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Ed Sheeran stopped from busking on Bengaluru street. Top cop explains why
Bengaluru police denied giving Ed Sheeran permission for a street performance, citing traffic concerns.
Clearing the air over stopping an Ed Sheeran performance on a Bengaluru street on Sunday, a video of which has gone viral on social media, the city police has responded by saying that they had not granted the permission to the artist for busking, given the busy nature of traffic at the Church Street where the performance was held.
While the police admitted that a member from the UK artist’s team did reach out to them for permission, it was not granted.
"A member among the event organisers came to meet me to seek permission for the streetside performance at Church Street. I refused to give permission because Church Street gets very crowded. That is the reason he was asked to vacate the place," news agency ANI quoted DCP Central Bengaluru Shekar T Tekkannanavar as saying.
What Ed Sheeran Said
The Bengaluru cop’s statement, however, is contrary to what Ed Sheeran posted about the incident. Taking to his Instagram, Ed Sheeran said that the performance was no surprise and that he had obtained permission from the police to perform at Church Street.
On his Instagram story, he said, “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.”
This came after a Bengaluru cop unplugged global pop star Ed Sheeran’s musical instruments in the middle of a performance at Bengaluru’s Church Street, while not recognising the artist. A video of the incident, which many on the internet have labelled as "embarrassing", went on wide circulation on social media.
Ed Sheeran is in India for his ongoing Mathematics tour. He performed in Bengaluru on Saturday and Sunday. He also recently performed in Hyderabad with Indian musician and singer Armaan Mali and is also set to perform in Pune, Shillong, and Delhi NCR as part of his India tour. Bengaluru is the only city where he performed twice due to overwhelming ticket demands.
