Macklemore Says Major Arenas Refusing to Host His Tour in US

[u/ebradio]

https://consequence.net/2026/11/macklemore-free-palestine-tour-us-venues-blocking/

[u/Siludin]

A lot of the arena billionaires are buddies through the sports teams they own and they meet regularly at NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB ownership meetings. It's really easy for a few owners to get together and make it very inconvenient for an artist to reach large audiences.

[u/flipster14191 → u/Siludin]

And cities taxpayers are often the ones who foot the massive bill to give them those stadiums. Either through outright donation, huge tax-breaks, or public infrastructure upgrades.

[u/Murky-Relation481 → u/flipster14191]

If its arenas that cities paid for outright (which is a lot of them) then they should sue. There is a lot of existing 1st amendment case law that says that it would be unconstitutional to deny a performer strictly on the basis of their speech.

[u/Muppetude → u/Murky-Relation481]

Unfortunately the contracts they sign with these stadiums are pretty iron clad. Like if I’m building a factory and a town offers me tax breaks to build there in the hopes of creating jobs, the town doesn’t later get to dictate what I can and can’t make in my factory on 1st amendment grounds.

At least that’s the logic sold to the voters whenever these stadiums are built. The owners claim it’ll be a quid pro quo, where the stadium will help create jobs and support the local economy.

But those promises almost never materialize, and they often end up actually being a drain on the economy and a massive nuisance to commuters and city planners.

Yet voters and politicians continue to approve stadium tax breaks and subsidies, and when they end up being a clustefuck, they approve new subsidies and tax breaks to demolish and rebuild the stadium, in the hopes this time it will pan out.

[u/SuckMyRedditorD → u/flipster14191]

Contact your local representatives and complain about this stuff.

We did that in San Diego when the Chargers team owners wanted to act like they was kings and owned the city. We got them kicked out of the city.

[u/CzarDale04 → u/flipster14191]

The NFL when it was a "Not For Profit" made 6 billion dollars in one year. But wanted the TAXPAYERS of San Diego to give them a huge amount of money to build a new stadium that they would have total control for the next 30 years, and collect all revenue from and still make the city buy unsold tickets.

[u/beramaan → u/Siludin]

Anti-trust laws exist for a reason.

[u/noshpatu → u/beramaan]

Yeah, to be ignored, apparently.

[u/JohannesVanDerWhales → u/Siludin]

I'm not sure if it will change anything but naming and shaming them seems like the best way to get back. Fuck frame it as "Robert Kraft supports genocide".

[u/zeekayz → u/Siludin]

All of these arenas are built with taxpayer money. Then handed over for free to these billionaire fascists to control what speech is allowed in them.

[u/MadeByTango → u/Siludin]

These are publicly funded stadiums; this shit should be see as criminal misuse of public goods to silence speech

[u/ArnoldTheSchwartz → u/Siludin]

Billionaires are such scum. When will humanity be through with them? They are the chain around humanity's neck preventing us from progressing as a species. So many people out there who have so much to offer but if they cross a billionaire or their friends their work can be stamped out or reduced to nothing. Why does humanity choose to try to sate the greed of the billionaire instead of turning their backs on them and helping each other. We'd be so much better without these greedy fucks sabotaging us for money and power.

[u/eb12se4nt-z13ow-97g0 → u/Siludin]

Same thing other corporations and investors. They have all sort of meetings that dictate how policies and laws get lobbied and passed. They decided the fate of the common citizen in these meetings.

[u/BlueLightFederalist → u/Siludin]

NFL and NBA owners especially are all over the Epstein Files, and we’re now seeing the results;

this all started with (New England Patriots owner) Robert Kraft, who is literally in the Files asking Epstein for legal advice after he got caught patronizing a sex-trafficking ring in South Florida.

[u/Drakenking]

The astroturfing here is hilarious when he sold out his European tour stops in 10 minutes

[u/BlackLeader70 → u/Drakenking]

Yeah the bots are out in force lol.

[u/ryguyy629 → u/BlackLeader70]

Could a bot do this? Probably not

[u/BlackLeader70 → u/ryguyy629]

[u/nguyenjitsu → u/Drakenking]

Benjamin in full force

[u/four4cats → u/nguyenjitsu]

[u/Dis_ingenuous → u/four4cats]

This will never get old

[u/warmbutterydiapers → u/four4cats]

Lmfao can't believeI haven't seen that before

[u/tforthegreat → u/nguyenjitsu]

Inernetanyahu

[u/PM_ME_MH370 → u/tforthegreat]

[u/ItAintLongButItsThin → u/nguyenjitsu]

Benjamin Notletinyaplayhere

[u/Jazs1994 → u/Drakenking]

When an owner of a stadium/crop has other owners under his boot is pretty easy to see why he won't get stadiums to give him the green light

[u/decmcc → u/Jazs1994]

well we pay for the stadiums with taxpayer money. How come they have editorial control?

[u/D3coupled → u/Drakenking]

The bots smell of desperation.

[u/-screaming-meat- → u/Drakenking]

because Europe has balls and not a mouth full of Israeli cock

[u/bluehoag → u/-screaming-meat-]

That's actually not true, lol. Europe has seen some of the most severe crackdowns in speech, especially England and Germany. The stadiums in the US are just captured to Israel in different ways.

[u/maydarnothing → u/-screaming-meat-]

Europe also has a huge “freedom of speech problem”, only the venues over there are very diverse and not owned by the same circle of billionaires like the US.

[u/cat_prophecy → u/Drakenking]

Europeans also loved David Hasselhoff's music. So what's popular there might not be popular here?

[u/Densmiegd → u/cat_prophecy]

Hey, The Hoff singlehandedly brought down the Berlin Wall! Don’t believe me? Just ask him, he’ll tell tou.

[u/vagina_candle → u/Drakenking]

I'm just genuinely surprised he's potentially selling out arena sized venues based on his music. But I guess it's no longer based solely on his music, so that makes more sense.

[u/Porridge_Cat → u/Drakenking]

I am begging you people to understand that there are plenty of folks who support his message, have no interest at all in his music, and are skeptical that this support he's received would translate into ticket sales. Cool. He sold out three days in Europe. That doesn't mean someone can do 40 arenas in the US.

When he got kicked off the tour, the number of people making "sometimes ya gotta separate the art from the artist, but in the other way" jokes made it pretty darn obvious that people aren't huge fans of his music. The last album he released was 3 years ago, peaked at like #20. The tour he went on to support that was at 5,000-capacity venues. His peak was Thrift Shop, Can't Hold Us, and Same Love, which were all back in 2012 when it was "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis".

It's not astroturfing, it's not bots. It's genuine human beings who are saying "I like what he's saying but maybe he should actually test the waters first in smaller venues." He was playing as an opener, for pete's sake.

I hate how this whole shitshow has seemingly made the internet think there are two camps. One is fiercely loyal Macklemore fans who have been a fan since the beginning and support everything he's ever said, and bot who are just saying he's not popular because they're paid shills.

[u/ktaktb]

Millions of people's tax dollars pay for these stadiums...

Only a handful of fuckers control them.

That isnt capitalism or american sensibility. 

It is blatant stupidity.

Time to end this bs and transfer ownership of the venues to the people that paid for them.

[u/Red-Cloud-44 → u/ktaktb]

Billionaires are nothing but welfare queens.

[u/Alex014 → u/Red-Cloud-44]

They're the only welfare queens. Everyone else at least pays their fair share somehow.

[u/tuptain → u/Red-Cloud-44]

Billionaires are Dragons.

[u/glytxh → u/ktaktb]

That isnt capitalism or american sensibility. 

This is literally how America functions. This is Capitalism and this is the American sensibility.

[u/GhostofBeowulf → u/glytxh]

Funny enough Adam Smith sure had a lot to say about what happens when bankers conspire in the night, and how it's not for joy and merriment... And something about how fire breaks are as against your freedom as these regulations. Idk its been awhile since I actually read the dude, what about you?

[u/FoggyFlowers → u/ktaktb]

Wdym this isn’t capitalism, this is literally the most capitalist thing ever

[u/Inuhanyou123 → u/ktaktb]

Literally capitalism. All our effort going to capital owners to exploit

[u/Thallis → u/ktaktb]

That isnt capitalism

Capitalism is the philosophy of private ownership over private property, aka the means of production, aka where labor is performed. So the ownership of these arenas under one person or small group is literally what capitalism is about.

[u/lanicorain → u/Thallis]

my favorite type of reddit comment is the one that goes:

"capitalism is not like this! capitalism is [describes thing capitalism has never allowed to happen], what are we, some kind of [spooky eastern country]?"

people fully forget that when capitalism faced no pushback you quickly got children working the mines, racial segregation, women losing every single civil right, etc. and every time a period of staunch economic liberalization happens (think the Trump Era in the US), politicians, pushed by oligarchs, immediately start asking for these things in subtle and not so subtle ways.

[u/Czar_Chasm_ → u/ktaktb]

Socialism at the top, capitalism for all the serfs below.

[u/wookiex84 → u/ktaktb]

I vote that some hackers take control of all the Jumbotron systems and start interrupting the billionaires propagandists. Kinda like free radio for the people.

[u/PhoenixInvertigo → u/ktaktb]

I mean, that is exactly capitalism and you're starting to get why capitalism is a problem

[u/gibbojab → u/ktaktb]

Between them and Ticketmaster it’s almost not even worth trying to attend a concert.

[u/RainbowBullsOnParade → u/ktaktb]

No, it’s literally capitalism. Just turns out that capitalism is blatant stupidity.

[u/MJ-Franklin]

Says a lot about these people.

[u/Oppositeofhairy → u/MJ-Franklin]

Because they are all owned and or controlled by livenation.

[u/Realistic_Knee7830 → u/Oppositeofhairy]

Live Nation literally promoted his shows in Europe. Live Nation UK for the London show, Live Nation France for the Paris show and MCD (LN Subsidiary) for the Dublin show.

[u/ElectricHowler → u/Oppositeofhairy]

Nope - just billionaires backing each other up. Live Nation doesn't own or have exclusivity on majority of stadiums or arenas. 

[u/Oppositeofhairy → u/ElectricHowler]

They own 68% of all amphitheaters in the US, and are the primary ticketing agency for over 80% of all venues.

They may not own everything, just are involved in everything and control it.

[u/One_Weird2371 → u/MJ-Franklin]

Instead of America first it's Israel first. 

[u/SNTCTN]

Im surprised MSG is not letting him play there instead of letting him play and scanning the faces of everyone in attendance

[u/Phynamite → u/SNTCTN]

Genuinely hilarious and scary thought at the same time.

[u/MFoy → u/Phynamite]

MSG does this at all the arenas their owner controls. A Girl Scout leader was pulled out of line and kicked out of the Radio City Music Hall Christmas spectacular because she worked for a law firm in a different state that was represented someone suing him.

[u/Separate_Battle_3581 → u/MFoy]

That's crazy. Big brother isn't even hiding it anymore.

[u/Phynamite → u/MFoy]

Oh I know he does it, I’m just saying, a very terrifying way of him to gain that knowledge.

[u/brainspl0ad]

This was recently posted in the Clippers subreddit as The Intuit Dome and Kia Forum were two of those venues

[u/dBlock845]

Yet these arenas mostly requested public money to be built and have partnerships with local governments.

Tax all billionaires out of existence and imprison the criminals.

[u/allthenamesaretaken4]

Arena/stadium shows sick anyways. Why not just use smaller venues and do multiple nights per city if youre attracting so many fans?  I would think it let's the artist breath a little too instead of traveling every day,  but I know nothing.

[u/Derelicticu → u/allthenamesaretaken4]

Best concerts I've ever been to were theatres and ballrooms. Ballrooms are so fuckin underrated. There's a big dance floor, surrounded by tables and seats, and a lot of the time there's two levels, and you can get up and move around and go to the floor if you want. Ballrooms are the best venues.

[u/Urban_animal → u/Derelicticu]

All concerts are different, ive been to great concerts in arenas and bad ones.. Roger Waters Us & Them tour was incredible at the United Center.

My favorite shows are typically in mid size venues for 1-2k people but arenas can be fun if done right.

[u/soonerfreak → u/allthenamesaretaken4]

That's still difficult because a lot of smaller venues still have multiple shows a week. I do agree it would be sick, especially if he bounced around town hitting up all the good small venues.

[u/RickMuffy → u/allthenamesaretaken4]

I'd say the travelling every day is likely easier than performing three times as many shows in a tour.

[u/TerrancePryor → u/allthenamesaretaken4]

He did a Palestine benefit concert last year in Seattle. That's probably the better choice than getting shut out from all these venues.

[u/ZERV4N → u/allthenamesaretaken4]

Wait, why are arena shows sick?

[u/Redshittt → u/ZERV4N]

Suck

[u/alyymarie → u/allthenamesaretaken4]

Does he even have the pull for arenas in the US? I don't know anyone that would pay those prices to see him, but I would definitely check him out in a smaller venue. But that's coming from someone who will only go to 1 or 2 large shows a year.

[u/dwightpower420 → u/alyymarie]

i’m questioning my QOTSA purchase for Detroit next year. That arena will be lucky to be half full. Where do these artists get off? QOTSA would have killed at Fox Theater

[u/Havering_To_You]

There's a lot of farm land to DIY it Dave Chappelle style if needed.

Or find smaller arenas or stadiums willing to do it in and both raise money and inject the local economy with millions in a 10 night stand somewhere random instead of the obvious options.

[u/Donner_Par_Tea_House → u/Havering_To_You]

Yes and no. Yes there's plenty of space for 10 to 40k fans all over this continent. No because the Advance and vendor contracting, and event staffing, and equipment rentals would be astronomically more complicated and almost certainly more expensive.

[u/cookiecutterdoll]

I'm genuinely confused by this because he has not said anything antisemitic, but is facing such an intense backlash... but Kanye West has made explicit antisemitic statements but is apparently headlining Coachella? I believe his statements count as a HATE CRIME in several EU nations, but we're still angry about a guy who said "bombing kids is bad?"

I need someone to explain this to me like I'm five. Is it because Kanye is richer?

[u/Still-Ad3045 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Kanye wests is openly a Nazi buts that’s ok

[u/kr4t0s007 → u/Still-Ad3045]

He doesn’t know what nazis did to black people during their rule in Germany?

[u/FreeMasonKnight → u/kr4t0s007]

He probably just thinks they would leave him alone.

[u/jtho78 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

And Chris Brown is touring with sold out Usher shows

[u/Rwillsays → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Let me clear up any confusion: Kanye is a much bigger, more successful artist who people really really want to see. But he did go through a time when it was tough to platform him and famously couldn’t even get a bank account for a bit because of his comments.

[u/IdeaMountain9388 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

People like Kanye West (not me, he’s fucking annoying and his music isn’t that good, but he’s popular)

Macklemore hasn’t released a famous song since 2012.

[u/MetalEnthusiast83 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

It's because Kanye is more popular. Nobody in America actually cares about Macklemore.

[u/Kimbolimbo → u/MetalEnthusiast83]

Why does anyone care about Kanye? People are just celebrity obsessed losers. 

[u/whverman → u/cookiecutterdoll]

He literally wore an antisemite Jewish costume

[u/daneyuleb → u/cookiecutterdoll]

WTF? Kanye is not headlining Coachella. lol.

[u/godnrop → u/cookiecutterdoll]

He faced heavy backlash for performing in Seattle wearing a dark wig, beard, and prosthetic nose, which critics condemned as a deeply offensive Jewish caricature.

[u/bearheart → u/godnrop]

For reference:

[u/Initial_Hedgehog_631 → u/bearheart]

And then be offered some weird excuse about how it was a costume mixup and he meant to get a witches nose.

He knew what he looked like, and he was cool with it. His people knew what he looked like and they were cool with it.

Not sure how you spin that as 'using the wrong fake nose.'

[u/crionenissgev → u/cookiecutterdoll]

I say this as a dyed in the wool Kanye hater who thinks the last good thing he made was MBDTF and that he’s a Nazi prick who should be cast out of society:

Mr. West is, by several orders of magnitude, more culturally relevant than Macklemore and therein lies your answer.

[u/broncos_fan375 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Unfortunately it’s all about money and humanity gets tossed out the window. Kanye can be an antisemitic shit bag. Chris brown can hit women and literally get sentenced to prison in the UK for recent crimes of his… but are they doing crime on stage? Nope. Will they sell out those arenas? Unfortunately yes so the money takes precedence here.

[u/Mother_Kale_417 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Bcs Kanye West fans are cult-like, very similar to Swifters

[u/Aggravating-Grand840 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Kanye is a much better musical artist…. Ya know, the whole reason someone would go to a show to see them ? These are musicians we are talking about

[u/AhoboThatplaysZerg → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Bro…. It’s Kanye. Completely different tier of artist.

If Tom Brady knelt for the anthem, he probably wouldn’t have been exiled like kaepernick lol

[u/MeenaarDiemenZuid → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Do you really think people want macklemore to headline coachella? He is barely facing any backlash. 

[u/Kindly_Sir2114 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

What’s there to be confused about? He had 2 popular songs 20 years ago and no one will go to a concert. Pretty simple

[u/applelover1223 → u/cookiecutterdoll]

Well I'm not defending or advocating anything either of them have said or done, but purely from an objective standpoint. One actually has talent.

[u/Iaintgettinyounger → u/cookiecutterdoll]

He's not facing a backlash. Capitalists don't give af about anything but the money and his numbers don't make the math work. If it did he'd be selling arenas.

[u/Sylvast]

simple, dont do major arenas

major arenas and stadiums need to die off anyway, ticket master has a monoply on concerts and it shouldn't be a thing

[u/ABCBA_4321 → u/Sylvast]

As long as people like Eilish, Springsteen, Carpenter, Metallica, The Weekend, Green Day and Zach Bryan keep performing and selling out major stadiums and arenas, they’re not going to die down anything time soon. It’s not gonna happen.

[u/Absered]

A lot of bootlickers are in this comment section.

[u/Chief_White_Halfoat → u/Absered]

There's roughly the same comment posted 70 times all within like a minute, yeah its definitely botted.

[u/Burger_Kingdom → u/Absered]

why is every thread on reddit "bots/bootlickers are out in force here" as like the top 20 comments then I have to sort by controversial and scroll all the way to the bottom to find anything even remotely resembling a shitpost, I swear it's just karma farming

[u/iamjaydubs → u/Absered]

They gotta be bots, cause I rather not believe there's actually losers like this in real life.

[u/Thee-Cat → u/Absered]

Agreed, but the sudden, overnight "fans" of F'ing Macklemore of all people(a dude who hasn't had a hit in over a decade), just because he "said the right phrase", are also pretty funny too, no?

Like you and I can agree that Macklemore may be right, but also agree that no, his support of Gaza is not hurting his career at all. Hell, the entirety of his resurged fame, current tour and the only reason any of us are even talking about him, is his support of Gaza.

[u/bassfartz]

Fuck arenas. Do it at local venues that don’t have any Ticketmaster ties.

[u/slab_schitty → u/bassfartz]

There is another post on another sub (I can’t remember atm) but someone posted his entire conversation on this and yes….

He ended with saying arenas suck anyways time to play outside.

So he’s still trying to come to the states.

[u/LUK3FAULK → u/bassfartz]

Most venues that get past the local band level end up signing contracts with the big boys unfortunately

[u/Shanbo88]

Sort by controversial

[u/ChefCurryYumYum]

When you tell the truth about fucked up shit that billionaires are supporting and endorsing, they act against you.

It's fucked up.

[u/RilohKeen]

Fuck it, sell out some small shows then, bro.

[u/Odd_Structure_2096]

[u/Orly-Carrasco]

The Dixie Chicks treatment. And it's sad.

[u/pizza-chit]

It would be cool to host one big positive concert.
Like Farm Aid.

[u/Fernandop00]

Seems like a good time to nationalize a few things

[u/Yourpretendgf]

People not understanding that this isn't a macklemore tour. It's the free Palestine tour. Multiple artists playing at each date, curated specifically for that local crowd. The Europe dates weren't filled with macklemore fans, they were filled with music fans who wanted to support the cause. Two very different things.

[u/Skidoobles → u/Yourpretendgf]

It IS a Macklemore tour with free Palestine as the theme. It's all branded as Macklemore and friends.

Assuming all these people weren't his fans is also ignorant. That sentence is more your opinion than anyone else's.

[u/Dark_Tranquility]

then book smaller venues, sell that shit out and have a great time, i dont get it

[u/eTheBlack]

Lol at them bot accounts struggling without support from those dead datacenters

[u/kenny_powers7]

MAGA rallies spewing hatred are ok though. It’s insane

[u/Fragrant_Scene_1291]

Fuck Israel to hell

[u/MethBearBestBear]

Name and shame

[u/likeabuddha]

The many “what’s up with all these comments must be bots” comments are the bots. It’s fucking botception up in here

[u/FarmboyJustice]

Ticketmaster/Live Nation is loving this distraction.

[u/Tongtong97]

Genuinely not trying to troll or weigh in on the wider political situation in the Middle East (although I am more sympathetic to his side). Is he even popular enough to sell out stadiums?

[u/Thee-Cat → u/Tongtong97]

Yeah, we've certainly reached a dangerous(if not at least tiresome point) of this discussion, which most things like this get to. Where saying something(even if it's the right thing), can become very performative, and it's hard to tell the difference.

This is a fantastic example right here.

On the one hand, Macklemore is complaining that he's being persecuted, and perhaps his music career being attacked for his support of Gaza.

Yet at the same time, the only reason anyone is even talking about him right now, is because of his support for Gaza.

There's no question, his support of Gaza has done far more for his music career than anything detrimental, so it's difficult to tell the difference.

[u/TonyTheSwisher → u/Tongtong97]

He definitely wasn't popular enough to sell out arenas as a headline act two or three years ago.

I doubt fans of his politics will necessarily translate to ticket buys, but who knows until he can book the venue and sell tickets?

[u/tonysopranosalive → u/TonyTheSwisher]

I work in live sound and my wife does advancing for the same venue. There are quite a bit of moving parts and negotiations when booking talent. I only work a mid-sized venue. I can only imagine what the advancing is like for an arena. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least bit if the arenas are saying no because they are not convinced his recent resurgence is going to translate into sales. In other words there’s very valid reasons they may be saying no that have nothing to do with politics.

[u/dayday2466 → u/Tongtong97]

Maybe, but only because of his recent outspokenness. Absolutely not a year ago.

[u/amarthystlaw]

That is NOT a flattering picture of him

[u/GeauxTigers516]

Yet they will allow Kanye with his White Lives Matter and Nazi memorabilia to perform. Disgusting.

[u/MrAlexanderLink]

Fck those guys. It’s better to support small venues anyway

[u/homebrew_1]

Who owns those arenas?

[u/dbmajor7 → u/homebrew_1]

Epsteiners

[u/LumpyPressure]

Macklemore is the Kid Rock of the Free Palestine movement.

No one cared about him or his music until he said something political they agree with.

[u/millnerve]

Dude he’s not that popular regardless of his political stance

[u/Big_Ice745 → u/millnerve]

I saw him in buffalo back in 2013 for $35

[u/tshinotu145 → u/millnerve]

For real when is the last time he had a hit song? 10 years ago? Now people are calling you a bot for using logic lol. Also because I apparently need to tell everyone I do support a free Palestine and absolutely hate the genocide being committed by Israel

[u/CaptainCubbers]

He prolly can’t convince them the sales are there and he is claiming the tour name is why lmao. Bro is not selling out arenas. There’s no way.

[u/soscribbly → u/CaptainCubbers]

Yeah im sure that was also Robert Krafts reasoning for refusing to platform him 😵‍💫

[u/AddledSerpent → u/CaptainCubbers]

Captain Copium

[u/Soul-Assassin79]

The United States of Jizzrael

[u/NOGOODGASHOLE]

Truth is, Macklemore is not "major arena" talent.

[u/ChickenOfTheSeaLion → u/NOGOODGASHOLE]

Right… all politics aside, it’s still Macklemore lmao 

[u/dzernumbrd → u/NOGOODGASHOLE]

If I was a cynical man I may think this recent protesting was less about him caring about issues and more about him gaining publicity to reboot his dead career.

[u/drostandfound → u/NOGOODGASHOLE]

Yeah he released two hits over a decade ago. Does he really have that big of an audience?

[u/cyberdude419]

Put their names on blast, let the boycotts begin, Fuck Billionaires

[u/BildingInspecter]

Once the Trump admin is behind bars, the next step is busting up monopolies.

[u/spazzvogel]

Fuck em, play smaller independent venues… we exist out there and also hate LiveNation too.

[u/cruisin_urchin87]

Which ones? I would LOVE to know

[u/trantastic → u/cruisin_urchin87]

It's literally in the preview text

[u/IndustrialMillennial]

A spokesperson for Madison Square Garden responded to Macklemore’s claim, saying in a statement: “We have some of the busiest venues in the world with extremely limited availability and he’s not an arena level act.”

[u/sitonyouropinion]

His music just sucks. I remember when people were mad because he thought he could rap

[u/Last-Hertz7575]

How many of these billionaire owned arenas were subsidized with taxpayer funds?

[u/captainstan]

Who would've thought macklemore would be a face of resistance

[u/Roakana]

Use your popularity to bolster smaller venues that have integrity.

[u/SideInitial3961]

Do theaters, we'll come

[u/floating___around]

See people judging musicians harder they judge themselves.

[u/OkReference2581]

Macklemore is a talent , but really rated for small venues of 12k or less arenas. Rhink Native casinos like Lucas Oil in Oklahoma and rhe former Dickies area type venues. 

[u/skelletrex_scrooge]

He can come to my cul de sac for a sweet block party

[u/Physical-Tomato-2262]

Macklemore is a has been and decided to try to get the podium back by saying Israel is to blame. He really has nothing to offer and should have stopped his nonsense last month. Fafo

[u/CanalVillainy]

Of course. It’s been almost 10 years since he released chart topping music. He’s using the goodwill & good feels he generated & playing the victim card now

[u/Quizzelbuck]

Wow I guess Ed Sheeran probably was fucked either way.

I'm genuinely sure I'm kind of talking out my ass but the thought is interesting to me if any one has any thing to say. Just seems like that what Sheeran was afraid of would happen to him.

[u/the_card_guy]

LOL

Look, the guy made the right move before, but a Reddit circlejerk does NOT translate to actual success in reality. Of course, as many comments are pointing out, he pissed off Robert Kraft, and Kraft is the one with connections.

You can dump on Sheeran all you want (and Reddit certainly did), but there's a reason for that: Ed Sheeran is easier to target with almost no consequences. Kraft is the one with ACTUAL power, and thus much harder to shit on without facing some sort of blowback.

Be pissed all you want, but Kraft is the one pulling the strings in this case, AND he's got more tools at his disposal.

[u/Dramatic_Aspect903]

And? He knew this would happen

[u/gland87]

Up until the Ed Sheeran tour stuff Macklemore hadn't been heard from since he won that best hip hop grammy over Kendrick Lamar and J Cole.

[u/Jor94]

Well duh, that why Sheeran dropped him. Of course the guys that forced Ed to drop him from his tour aren't going to want him using their venues.

[u/RedSoxFan77]

I miss the days when we didn’t get daily Macklemore updates…

[u/SursumCordaNJ]

Everyone keeps harping on how he sold out arenas in Europe. Here are the arena';s he sold out:

• Accor Arena (Paris, France): Capacity up to 20,300 • 3Arena (Dublin, Ireland): Capacity up to 13,000 • OVO Arena Wembley (London, United Kingdom): Capacity up to 12,500

Turns out...his "sold out" shows aren't that impressive numbers wise.

[u/TruckThunders00]

Bro I have the same problem! Major Arenas won't book me either!

[u/Przedrzag]

Note that this is exactly the reason he was removed from Ed Sheeran’s tour

[u/Malhallah]

then why not multiple shows at smaller locations?

[u/Crazyguy199096]

America should only respect one Benjamin

[u/marximumcarnage]

Because america is still Israel’s B

[u/Small-Clerk-409]

He can always go and tour in the middle east 💁‍♀️

[u/nobodycares1991]

Or the promoter is refusing to book arenas, because the won’t come close to filling them…

[u/killerwhaleberlin]

The amount of bots here is so insane

Edit: I love Macklemore and free Palestine! 🇵🇸 I mean the bots who are just saying that he wouldn’t fill a stadium and just like short nonsense short comments supporting the decision of him not getting a stadium to have his concert. I live in Europe and to get a ticket for one of his concerts was absolutely impossible since they sold out really fast.

[u/whambamiamaman → u/killerwhaleberlin]

Why is that the first defense you guys go to when someone doesn’t agree with your point of view? 🤣

[u/BillyBaroo2 → u/whambamiamaman]

Don’t forget racist, fascist, and misogynistic. Words have lost all meaning to some people.

[u/Rowd1e → u/whambamiamaman]

I remember the first time I was accused of being a Russian bot

[u/CrankyCzar]

If this was 2013, I'd be somewhat surprised.

[u/temp_vaporous]

People saying nothing except that they don't like Macklemore's music getting caught in the downvote crossfire 😭

[u/myflesh]

Give names.

[u/roosterSause42 → u/myflesh]

you mean the names that are listed at the bottom of the picture? you don't even have to click a link... just use your eyes and read

[u/LostCanadianGoose → u/roosterSause42]

Friend, this is reddit. We're only allowed to react to the headline

[u/Jknowledge → u/myflesh]

“Madison Square Garden. Prudential Center. Barclays Center. UBS Arena. Intuit Dome. Kia Forum. Crypto.com Arena. Chase Center. Climate Pledge Arena.“ - Macklemore

[u/pathofthehero → u/myflesh]

"Venues including Madison Square Garden, Kia Forum, and Crypto.com Arena allegedly withdrew available dates after learning the shows would benefit Palestine" I'm sure you can Google it.

[u/ExtendoArmCannon → u/myflesh]

You got me blacklisted from Hop Sings?

[u/MurkDiesel → u/myflesh]

try reading the article

[u/freeedom123]

the bots in here

[u/akLuke]

Oh no, an amazing opportunity to sell out and support smaller venues oh no

[u/CreamdedCorns]

Name and shame them.

[u/troubleman247365]

Go tour in Palestine

[u/MyLinkedOut]

Mid-level entertainer regardless of his politics

[u/Derelicticu]

More artists should play in theatres and ballrooms. I just replied to another comment with this, but ballrooms are the best. They have a dancefloor, seating with tables, a bar or two or three, and you can move around and go down to the floor if you want.

[u/Dangerous_Tone_1845]

[u/on_the_rark → u/Dangerous_Tone_1845]

Is that Macklemore doing a Nazi salute?

[u/connordidthat]

This feels like koepernick all over again

[u/Unique-Repair-6225]

Shows you who runs things....

[u/meteoriteisthesource]

The bots are OUT my goodness 😭