSCE6Bv<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Ed Sheeran Access (@AccessEdSheeran) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AccessEdSheeran\/status\/2101499615141106126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">September 20, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran admitted that he was unsure how audiences would receive him during his first show back in&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854196,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88],"class_list":["post-854195","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854195","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854195"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854195\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}