Even if you don’t particularly like, or even understand, the appeal of modern pop music, you really have to appreciate what Ed Sheeran does. He’s not just some lip-syncing, talentless hack – this English lad has some serious skills.
His live shows are stripped of all the usual bells and whistles. There are no pyrotechniques, no back up dancers or even other musicians, it’s literally just him alone with an acoustic guitar – not a bad effort considering he’s sold out back-to-back shows of 12,000-odd screaming teenage fans. He even explains during the show, “Everything you hear is played live, recorded live and then looped.” It’s an impressive spectacle; as the cameras show Sheeran fiddling with pedals to overlay bars on acoustic, electric, tapping a beat on the side of his guitar, beat boxing and even providing his own back-up vocals.
If you were to describe his musical style, it’s not as poppy as Justin Timberlake but not quite as cool as someone like Plan B (Sheeran’s attempt at rapping is borderline cringe-worthy).
With only two albums to his name, the set wasn’t too lengthy. It was short and sharp, consisting mostly of new material from his latest album, x – including I’m A Mess, Don’t, Nina, Take It Back, Photograph, Thinking Out Loud and I See Fire. He also blended in a few surprising covers, including Blackstreet’s No Diggity, Stevie Wonder’s Superstition, Iggy Azalea’s Fancy and even Fiddy’s In Da Club.
Sheeran involved the crowd as much as possible and they eagerly obliged, encouraging everyone to clap on cue, bounce their hands like they were at a hip hop concert and, at one stage, split the room in two to provide harmonious chorus backing. However, one of the best sights was when he asked the crowd to hold up their mobile flashlights as lighters and wave them in the air during one of his slower tracks. The entire arena was glowing.
Between songs he played up to the audience, swearing a lot more than expected and getting a few good laughs. He even joked about the encore routine, saying, “This is my last song, but we both know it’s not really my last song.” It didn’t stop the crowd from going completely mental again when he came out to finish with You Need Me, I Don’t Need You and Sing.
BY CHRIS BRIGHT
Photo by Ian Laidlaw
Loved: The one-man-band approach.
Hated: The deafening screams of too many teenagers.
Drank: Water, recovering from my b’day the night before.
