What a time to launch a contest where the prize is opening for Ed Sheeran.
The superstar singer-songwriter's stadium tour has been plunged into chaos over the past week. After opening act Macklemore caught flack from Israel supporters for using his platform to advocate for a free Palestine at Sheeran's New Jersey shows two weekends ago, the rapper was dropped from the tour on Monday.
His ouster was spearheaded by New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, a personal friend of Sheeran's, who banned Macklemore from Boston-area Gillette Stadium and encouraged the owners of other stadiums on the tour to adopt a similar policy. Sheeran said he was not responsible for the decision, which came down from the tour's promoter, and argued he was "not complicit" in the suffering in Gaza. Nonetheless, Sheeran's backing band and all the rest of his opening acts dropped off the tour in solidarity with the Palestinian people, suggesting his Loop Tour had become radioactive for anyone who cares about free speech and human rights.
Into that context enters a newly launched Guitar Center contest in which the prize is, yes, opening for Ed Sheeran. It's part of the retail chain's new Open For Legends program, and yes, it's real. The link for the contest popped up Wednesday, and images of signage promoting it in Guitar Center stores began circulating online. It's billed as a "skill-based contest designed to discover and elevate amateur, unsigned, independent singer-songwriters," inviting entrants age 18 or older, with a valid US passport and experience performing live, to submit footage of themselves performing a song. Promotional copy reads as follows:
"Open For Legends" is a brand-new competition series elevating undiscovered musicians to a global platform, beginning with the chance to open for Ed Sheeran at his LOOP Tour show in Mexico City. Enter by Oct. 7, and you could win a life-changing opportunity.
Because the deadline to submit is Oct. 7, the anniversary of the day Hamas launched a series of deadly surprise attacks in Israel — and because the timing is a little too perfect, and because there was no press release announcing the contest, and because there's no link to it from the main Guitar Center website — some people speculated that this promotion was fake. But it turns out it's fully authentic.
Guitar Center had already been selling Sheeran's signature PRS and Lowden guitars, and they partnered with the pop star on his Orange Outlowd ES amps over the summer. The contest is hosted on an authentic Guitar Center subdomain, too. These corporate contests are scheduled way in advance, and it turns out this one was just terrible timing. The company appears to be keeping it intentionally low-profile, but it's strange they didn't postpone its launch or cancel it entirely.
As soon as the link for the contest went live, it was flooded with pro-Palestine entries, which were publicly visible at the bottom of the page but have since been removed, suggesting the page is being monitored. Whichever aspiring Ed Sheeran opener actually wins this thing will be scheduled to perform at his Dec. 12 show in Mexico City, which is now the new final date on his LOOP Tour after a scheduled gig for the following day was canceled.
Kraft announced Wednesday that, in response to a challenge from Macklemore, he and Sheeran had each donated $2 million to humanitarian relief for Palestine. Sheeran's tour resumes in Philadelphia on Saturday, and TMZ reports there will be a sizable police presence. No word yet as to who'll be the support act at Lincoln Financial Field, but it certainly won't be Hayley Williams.
