The superstar brought his massive tour to the DC, Maryland & Virginia area
Ed Sheeran appeared on stage to open for Ed Sheeran.
You aren’t reading double. Sheeran kicked off the night of his Mathematics Tour stop at FedEx Field in the DC area Saturday (June 24th) filling in for Khalid. The rising star had to pull out due to his involvement in a car accident. Sheeran mentioned Khalid is on the mend and should rejoin the tour in Boston.
Instead of simply pushing opener Rosa Linn back into the second slot, Sheeran made an incredibly classy move. He decided to play a short set of deep cuts from Subtract.
Sharing personal stories from the writing of the last of his “Mathematics” albums, he offered numbers including “Curtains” and “Spark.” The emotional “Sycamore” was written after his wife’s cancer diagnosis. Sheeran told the crowd that he hasn’t performed most numbers from his latest, “heavy” album in stadiums. Instead, he digs deep into his newest record when playing smaller, intimate shows at theaters. Those Subtract Tour dates occur in between Mathematics Tour stadium shows but in theaters.
Sheeran is to the guitar what Billy Joel is to the piano. Dare the comparison be made; a modern-day Don McLean. That is to say, Sheeran is the rare mainstream pop star that cares more about the writing of the song than the production of them. He is the purest form of singer-songwriter. How pure? In a decade of pop-culture relevance, this is his first tour with a full band.
Sheeran’s main set was hits-packed. He opened with two full-band songs, “Tides,” and his rocking collab with Bruno Mars and Chris Stapleton, “Blow.”
“Shivers” delivered the first real stadium-wide singalong of the night.
Sheeran’s band disappeared from their perches on the anchor pillars within the crowd for a solo segment. “Shivers” was the first stadium-wide singalong of the night. “Castle On the Hill” had the crowd jumping. But moments later Sheeran demonstrated his beloved versatility by practically rapping the hip-hop tinged “Don’t.”
Sheeran was aided in creating a venue-filling sound by his trusty looper. A mainstay of his live show, Sheeran uses his guitar, voice, and keyboard to perfectly underscore his music. Every beat was played live before being integrated into each song via the technology. It worked to dazzling effect.
Having performed “Boat” in his Subtract set, he performed the tear-jerking “Visiting Hours” from Equals, the first time it was performed on this tour.
Affable, Sheeran often spent a few moments explaining the “when” and “why,” of certain songs. Famously not one to shy away from discussing his creative process, the stories made hearing—no, feeling—the music that much more of a deeper experience.
The stage is also full of technology. The stage for this is a perfect circle, allowing for fair viewing on all sides. The massive ring-shaped LED roof and lighting rig appears to float. This is thanks to anchoring pillars that surround the stage. The pillars are adorned with small ring-screens as well, in addition to large pick-shaped viewing screens. Six in total.
But the best part of this stage are the moving elements, complete with a moving belt that runs the entire diameter of the stage. It keeps Sheeran moving even as he plays standing still. There’s also a central platform that raises and lowers as Sheeran decides to stand on it. It’s as if the stage is breathing with him. Kudos to the crew, who also used the raising and lowering traps to bring gear on and off. Using that stage is almost certainly harder and more perilous than it looks.
Sheeran brought his band out to perform selections from his full-band No. 6 Collaborations album, in addition to some hits. Hearing “Thinking Out Loud” with all the layers of a band was specifically a joy.
This tour is a pyro-infused celebration of songwriting and a catalogue as authentic as any in music. With this trek and the completion of the “Mathematics” septet of records, Sheeran has cemented his legacy as the musical voice of a generation. And he’ll only “add” to that achievement in future “equations” from here.
