Zach Bryan wore a “Free Palestine” shirt during his concert at Gillette Stadium, weeks after Macklemore was barred from performing at the venue following pro-Palestinian remarks.
Bryan was performing the first of two shows at the Foxboro stadium on Friday. The shirt also carried the words “An appeal to heaven” and a pine tree logo, while some members of his band wore clothing with similar messages.
The singer returned to the venue on Saturday night for a concert attended by 73,538 people, according to Gillette Stadium, setting an attendance record.
“An appeal to heaven” dates back to the Revolutionary War and appeared on Massachusetts’s official maritime flag until 1971. The phrase was associated with the belief that God would deliver the colonists from tyranny.
Gillette Stadium had not responded to a request for comment about Bryan’s clothing.
Macklemore dropped from Ed Sheeran shows
Macklemore had been due to support Ed Sheeran at Gillette Stadium, but was removed from the bill after saying “Free Palestine” during a concert at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
Robert Kraft, who owns the New England Patriots and the stadium, said Macklemore’s participation in Sheeran’s planned September concerts would “cross that line”.
“Based on Macklemore’s recent actions, material shared from the stage during Ed Sheeran’s shows in New Jersey, and a broader history of antisemitic rhetoric and imagery that we believe has been deeply offensive and hurtful to the Jewish community, we determined that his participation in the September 25th and 26th concerts at Gillette Stadium would cross that line,” Kraft said in a statement.
Macklemore responded that “Antisemitism is real”, but said criticism of Israel and support for Palestine should not be conflated with hatred of Jewish people.
The other supporting acts on Sheeran’s tour withdrew in solidarity with Macklemore. Macklemore later pledged to donate one million dollars to support Palestinians and called on Kraft to match the contribution.
Kraft said he had already spoken to Sheeran about matching the singer’s own two-million-dollar donation pledge. Sheeran’s Gillette Stadium concerts were ultimately cancelled because of a nor’easter affecting the area that weekend.
