Ed Sheeran’s tour offers a lesson in the strength of noncooperation

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(RNS) — Pop megastar Ed Sheeran had a good thing going. For eight months, he mounted a small B stage in the center of some of the world’s largest stadiums, stomped on his loop pedal, and began picking out a motif on his guitar that only early fans would recognize — the melody to his defiant debut “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.”

As he layered in beatboxing to stand in for drums, fans were transported into the intimacy of his pre-fame days, when he used loops to back himself to busk on London’s busy but lonely street corners. From there, his “Loop Tour” set would begin its two-and-a-half-hour crescendo through 15 years of hits, ending on a proper arena stage with a full band at his back. He did this again and again — from Auckland to Santiago to Los Angeles — enrapturing audiences in a perfect atmosphere of “unity, joy, escapism and love,” in his words.

All that changed when he landed in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Macklemore — who’s been rapping about social issues since his hit pro-LGBTQ+ anthem “Same Love” hit the radio in 2012, and more recently released “Hind’s Hall” in salute of…