“We Had…”: Ed Sheeran Reacts After Bengaluru Police Halt His Performance
Ed Sheeran recently gave his side of the story after his street performance in Bengaluru was cut short by the police.
Grammy-winning singer Ed Sheeran is currently in India as part of his Mathematics 2025 tour, with Bengaluru being one of the key stops. However, a video of the British singer-songwriter being interrupted by the Bengaluru police while performing on the streets went viral, sparking mixed reactions. Many speculated that Ed Sheeran was stopped due to a lack of permission, but the artist later clarified that the performance was pre-planned and not a random surprise. The incident, however, left social media divided.
A clip circulating online showed Ed Sheeran singing ‘Shape Of You’ on a Bengaluru street when a police officer intervened, even going so far as to unplug his microphone.
Check out the video here:
A police officer pulled the plug when Ed Sheeran surprised everyone on Church Street pic.twitter.com/cMIRoLC7Mk
— Naai sekar (@snehaplsstop) February 9, 2025
Soon after the video surfaced online, several social media users reacted to it. One user wrote, “I have witnessed so many cool performances, dancers, artists showcasing their talents on Marine drive, carters road, bandstand in Mumbai. People would cheer for them so do cops, I have never seen cops act so harshly in Mumbai, they are friendly. That’s the thing about Mumbai.”
Another one added, “People dissing police should criticize the organizers for not discussing this with local authorities especially when there is a chance of massive crowd gathering when people get aware of Ed live entry.”
A third one commented, “The police man needn’t have been so rude though . He could have calmly explained the situation and given them time to pack and leave . Teach the police manners maybe ?”
Another user wrote, “It’s embarrassing because they had prior permission. Even if they didn’t, they were not causing harassment to anyone. Cops could have requested him to end the singing and leave politely.”
“Police claimed that they have no prior approval for such show,” another comment on the post read.
Addressing the incident on his Instagram stories, Ed Sheeran wrote, “We had permission to busk btw, hence us playing in that exact spot, was planned out before, it wasn’t just us randomly turning up. All good though. See ya at the show tonight x.”
Despite the confusion, Ed Sheeran remained unbothered, sharing his excitement about performing in Bengaluru. The Grammy-winning artist had already performed in Hyderabad alongside Armaan Malik. He also gave an electrifying performance with music maestro AR Rahman in Chennai. He is set to perform in Shillong and Delhi NCR in the coming days.
Ed Sheeran’s last Bengaluru concert took place at NICE Grounds, promising a thrilling evening for fans.
