A week ago, it might've been surprising to go see Hayley Williams and to hear Macklemore and Lukas Graham on the pre-show playlist. Now, it looks like a righteous statement of solidarity.
Late last week, opening act Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran's current stadium tour because he made anti-genocide statements during that tour's first two shows. By all accounts, the owners of the NFL stadiums where Sheeran is booked, Robert Kraft in particular, made it clear that the shows couldn't happen with Macklemore on the bill. Sheeran, who insists that he's "not complicit," rolled over and accepted their terms without protest.
Soon afterward, all of that tour's other opening acts —Aaron Rowe, Finneas, and Lukas Graham — quit the tour in solidarity with Macklemore, as did Beoga, the Irish folk group who acted as Sheeran's backing band during part of his show. Yesterday, Macklemore pledged to donate the $1 million that he made on the Sheeran tour to organizations that help Palestinian people and challenged Robert Kraft to match that donation, while Kraft said that he and Sheeran would both donate $2 million. It's been the biggest story in the music world over the past few days, and Hayley Williams found her own way to voice support for the people who left Macklemore's tour last night.
When Macklemore made his Instagram statement about being kicked off of Sheeran's tour, Hayley Williams was one of the prominent musicians who liked the post. Williams recently kicked off her own "Hayley Williams Show" tour. On Wednesday, the tour came to Queens Forest Hills Stadium for the first of two gigs, with Magdalena Bay and Rico Nasty opening.
Williams has been calling for a "free Palestine" at many of her shows, and she did it again last night. She also appeared to be dressed in Palestinian flag colors. And as the @paramorebrasil Instagram page notes, the evening's pre-show playlist included all the acts who left the Ed Sheeran tour.
Williams plays Forest Hills Stadium again tonight. That's a venue with no ceiling, so maybe we'll put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us.
