Running it back…and breaking records.
Zach Bryan once again made a political statement on Saturday night as he took the stage at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts for his second of two shows wearing a “Free Palestine” shirt, the same shirt he wore on Friday night at the stadium owned by Robert Kraft.
@thebitchfromhogwarts Zach Bryan enters Gillette for N2 10/3/26 #zachbryan
The shirt drew plenty of attention, not only for the message but also for the venue, after Kraft had previously banned rapper Macklemore from performing in the stadium with Ed Sheeran following a pro-Palestine rant he had made during an earlier show on the tour.
The controversy started earlier this month when Macklemore was opening for Sheeran at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and used his performance to deliver his thoughts on the war between Israel and Palestine:
“A big part of the reason why I wanted to do this tour in the first place is so I could stand up in stadiums like this and say two words that are very near and dear to my heart: ‘Free Palestine.’
I said, ‘Free Palestine!’ I want those words to be loud and clear so that people all the way in Gaza to the occupied West Bank know that we have not forgotten about them.”
The entire rant lasted nearly three minutes, and also featured Macklemore expressing his support for Iran and calling ICE a “terrorist organization.” But it was his comments on Palestine that drew the most attention, including from his fellow artists.
Joe Bonamassa took issue with the fact that Macklemore used his spot as an opener to make the show political:
And Pink, who is herself Jewish, also chimed in, calling Hamas a terrorist organization:
Macklemore was scheduled to open for Sheeran on 8 of the 10 shows left on the U.S. leg of the tour, but it was announced yesterday that he had been kicked off the remaining dates. And in a rant posted to his Instagram, the “Thrift Shop” rapper blamed Patriots owner Bob Kraft for his ouster:
“Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners, and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.”
He said that he considers Ed Sheeran a brother, but that “our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.”
Kraft later released a statement citing Macklemore’s comments during the MetLife shows, as well as his prior history of dressing up in an offensive stereotypical Jewish costume, as his reason for not allowing the rapper to appear at Gillette Stadium:
“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.”
Well pretty soon the rest of the opening acts on Sheeran’s tour also dropped out, while Macklemore announced his own “Free Palestine” tour.
Zach took the stage on Friday night, his first of two shows, sending a clear message to Kraft with a “Free Palestine, Appeal To Heaven” shirt, while several of his band members also sported pro-Palestine apparel from the organization Wear the Peace, which donates to children in war-torn areas.
And on the second night, not only was he wearing the same shirt, but he also managed to break the Gillette Stadium attendance record with a crowd of 73,538, topping the previous record of 71,723 which was ironically held by Sheeran back in 2023. (To put it in perspective, the stadium also hosted three shows on Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour that same year).
Neither Zach nor Robert Kraft have commented on the shirt. Zach isn’t on social media at the moment, though a fake Twitter account popped up yesterday to comment on the shirt that seemed to fool people online into believing it was from the real artist.
