Live Report: Macklemore lights up St. Anne’s Park with a pummelling spectacle

Macklemore’s concert at St. Anne’s Park on Wednesday night was something of a homecoming.

For a long time, the Seattle rapper has celebrated his Irish heritage in spades. And if his intimate, yet massive Dublin show has anything to prove, it’s that this ancestral pride is going nowhere soon.

By the time Macklemore was due to arrive, the venue was already packed to the back, the crowd a mix of fans old and young.

Joining his live band and crew of backing dancers, the GRAMMY-winning artist sauntered on stage donning a Palestinian keffiyeh over an Irish rugby kit. With the hit ‘Thrift Shop’ featuring early in the setlist, the gig was off to a rollicking start.

Macklemore at St. Annes Park on June 4th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

The choreographed dancers, pyrotechnic decks, big band theatrics, the inevitable ‘Kernkraft 400’ hype-up and invited Dance Off between brave audience members offer a slight departure from the usual rap concert formula.

It was a sprawling mix of old and new Macklemore favourites. Many of the chart-raiding tracks of his debut album The Heist and his later smash collaborations made up the bulk of the set.

Macklemore at St. Annes Park on June 4th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

From the high-school band anthem of ‘White Walls’ to the ‘Safety Dance’ incarnate of ‘Downtown’, he certainly didn't hold back on the bass, as even amid throngs of rain-drenched bodies, the heavily hung vibrations radiated in your chest.

Respite from the propulsions came with a performance of the infectious Rudimental and Jess Glynne collab ‘These Days’, as well as ‘Same Love’, the hit single which became a Pride anthem and felt all-the-more momentous on this June evening.

Macklemore at St. Annes Park on June 4th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

Whether he’s making sustainable secondhand fashion look cool or shedding a light on inequality and white supremacy, Macklemore has long used his platform as means of protest.

During a lengthy interlude to his pro-Palestinian track ‘HIND'S HALL’, written for the students of the Columbia University protests, the rapper paused the show to share his thoughts on the struggle for the independence and the ongoing genocide in Palestine.

“I have been so proud watching from afar how my Irish brothers and sisters have shown up for the Palestinian people," he declared, to deafening cheers and 'Free Palestine' chants. "Look at all the keffiyehs in the crowd. Look at all the flags in the crowd. That is what I’m walking about. How my Irish brothers KNEECAP have shown up at this moment.

Macklemore at St. Annes Park on June 4th, 2025. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

“What I realised is Palestine has opened up my heart. It felt closed before. It has given me the greatest gift I could ever imagine, that is to feel compassion and empathy for other human beings. And when we all show up, when we all use our voice, it’s not ‘brave’ anymore. It’s just fucking expected and it is human. That’s it. I want to live in a world where being against genocide is the expectation. I want to live in a world…where we see others as brothers and sisters versus stranger and enemy. I want to live in a world where Palestinian life is respected with the same dignity as Israeli life and every other life on this earth.

“And until Palestine is free, we must continue to fight for equality, fight for justice, fight for liberation. I care because I have a heart. I care because I am human. And I care because I’m Irish.”

Throughout his heaving set, Macklemore took listeners through a rap pantomime of wild proportions — from the bouncing bass and cathartic brass to his spellbinding flow and gestural liberation. It was a masterclass in the non-stop run of chart hits and a fitting summation of Macklemore’s prowess not only as a rapper, but a true artist and activist.

Check out the full gallery from Macklemore's St. Anne's Park takeover here. Photography by Abigail Ring