Ed Sheeran‘s impromptu street performance in Bengaluru, India, was stopped by local police on Sunday. The singer decided to busk on the city’s Church Street ahead of his concert, but police officers literally pulled the plug, saying Sheeran didn’t have proper permission.
As seen in videos of the performance, a police officer walked up to Sheeran while he was singing “Shape of You” with the surrounding crowd and unplugged the microphone cable. As the crowd booed, Sheeran said, “We have permission to do this. It’s this policeman who is shutting it down.” The musician left shortly after.
Police told CNN they had denied Sheeran permission to busk there. They showed up after someone called a helpline to report the infringement once the singer started playing. “We rejected it because Church Street is a very busy area and we try to keep the people moving there,” said Shekhar H. Tekkannavar, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru Central division.
Sheeran later responded that he had, in fact, gotten the go-ahead to perform on the Church Street sidewalk. “We had permission to busk btw, hence us playing in that exact spot, was planned out before, it wasn’t just us turning up randomly,” he wrote on his Instagram Stories. “All good though.”
PC Mohan, a local MP from the ruling BJP party, wrote on X, “Shape of You… but not of permits. Ed Sheeran’s impromptu gig on Church Street hit a sour note as Bengaluru police pulled the plug over missing permissions. Even global stars must follow local rules—no permit, no performance!”
Sheeran was in Bengaluru for two concerts at the Nice Grounds. He is set to continue his tour on Feb. 12 at JN Stadium in Shillong, India, before heading to China later this month.
In December, Sheeran confirmed that his next, yet-to-be-titled, album is already finished, and he’s “getting back into big pop.” He told Variety that his more recent project, Subtract, “was obviously a completely different record that didn’t really call for big pop stuff.” But for his next effort, “it feels like I’m getting back into big pop for the first time in a long time,” he said, a move that was “quite exciting.” Along with completing the music, Sheeran revealed that he’s already shot two music videos for the project and will film two more this year.
