Ed Sheeran says he had permission after Bengaluru police interrupt performance: 'It wasn't random'

English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran clarified on Instagram that he had permission to perform on the street in Bengaluru. Here's what he said.

English singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is in Bengaluru to perform as part of his +-=÷x 2025 India Tour. A video of him being interrupted by the Bengaluru police while performing on the street in Karnataka went viral on social media. The musician clarified that it was a planned performance, not a surprise. (Also Read: ‘Very embarrassing’: Ed Sheeran stopped from singing on street by Bengaluru police, Reddit calls it 'peak Indian moment’)

Ed Sheeran performing Shape of You on a Bengaluru street. (Twitter)

Ed Sheeran on being interrupted by Bengaluru police

After his performance was interrupted by the Bengaluru police, Ed took to his Instagram stories to clarify that it wasn’t a ‘surprise’ that he was playing there. His not read, “We had permission to busk btw, hence us playing in that exact spot, was planned out before, it wasn't just us randomly turning up. All good though. See ya at the show tonight x.” He also posted a picture about how he was excited to perform on ‘Night 2’ in the city.

A screengrab of Ed Sheeran's Instagram stories.

This comes after Bengaluru police did not recognise Ed and instructed him to stop the performance. Given that one of the officers even unplugged his microphone while the singer was still performing, many wondered if it was an impromptu performance and if the singer did not obtain prior permission. Despite that, numerous people came to his defence on social media, pointing out that it was a shame the police did that. After Ed’s post, people called the incident ‘embarrassing’ given how he had followed the rules, and this still happened.

Ed Sheeran’s India tour

The four-time Grammy Award winner performed in Bengaluru on Saturday and will give another performance tonight. The concert will take place at NICE grounds. He recently performed in Hyderabad with Armaan Malik. Sheeran will also perform in Pune, Shillong, and Delhi NCR as part of his India tour. Bengaluru is the only city he will perform twice due to overwhelming ticket demands.