Zach Bryan broke the Gillette Stadium attendance record while sporting a “Free Palestine” T-shirt for the second night in a row.
Bryan, 30, performed Friday, October 2, and Saturday, October 3, at the Robert Kraft-owned stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, with his second show garnering over 73,000 fans.
“Tonight, Zach Bryan broke the Gillette Stadium attendance record with 73,538 fans!” Gillette Stadium shared via Instagram on Sunday, October 4, alongside several photos from Bryan’s With Heaven on Tour concert.
Followers in the comments section pointed out that the photos did not feature close-ups of Bryan’s shirt nor the country singer’s face.
Bryan’s concerts at the stadium came after rapper Macklemore was dropped from Ed Sheeran’s Loop Tour last month over his pro-Palestine speeches during his opening act. The decision was made before Sheeran’s planned shows at Gillette Stadium in late September.
At the time, Macklemore, 43, alleged that Kraft, 85, “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.”
Kraft responded in a statement, “Gillette Stadium has a longstanding commitment to providing a welcoming environment for all guests and ensuring that events held at our venue do not provide a platform for hate speech. 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.”
Sheeran, 35, addressed the controversy when he returned to the stage on September 19 in Philadelphia.
“This has put me in the middle of an important, passionate argument about freedom of speech on the most complex issue on the planet,” he said. “[My music] has always been a safe space for everyone. That matters hugely to me. Honoring my commitment to my fans is also completely essential to who I am. That is why I’m here tonight — on my own — continuing my own tour.”
Macklemore has since announced his own Free Palestine Tour, with shows scheduled for Dublin, Paris and London.
“It’s 2026. Being apolitical during a genocide doesn’t work anymore,” he said. “People are asking artists to show up, educate themselves and be in community. To use the stage for more than entertainment. To push back when the call for a Free Palestine is met with attempts to silence it.”
