Police in India shut down Ed Sheeran’s impromptu street concert

Name: Police unplug Ed Sheeran’s surprise street performance in India
Uploaded: 2025-02-10T05:27:11.000Z
Duration: 1 min 25 s
Description: Police unplug Ed Sheeran’s surprise street performance in India

Footage showed a policeman walking up to Sheeran as he was singing and unplugging his microphone, as onlookers jeered

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Police unplug Ed Sheeran’s surprise street performance in India

Reuters

Published: 1:27pm, 10 Feb 2025Updated: 12:46pm, 11 Feb 2025

A street performance by Ed Sheeran in India’s tech capital of Bengaluru was stopped abruptly by police on Sunday, outraging fans and prompting the British singer to issue a clarification.

Sheeran, 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 Sunday night.

Local television channels showed a policeman walking up to Sheeran as he was singing the hit single Shape of You and unplugging his microphone, as onlookers jeered. Sheeran left soon after.

Ed Sheeran reacts after an Indian policeman unplugged his microphone amid an impromptu street performance in Bengaluru on Sunday. Photo: X/aaraynsh

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.