FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Ed Sheeran can’t be in love with the shape of this forecast. A weekend nor’easter bound for New England has prompted the cancellation of the English pop singer’s concerts Friday and Saturday in Foxborough, Massachusetts, about 22 miles (37 kilometres) southwest of Boston. Refunds will be provided. “Due to the severe weather warnings in place in Boston and 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,” concert promoter Messina Touring said in a statement Friday. The decision “was made with the safety of fans, staff and everyone involved in the shows as the top priority,” the company said. The storm is expected to sock much of the East Coast with strong winds, coastal flooding and heavy rain. The National Weather Service said gusts could hit 60 to 65 m/h (97 to 105 km/hh) on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket on Friday night, and about 50 to 55 m/h (80 to 89 km/h) around Boston. The cancellations are the latest disruption to Sheeran’s Loop Tour after Macklemore was dropped from the lineup for making pro-Palestinian comments onstage during a Sept. 5 show in New Jersey and supporting acts withdrew in solidarity. Sheeran said at a concert Saturday in Philadelphia that he wants his music and shows to be about unity and humanity, not politics. But he said the attacks in Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, were horrific and what is happening in Gaza “catastrophic and unjustifiable.” The decision to drop Macklemore came at the urging of Robert Kraft, the owner of the NFL’s New England Patriots and Gillette Stadium, who said in a statement that it was the result of the rapper’s recent comments “and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery.” Sheeran has said he wasn’t responsible for cutting Macklemore from the tour, blaming the tour promoter. Macklemore said last week that he was donating US$1 million to support Palestinian relief efforts and called on Kraft to match the gift. A spokesperson for Kraft said the billionaire and Sheeran each agreed to donate US$2 million, but they haven’t specified where the money will be directed. As of last year, the Grammy-winning “Shape of You” singer was the No. 3 top-earning concert act of the millennium, according to industry magazine Pollstar. ___ The Associated Press
