A talented young man, a guitar and a boyish smile, sometimes that’s all you need to put on an incredible show at the Budweiser Gardens in London. Ed Sheeran walked out on stage and flashed his boyish grin and started playing, this is what young girls and women around the world have fallen in love with. Not a lot of glitz and glammer is needed for a one man show, sometimes you just have to let the music speak for itself which is exactly what Ed Sheeran has done.
Budweiser Gardens was sold out and to my surprise it wasn’t mostly teenage girls but middle aged women, who sang and sometimes screamed the lyrics to Ed’s songs as they swayed to the beat.
Coming from humble beginnings in Sufolk this young man has definitely made a name for himself, the self proclaimed geek has come along way winning two Brit awards Best British Male Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act, as well as being nominated for Best New Male Artist at the 56th Grammy awards.
Normally you would think one guy on stage would be nothing to see but with 14 video screens behind him that is on the contrary. These screens managed to pretty much disappear until they were turned on. They were covered with videos of Ed which turned into drawings and distorted images. Every screen had a different image of Ed but with different camera angles which was very well thought out.
He did a medley of cover tunes in the middle of the set but the highlight for me was Superstition by Stevie Wonder.
I had to laugh at the sea of cell phones (which use to be lighters in my day, boy times have changed) during “The A Team” the place lit up like a Christmas tree it was quite the sight.
During the show I asked a couple of hard core fans beside me “if they could sum up Ed Sheeran in one word what would it be” Genius was their simultaneous answer which for some reason doesn’t surprise me due to the fact that Ed’s fans are very hardcore.
Ed stopped just before playing Bloodstream and engaged the audience to “bounce and raise their arms ” during the chorus I swear everyone in the place did you could almost feel the building move it was quite the sight to see. He did of course play Thinking Out Loud which I thought would be his encore song but he played it 3/4 of the way thru his 90 minute set.
The screams for the encore were deafening! And I am pretty safe to say no one in that building left disappointed! Once again I have to give props to the crew, without them there is no show.
*This little note is just for the hard core fans, I happen to know just before the show Ed dined on bangers and mash for dinner.
