Ed Sheeran has spoken out after police in India abruptly shut down a street performance of his.
Over the weekend, while on tour in India, Ed popped up in Bengaluru’s Church Street street for a surprise performance.
However, in footage that was widely circulated on social media (including three million views on X alone), a local police officer was seen unplugging the Grammy winner’s sound equipment while he was in the middle of singing Shape Of You, shutting down the performance.
According to BBC News, the Lego House singer had acquired permission to perform in the area, which is a popular shopping and entertainment street, but officials claim they rejected this to avoid congestion.
“We had permission to busk, by the way,” he reportedly wrote on Instagram. “Hence, us playing in that exact spot was planned out before.
“It wasn’t just us randomly turning up. All good though. See you at the show tonight.”
Fortunately, Ed seemed to find the humour in the incident.
After reposting a clip on his Instagram story on Monday evening, he quipped that the police officer “prefers Bruno Mars”.
Ed is currently on the Asian leg of his Mathematics tour, which will return to mainland Europe later this year.
The tour actually began in 2022 in support of his album Equals, with his sixth release Subtract coming out while he was still on the road.
Last week, the British singer teased that he had new material coming soon, after revealing he’d been in the studio with pop producer Savan Kotecha, who has previously worked with Ariana Grande, The Weeknd, Lizzo and One Direction.