Ryan Biller

First, these are not my photographs; photographer Zoe Rain captured these incredible shots, and they will be featured in my upcoming article for @aljazeeraenglish

In September, Macklemore was on tour with Ed Sheeran when he chanted “Free Palestine!” at MetLife Stadium to a crowd of over 80,000. NFL stadium owners who were hosting Sheeran’s tour were pissed (really pissed). Billionaire Robert Kraft spearheaded an effort to cut Macklemore from Sheeran’s tour. Sheeran quickly caved under the pressure.

Soon after, Macklemore announced his Free Palestine Tour, which kicked off at Red Rocks on Thursday. It was the rapper’s first stage appearance since getting axed from Sheeran’s tour. He appeared on stage wearing a Palestine football jersey with Hind Rajab’s name on it - the 5-year-old Palestinian girl who the Israeli military killed with over 330 bullets.

The show was sold out. Parking was a nightmare. Thousands of people were packed between the rocks, wearing keffiyehs and faux fur coats (a nod to Macklemore’s song “Thrift Shop”).

Right before the show ended, Macklemore said to us what he said at MetLife just a month earlier:

“Free Palestine!”