Düsseldorf Nixes Ed Sheeran Concert Plans

DÜSSELDORF, Germany (CelebrityAccess) — The German city of Düsseldorf has thrown up another obstacle in British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran’s quest to find a place to perform.

The Düsseldorf city council on Wednesday voted not to approve a city park for the use of a concert by Sheeran as the event would have required more than 100 trees to be removed, German news site Deutsche Welle reported.

The refused permit is the latest in a string of setbacks for the concert’s promoter FKP Scorpio, who expressed “amazement and boundless disappointment,” in a statement reported on by local newspaper Rheinische Post.

The concert had originally been slated for Essen-Mulheim airport in May, but organizers were forced to relocate the event due to a population of endangered birds nesting at the facility. As well, aerial photos indicated that as many as 103 unexploded bombs from World War II may be buried on the site.

In the face of those challenges, organizers opted to move the concert to the parking lot of Düsseldorf’s new exhibition center. However, to make the site fully accessible, organizers would have had to remove more than 100 trees from the site, leading to protests from conservationists, Deutsche Welle said.

Düsseldorf Mayor Thomas Geisel tried to smooth the situation over by pledging to plant hundreds of new trees but he failed to woo opposition from Germany’s Green Party and other conservationists.

FKP Scorpio is now eyeing a stadium in the city of Gelsenkirchen, however, the venue cannot accommodate the 85,000 fans who have purchased tickets for the show. Organizers are hoping to add an additional date, and allow fans to attend one of the two shows, or to seek a refund, Deutsche Welle reported.