Photographs by Lee-Ann Richer.
A third go at Toronto’s Air Canada Centre in a year probably qualifies Ed Sheeran as an overachiever, but given his genuine nature and boundless energy this late in the touring game, you can probably just call him a hard worker. When you add up the changing series of acoustic guitars, genre-flipping vocal styles, colourful and dramatic animated backdrops as well as a looping station (for which a disclaimer was provided as a result of disgruntled complaints) that drove his near two-hour one-man show, the ethic going into the large performance felt all the more impressive.
“I encourage you to dance like idiots,” he said, but there are only so many ways you can sway your body during sweet ballads like “Lego House” and “The A Team”. Still, fans raised their hands in solidarity and felt Sheeran’s sweet-note vibes, the very ones that pushed him into radio countdowns and Taylor Swift concerts in 2011. Never short on appreciation, Sheeran spoke about the positive reception he had in Canada when he first toured in North America over the course of the evening.
The Canadian love did not stop there. In advance of performing “Dark Side”, Sheeran recalled how he met his moody collaborator The Weeknd post-Much Music Video Awards some years ago. This bluesy tune, laden with a handful of mistakes in the live rendition, upped Sheeran’s considerable cute factor and his not-so-obvious soulful ways.
Between sporadic rapping (including a cover of Drake’s “Know Yourself”), tributes to old-school ballads like “Ain’t No Sunshine” and jumping into “I See Fire” from The Hobbit trilogy, it seems there is no sonic wave that Sheeran will refuse to ride during his live show. At his peak, he conquered pop with opener Christina Perri on “Be My Forever” and hits “Thinking Out Loud” and “Sing”; somewhere in the middle, he jumped atop set pieces and shredded guitar like a seasoned rockstar, live-time animations setting his image ablaze across five screens; and at his low, he chillingly sings of loneliness and lost love on “Bloodstream.” With such colour, variation and solo showmanship, can deservingly, and perhaps surprisingly to some, be called a true entertainer.
