Ed Sheeran breaks down in tears as he issues apology during first show since dropping Macklemore

Ed Sheeran said he was 'so so sorry' as he admitted 'mistakes' to crowds in Philadelphia following the Macklemore-Palestine row.

The 'A Team' singer began his concert later than planned by addressing the controversy that has thrown the tour into chaos.

Support acts and the backing band for the star’s current The Loop tour dropped out of the remaining dates after US rapper Macklemore, real name Benjamin Haggerty, was removed from the line-up following comments about the conflict in Gaza.

Performing for the first time since the incident unfolded, Sheeran told the crowd at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia: “I’ve had to take and make difficult decisions, and I am making mistakes and I’m so, so sorry for them.

“I don’t want to disappoint fans, and I’ve never wanted to be an activist musician, but this has put me in the middle of an important and passionate argument about freedom of speech and the most complex political issue on the planet.”

He said the controversy made him consider quitting music for good, adding: “I really didn’t know whether this tour would be carrying on.

“I really didn’t know whether I’d be even getting on stage again, whether I even wanted to be an artist at all. In these situations, you really find out who your friends are, and it’s been a weird week.

"I just feel like it happened very quickly.”

He opened the show admitting he had made 'mistakes' and condemning the conflict in Gaza as 'catastrophic' and 'unjustifiable', adding he had tried in the past not to be a 'political commentator'.

“I cannot hide how I feel about it anymore,” he said. “What happened in Israel and at the Nova music festival on October 7 was horrific and compounded centuries of Jewish pain.

“What is happening in Gaza is catastrophic and unjustifiable and disproportionate. My heart has been broken by the scale of devastation and loss of civilians’ lives, children’s lives.

“And the systemic injustice we are seeing unfold in the West Bank cannot be overlooked.”

Sheeran concluded the concert by saying: “The world is a scary place right now. America is a scary place right now. This gives hope.”

A small but vocal pro-Palestine protest was held outside the subway station that serves the stadium, several hundred metres from the venue.

Police confirmed on Saturday that they would have an increased presence at the venue to protect the singer and attendees.

Acts who dropped out of Sheeran’s tour include Irish singer Aaron Rowe, Grammy award-winning musician Finneas, who is Billie Eilish’s brother, and Danish singer Lukas Graham, and Sheeran’s backing band Beoga.

At the start of the week, Macklemore posted on Instagram claiming Sheeran and his team had 'made the decision to remove' him from the Loop Tour.

During an earlier show at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, the rapper said he wanted people in Gaza and the West Bank to know they had not been forgotten.

Sheeran responded in a statement posted to Instagram on Tuesday, saying it was the promoter’s decision to remove the rapper from the tour, not his.