Project Description
ED SHEERAN
@ ANZ Stadium
(Live Review)
15/3/18
Reviewer: Kaycee Cool
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Ed Sheeran has without a doubt become a household name since his debut album ‘+’ was released in 2011, now with 2 Grammys under his belt and three No.1 albums, Ed is back down under for a crazy leg of 18 stadium shows across Australia and New Zealand.
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Sadly with such late notice and Sydney traffic being the way it is, I missed both Ryan McMullan and Missy Higgins.
Ed took to the stage, just him and his guitar and kicked of his two hour set with Castle On The Hill, after which he reminds the crowd of 79,ooo that he does not use a backing track – after being accused of such at a Glastonbury show last year – but a loop station, so every show has a slightly different sound.
After Eraser he goes on to tell his crowd about his first Australin show back in November of 2011 at the Hibernian House – Sydney _ to a crowd of roughly 60 people, The A Team quickly became a top 10 hit, and the rest is history you could say. Now almost 7 years, he performs The A Team to a crowd of 79,000, each and every person singing along with their lights up in the air – which in my opinion is a sight that amazes me more and more each time.
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In the lead up to Don’t, Ed proclaims that he’s actually the boring guy bat concerts, he doesn’t sing or dance, but up on stage he see’s everyone having a good time and lets us all know that the best shows are the ones you leave covered in sweat with no voice.
Ed spends a lot of time interacting with the crowd, telling stories, before Bloodstream he asks the crowd to wave their hands and jump, but goes on to say how theres always 2% of the audience that doesn’t join in – the ‘superdads’ and the husbands & boyfriends that got dragged long – so he adds some humour and singles them out so if they don’t join in, its more noticeable than ever.
Tenerife Sea brought the mood back down and Ed’s already relatively simple stage production was toned down even more to just blue to green lights over the stadium.
Unsurprisingly Galway Girl had everyone up dancing again, the upbeat vibe carried on when Ed turned his cover of Nina Simones’ Feeling Good in to an I See Fire singalong.
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Ed describes Photograph as the song that is very quiet in the studio version, but asks for the crowd to be the exact opposite. As he starts the beat on the loop pedal, the stadium erupted in scream as he started strumming the guitar and they realised what song it was.
Perfect. Ed introduces Perfect as the favourite song he’s ever written, and its no doubt the crowd agreed with him when the tens of thousands of us sang back every word.
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ED SHEERAN . Photo – Wendy Robinson
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ED SHEERAN . Photo – Wendy Robinson
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Throughout the night Ed would check in with us regarding how our voices were feeling, so introducing Thinking Out Loud as “if you haven’t lost your voice yet, you will in this one”, was pretty spot on.
Leaving the stage after Sing, the crowd wasn’t done yet, so when almost 80,000 people scream for an encore you give them what they want.
Returning to the stage for 2 more songs – Shape Of You had Ed running round the stage hyping his crowd up for one last time.
You Need Me, I Don’t Need You definitely closed the show with a bang. Guitar, singing, beatboxing and rapping, Ed showcased it all for his last song of the night.
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ED SHEERAN . Photo – Wendy Robinson
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ED SHEERAN . Photo – Wendy Robinson
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“Been exactly a year since I started The Divide Tour, but these are the first kinda stadium shows we’re doing on this run, but this next year is going to be I think the biggest tour of my life so far and last year was kind of a build up to this point cause we really wanted to make sure the show was ready.. I think it is” – Ed
I cannot think of anything negative to say about Ed’s live performance except that it was over far too soon. Wether you’re a fan or not, there is no denying that Ed Sheeran is an exceptionally talented artist. It amazes me that just him and his guitar kept a crowd of 79,000 captivated for 2 hours. If you go to an Ed concert expecting a chill night, yall are in for a surprise, his stage presence and humble laidback attitude gives of an energy like no other.
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Setlist
Castle On The Hill
Eraser
The A Team
Don’t / New Man
Dive
Bloodstream
Happier
I’m A Mess
Tenerife Sea
Galway Girl
Feeling Good / I See Fire
Photograph
Perfect
Nancy Mulligan
Thinking Out Loud
Sing
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Encore
Shape Of You
You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
Ed’s upcoming dates:
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