Ed Sheeran announces he's taking a break from music amid legal battles

Ed Sheeran is hanging up his guitar for 18 months. Photo / NZ Herald

Ed Sheeran is taking a break from touring for "18 months".

The 28-year-old musician wrapped up his lengthy Divide Tour with a show in Chantry Park, Ipswich, on Monday, and has said the performance not only marked the last gig of the tour, but also his last for the next year and a half, as he plans to take a break.

Speaking on stage, he said: "As you may or not know, I've been on the Divide tour for over two years now and this is the last day of the whole thing.

"There is something very bittersweet about it. I love that you guys are here and we are ending it in Ipswich. This is my last gig for probably 18 months."

The Castle on the Hill hitmaker has played to around nine million people on his extensive tour - which was recently named the biggest tour ever - and Ed likened the end of the chapter to "breaking up with a girlfriend".

He added: "We've played all around the world. Glastonbury, Wembley Stadium. All these amazing venues, America, New Zealand, Australia, Asia, South America - it's been a wild one.

"It's been an emotional day for a lot of people backstage. It kind of feels like, in a weird way, that you're breaking up with a girlfriend that you've been with for years.

"It sounds odd but it has been a long tour."

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9 million people, 893 days, 46 countries, 175 cities, 260 shows, 268 touring crew, 193265 miles travelled, 2 broken arms, 3 marriages, 4 babies. What a wild ride this Divide tour has been. The whole process of writing the album starting in 2015, then recording it in 2016, promoting it, setting out on the road to play it for all of you guys. It’s so weird to put it to bed and move on. Thank you to everyone involved in this whole Divide process, all the people who helped make the album, all the people who helped promote the album, all the fans who listened and came to watch, this wouldn’t be possible without you. Most of all I want to thank my fantastic touring team, who have given up their lives for 2 and a half years to help me achieve my dreams. Thank you for all of your hard work and constant friendship. The Divide tour - 2017 -2019. Officially the biggest tour of all time, so weird to say that, and we survived it !

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) on Aug 28, 2019 at 8:47am PDT

Ed then took a moment to thank his fans for "giving [him] a chance".

Before playing his last song, he said: "This is a Framlingham Town football shirt. I am from Framlingham. Suffolk is my home. I am so happy to be ending this mammoth tour here.

"I want to say thank you to everyone on this tour. Thank you to everyone who has given me a chance. This is my last song. I wrote this when I was 15 years old. See you in a few years time. Thank you."

The decision to take a touring break comes as the 'Shape of You' singer has previously mentioned he would like to start a family with his wife Cherry Seaborn.

Ed's Divide Tour was announced earlier this month to have broken a record set by U2 in 2011 for the most attended and highest grossing tour of all time.

In 2011, U2's '360 Tour' brought in a staggering $735.4 million after the band concluded an intense 110 show run between June 2009 and July 2011.

The Divide Tour beat U2's record on Ed's 246th show of the lengthy trek, making $736.7 million when he still had several weeks to go before concluding with this week's final show, which was the tour's 255th concert.