Police in India pull the plug on British singer Ed Sheeran’s impromptu street concert
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The police said event organisers had refused permission for the street performance, which was on one of the city’s busiest streets.
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BENGALURU – A street performance by Ed Sheeran in India’s tech capital of Bengaluru was stopped abruptly by the police on Feb 9, outraging fans and prompting the British singer to issue a clarification.
The 33-year-old star, dressed in a white T-shirt and shorts, was seen singing and playing his guitar on a pavement in the centre of Bengaluru ahead of his concert in the city on Feb 9.
Local channels showed a policeman walking up to Sheeran as he was singing the hit single Shape Of You (2017) and unplugging the microphone, as onlookers jeered. Sheeran left soon after.
The police said event organisers had been refused permission for the street performance, which was on one of the city’s busiest streets.
“I refused to give permission because Church Street gets very crowded. That is the reason he was asked to vacate the place,” Bengaluru police official Shekar T. Tekkannanavar was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
Sheeran, who began his career as a busker in Britain, said later on his Instagram account that he did have permission to perform. “It wasn’t just us randomly turning up. All good though,” he wrote.
He is in India for a series of concerts, and performed in front of thousands of people at an open ground in the city later that night, accompanied by Indian singer Shilpa Rao. REUTERS
