If you have ever wondered what became of all the buskers who used to litter the pavement down at Sydney's Circular Quay in the late '90s, I think one of them grew up to be Ed Sheeran.
I headed down to Accor Stadium (13 February) to see if I could understand how one man and a guitar can fill a stadium full of people. That one man is Ed Sheeran, undeniably a mega-global pop superstar. Sheeran is here as part of his world tour, appropriately entitled Loops.
I missed the first two opening acts and by the sheer lack of people already in the stadium by the time Vance Joy starts, so have most people.
Undeterred by a half-full stadium, Vance kicks it off with the fun 'Missing Piece' and straight into one of his hits 'Mess Is Mine'. It's an early highlight and the 38-year-old Australian singer-songwriter isn't missing a beat.
Dressed in a button-up black shirt and casual jeans, he looks like he's about to wax lyrical about '90s postmodernist author David Foster Wallace in a Melbourne uni bar.
However, what he does is well and truly win the crowd over with his fun but moving collection of songs. The band sounds great, featuring a seven-piece band including trumpet and saxophone, his song 'Fire And The Flood' is the set highlight, and without giving away the end of this review, it's honestly probably the highlight of the night.
Vance Joy - image © Jordan Bassett-Smith
Vance Joy's set is quite simply a resounding success. He seems super comfortable in the stadium setting, his band sounds great, the mix is great, the song choice is great, including a really cool cover of 'I Was Made For Loving You' – yes, the Kiss song, during which a guy in a wheelchair was ripping around near the front of the stage having an absolute blast.
He closes it out with the triple j Hottest 100 winner of 2013, 'Riptide'. As support acts go, I don't think Ed's team could have picked a better bloke.
Ed Sheeran by all rights shouldn't be famous. He's a short, red-headed, English bloke. He's not what you'd call conventionally attractive. He doesn't exude sex appeal or even a shred of rockstar swagger. So I was interested to see how this one man and a tiny guitar could win over and entertain a mildly enthusiastic crowd of 70,000 people.
The main stage is a relatively small half-moon shaped affair, that is absolutely dwarfed by a giant HD screen, and there is a smaller round stage in the middle of the stadium.
The show starts with a video that shows Ed in his bedroom as a 16 year old with his guitar and trusty looper. The video asserts that Ed will be playing everything we hear tonight on said trusty looper, which he will tell us several more times through the night.
Ed Sheeran - image © Jordan Bassett-Smith
Just before appearing onstage, we hear him ask in the video: "Now you're gonna tell me this ain't live?" Ed pops up onto the smaller stage in the middle and starts looping to begin the song 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You'.
It doesn't get off to a great start. The sound guy takes a while to get it dialled in, with Ed's voice being downed out by his looped percussive guitar. His in-ear monitors are pulled out and put back in several times and he misses a few early high notes.
Midway through the song, a giant bridge covered in LED lights appears out of the main stage and meets up with the smaller stage. Ed Sheeran on a LED bridge, in the middle of a stadium, while rapping was not on my bingo card tonight, but here we are.
Ed Sheeran - image © Jordan Bassett-Smith
After more than a few words he kicks into 'Sapphire' and the first of many mega hits 'Castle On The Hill'. Another long story about starting out in the pub scene and then he plays his breakout hit 'The A Team'. This is the formula that is followed for the rest of the night.
The set comprises career-spanning hits including 'Shivers', 'Give Me Love', and 'Shape Of You' as well as a medley of songs he's written for other people such as Bieber's 'Love Yourself' and One Direction hit 'Little Things'.
The low point of the night, personally, was a period where he played some deep cuts that were voted upon by fans, and you could really feel those who weren't aficionados of his back catalogue getting restless while giving off some real London pub vibes with the talking almost drowning out the music.
Ed Sheeran - image © Jordan Bassett-Smith
It's about this moment it all clicked for me and I realised – Ed's a dork. The things we find so endearing about Ed Sheeran, the fact he seems so grounded, that he still wears a plain t-shirt and baggy pants, even though he's worth half a billion dollars, being in the public eye but still authentic, unchanged by fame.
These are things that show us who he is. Just a young kid playing in the dingy, poorly lit corner of a pub somewhere, trying to get anyone to pay attention to him. If you bring that EXACT vibe into a stadium, you have an Ed Sheeran concert.
Ed Sheeran - image © Jordan Bassett-Smith
There is a real disconnect between this small, dorky redhead and the massive screen behind him with some questionable graphics and effects. The, at times, over the top production is at complete loggerheads with his essentially simple but gorgeous songwriting.
The few moments that feel really authentic and intimate such as 'Thinking Out Loud' and the set highlight 'Perfect', showcases Sheeran's undeniable songwriting ability.
It's just a shame that for the majority of the set, the loudest thing in the stadium is that bloody giant LED screen.
- written by Mark Owen
