This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Vanderbilt chapter.
Most artists dream of playing Nashville’s legendary venue, The Ryman, and leave it at that. Ed Sheeran did that years ago and went on to perform at Bridgestone Arena, Nashville’s main venue for big acts not once, not twice, but THREE times.
After opening up for our very own pop singer Taylor Swift on her “Red” tour, Sheeran launched his promotional, headlining tour for his second album, “X” (or “Multiply”). It started in August 2014 in Japan, stopped by Nashville that September, and actually doesn’t end until December of this year. A few weeks ago, Ed stopped by Bridgestone Arena yet again to deliver an astounding two-hour show. I’ve had the privilege and delight of seeing Ed perform the last three times he’s played here, and I’ve got an insider’s look at his latest performance.
At this stop, the wonderfully talented Christina Perri opened, performing a variety of her most popular hits with a band. Playing “Arms” first, I immediately noted how she took her melancholy yet romantic songs and performed them with a wild burst of energy. She jumped around the stage in a white top and shorts with a black sequined jacket tied around her waist. The crowd-favorites were definitely “Jar of Hearts,” her first big radio single, which she played on the white light-up piano, and “A Thousand Years” from the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn movies. Later in the show, Ed invited Perri out to perform their duet, “Be My Forever.”
Mr. Ed Sheeran then took the stage clad in a short sleeve red t-shirt and tan cargo shorts, never one for showiness. Five vertically long screens were mounted behind him on the bare stage, projecting manipulated images of the musician. As he began his show with “I’m A Mess,” the screen grabs were in black and white and grainy. Then, suddenly, the images would erupt with colorful dots of fuchsia, yellow, purples, and blues.
Some songs used pre-recorded footage of mannequin hands bending and reaching out (“Lego House”) and etchings of a couple in the stages of their relationship (“One”). These were used more predominately on Ed’s prior stop to Nashville, but this time, he favored more live shots of him and his guitar.
Ed used a pedal system to record a loop of his voice that would play throughout the song as he performed it live. He would create multiple tracks sometimes, making it so that his delivery of the song differs each show. This was most effective when he sang the rap portions of his more hip-hop sounding songs, “Take It Back” and “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.” Everything Ed does is live—there is no back track, no band to back him up, nothing.
During “Thinking Out Loud,” probably Ed’s most hopeful and romantic song, a man in the floor area proposed to his girlfriend. After the song was over, Ed made a note to thank the couple for using his music for a moment they would remember forever. He also said that these weren’t his songs anymore. They became the fans’ music the second he released them, but he was happy to share them so that magical, life-changing moments could happen.
One of my favorite things about Ed’s “X” tour shows is that he finishes his encore with “Sing,” the leading single for his second album. He gets the crowd going in a sing-along and then walks off the stage without so much as a goodbye. As he explained in the intro to the song at the September 2014 show, he wants his audiences to take his music and keep singing it throughout the night, as they walk to their cars and even as they drive home, so the music never ends.
Unfortunately, Ed just shared on his Twitter that he will be taking a hiatus from releasing music for a bit, but he will be sharing a third album with us eventually.