Varsha Anjali reports from the ground of Ed Sheeran’s Loop tour opening night in Aotearoa.
“Comfort is the death of anything interesting.”
So said Ed Sheeran in an interview with a Canada-based radio station a few months ago.
It sounds like a throwaway line. Something you gloss over because a lot of people say things like that, but rarely do they commit. Sheeran, I only learned last night at Tāmaki Makaurau’s Go Media stadium, is different. Hell, Sheeran commits.
Just before 8pm, the 34-year-old singer-songwriter from England appeared on the B stage in the centre to perform before 40,000 fans to open the first show of the Loop tour, marking his sixth visit here and my first time seeing him live.
Admittedly, I’m a casual listener of Sheeran’s. I can nod to the radio hits. I expected to do nothing more. But Sheeran, besides being a global superstar, is also apparently a mage.
During the massive three-hour set that covered 30 old and new tracks, I jumped shamelessly to not one, but several songs.
Crowds were still spilling in as Sheeran opened with You Need Me, I Don’t Need You. Some fans were cartwheeling children, some were selfie-taking police, some were over 35.
Towards the song’s end, a bridge slowly extended out from the stage, allowing Sheeran to perform on it and use it to get to the main stage. Eyeballs widened. Sheeran had never done this before.
He’d been planning it for two years and was nervous about it, he confessed to the crowd. It was also the first time in a long time he had felt nervous, he said.
During the last leg of Auckland shows performed by the pop juggernaut in 2023, there were multiple sound system failures. This time, the sound was clean. But the structure was messy.
He gave us a warning: “Things will mess up tonight, which I guess is a good thing. Makes the show original and standout but if mistakes happen, mistakes happen”.
The bridge wasn’t the only thing Sheeran showed off to the Auckland crowd. The show contained all of the hits in all of the ways.
There was the largest video wall built in New Zealand with busy visuals, the classic loop pedal, successful crowd singalongs (Eyes Closed), tidal waves of phone lights (Heaven), synchronised jumping (Celestial) and camera flashing (Photograph), audience song requests including Little Bird and Supermarket Flowers, audience melody split (Give Me Love), a mash-up of songs Sheeran has written for others (Cold Water, Love Yourself), and the Irish band Beoga.
“I have a real deep love for New Zealand,” Sheeran said at one point, adding he would have chosen to live here if he hadn’t already settled down with his family overseas.
He closed with Bad Habits and a fireworks display that was better than anything I saw at New Year’s. (Yes, I was in Auckland, no, I didn’t look at the Sky Tower.)
If Auckland Transport’s Monday announcement of buses replacing all trains for the concert commute caused any stress in getting there, you couldn’t tell from people’s faces. Not at the beginning anyway. The family-friendly smiley aura was strong.
Except for that one woman who turned around to point out to the people next to us that they had been talking during the performance, and asked if they could “just shut up”. That wasn’t very family-friendly.
It was also a different story after the show ended at 10.50pm.
Like many others, I called an Uber from Rockfield Rd but it would be at least a 20-minute wait. I tried to get a taxi but they told me it would cost $120 to get to the CBD and they said they wouldn’t put the meter on.
Thankfully, my friend’s dad offered me a lift and I could feel 16 again. Then it took another 30 minutes to crawl out of Rockfield Rd.
Still, the essence of the night for a fan could probably be summed up best by a comment on the Auckland subreddit this morning.
“It well exceeded my expectations, so much so that I bought tickets for tomorrow night before the concert had even finished.”
Auckland: Friday, January 16, and Saturday, January 17 – Go Media Stadium
Wellington: Wednesday, January 21 – Sky Stadium
Christchurch: Saturday, January 24 (sold out), and Sunday, January 25 – Apollo Projects Stadium
For full tour and ticket information, visit frontiertouring.com/edsheeran.
Varsha Anjali is a journalist in the lifestyle team at the Herald. Based in Auckland, she covers pop culture, travel and more.