Ed Sheeran: Ginger, Spice, And Everything Nice

Virtuoso. According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, a virtuoso is “one who excels in the technique of an art”. Since the inception of structured music, there’s been many virtuosos that has manage to captivate listeners on their musical ability. Bach, Beethoven, Jimmy Page, Steve Vai, Vanessa Mae and Kenny G comes into mind. For the millennial, one name can be said to encapsulate this spirit, and his name is Ed Sheeran.

Really? Ed Sheeran? Yes, the same Ed Sheeran whose best friends with the likes of Taylor Swift and James Blunt. The same Ed who made a cameo in this season’s Game of Thrones. The ginger-haired singer/songwriter whose song, Thinking Out Loud must be one of the most over-played wedding songs in these past few years.

Let me put some context on why he deserves to be called one. It’s fairly simple. Loop-pedal.

Ed Sheeran is the only pop star in the world right at this moment who can sell-out arenas and stadiums with no backing bands, only his trusted Chewie Monsta (that’s the nickname of his custom-built loop pedal). How do I know this? Well, I’ve seen his performance, and trust me, he is a monster with the loop-pedal.

Ed came over to Kuala Lumpur to hold a sold-out concert recently. Part of his Divide tour, I was lucky enough to be among the 20,000 strong crowd to watch him perform a full set of his hits from 2011’s + (Plus), 2014’s x (Multiply) and his most recent album, ÷ (Divide). And he sure didn’t disappoint.

Lauv, an up and coming artist from San Francisco, California, was given the opportunity to open the night. Oh, before that, can I just say kudos to the organiser of the concert for one of the best crowd control system I’ve ever seen during a sold-out concert locally! Great job after the mishaps on the initial online ticketing sale. The concert started on the right note, with great set from Lauv performing his numbers such as Comfortable, Breathe and The Other. This chap is someone to look forward to. His music is interesting but commercial enough to keep the audience on their feet throughout his whole set.

8.45 p.m. on the dot, the arena turned dark, and the infamous riff from Castle On The Hill echoes through Axiata Arena. The crowd went wild, and finally, the most famous ginger-haired person in the world appears on stage. “We watched the sunset over the castle on the hill!” the crowd sing-along. “Not a bad way to start Ed, not bad at all,” I thought to myself.

“Last time I played here, there were 2000 people. It’s definitely more today,” quipped Ed after a couple of songs into his set list. The last time Ed was here, back in 2015, he performed to a sold-out crowd at the smaller KLCC’s hall. Since then, he’s won the Grammy for Song of The Year (Thinking Out Loud), travel the world (he went to Iceland and Ghana during a year out of the limelight), and fell in love with his current beau. These and many other development helps to curate his music in Divide, and the song titled Dive perfectly shows this.

“Don’t call me baby, unless you mean it!” Ed sang with his heart on his sleeve, accompanied by only his trusted Martin guitar. At this exact moment, the audience and Ed merged into one, each seems to bare their soul for the other to see. It’s his most honest and beautiful song yet. The gem of Divide.

But for me personally, Ed’s best song is Bloodstream from Multiply. With a minimalist acoustic vibe to highlight its intimate, despondent melody, and Bloodstream’s dark theme of Ed’s experience of taking MDMA in Ibiza, his performance of the tune perfectly fits the concept of the song. And it was this tune where Ed largely needed the help of his trusted Chewie Monsta. Layering a couple of vocal harmonies, guitar riffs and beats seemed easy enough for him. And then there’s the vortex, the feeling of falling off into a black hole of some kind, a moment when all of this different elements just switched off, and only his singing and guitar closed the song, “tell me when it kicks in?” It has Ed, it has.

The 26 year-old Suffolk lad performed 17 songs including hits such as Shape of You, Perfect, Photograph, Galway Girl and of course his gigantic ballad, Thinking Out Loud. During the performance of the Grammy-winning tune, not one but two marriage proposals were made by the “romantic at heart” among the audience. Kind of cheesy but come to think of it, it’s a perfect song and perfect environment to propose at to make the memories last a lifetime. Congratulations to the lovebirds I would say.

All considered, it was truly a magical night when the show was closed with You Need Me, I Don’t Need You. Ed Sheeran is a potent force to be reckoned with. Although some sceptics point out to his lack of a backing band for his live shows, Ed proves that you don’t need one to give a kick-ass performance. In his case, you just need some ginger, spice and everything else that is nice. Oh and don’t forget the guitar and loop pedal while you’re at it.