Ed Sheeran: I Recorded Two Songs With David Guetta
When he wanted a little bit of extra vocal help, Sheeran enlisted the crowd. On the show-ending "Sing" -- the first single from his latest album, x -- he asked fans to keep the song going even after he'd left the stage for good. But he also knew how to quiet the crowd down when he wanted, as he did on encore song "Give Me Love" and on "Afire Love," siccing other audience members on unruly fans who dare make a peep during the emotional track written about his late grandpa's battle with Alzheimer's. Sheeran offered this advice for keeping seatmates hushed: "Stroke them, cuddle them, whisper to them: 'Ginger man's trying to sing.'"
Sheeran kept even his die-hard fans on their toes by tucking multiple pop-music references into his songs, like adding lyrics from Blackstreet's "No Diggity" and the cleaned-up phrase "these girls ain't loyal" to current single "Don't." Then there was a taste of Backstreet Boys' "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)" tucked into "Runaway," and some "Layla" chords for good measure in the marathon rap song "You Need Me, I Don't Need You." Sheeran has to be the first artist to reference songs from Eric Clapton, Chris Brown and a boy band in one night.
For his final trick, Sheeran introduced a cover of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" as "a song I wish I'd written." Fans were excited enough about the new addition to his set list, but they really lost it when Snow Patrol lead singer Gary Lightbody joined Sheeran on stage to sing the song as a duet. (Yes, the kids positively lost it over the Snow Patrol guy.)
Lightbody was the first human being -- outside a guitar tech -- to join Sheeran on stage all night, and while we're sure Ed enjoyed the company, he could have done the whole thing alone. He had the crowd wrapped around his finger, and the booming sound to pack an arena with just an acoustic guitar and his voice.
Set list:
"I'm a Mess"
"Lego House"
"Don't"
"Drunk"
"Take It Back"
"One"
"Bloodstream"
"Tenerife Sea"
"Afire Love"
"Runaway"
"Thinking Out Loud"
"Give Me Love"
"I See Fire"
Encore:
"You Need Me, I Don't Need You"
"The A Team"
"Chasing Cars" (with Gary Lightbody)
"Sing"
