Macklemore opens his own tour in Dublin with Hozier and Kneecap on stage

Macklemore played the opening concert of his own tour in Dublin on 26 October, with Hozier and Kneecap joining him on stage. The tour is billed as a run of shows in support of the Palestinian people.

The date comes six weeks after the rapper was told he would no longer be a support act for Ed Sheeran. That decision followed a warm-up show in New Jersey, where Macklemore shouted "free Palestine" and showed images of destruction in the Gaza Strip on a large screen. From the Dublin stage he returned to that moment, saying two words had been all it took and that they came from love and liberation.

Kneecap and Hozier join in

Kneecap's presence carried its own history. A member of the Irish rap group was previously charged with endorsing terrorism after displaying a flag supporting Hezbollah at a concert. The case was later dropped. At the Dublin show, a Kneecap member sarcastically thanked Sheeran for helping to get the concert off the ground. The Guardian gave the performance five stars.

The Sheeran fallout

After Macklemore's removal, all of the other support acts on Sheeran's tour pulled out in protest. They included the Danish band Lukas Graham. Sheeran later said the decision to drop Macklemore was not his but the promoter's. He described the situation in Gaza as catastrophic, indefensible and disproportionate, said his heart was broken by the destruction and loss of civilian life, including children's lives, and said the injustice unfolding in the West Bank could not be ignored.

The Dublin concert was reported by Ritzau.