Ed Sheeran performing at The Motorpoint Arena Nottingham on Tuesday 25th April 2017.


Review by Kevin Cooper

Ed Sheeran took Nottingham’s breath away as he plied his trade before a sold out Motorpoint Arena last night. With a simple setting, his array of guitars, a loop pedal and a microphone he captivated this Nottingham crowd.

With the lights dimming, he bounded out with guitar in hand, frantically strumming the opening chords to Castle On The Hill and this audience, some of whom had been queuing since 8am to get in, sang along with him, word for word.

Earlier this month, all sixteen tracks from his third and latest album, Divide, occupied a place in the top twenty and so it was not surprising that he delivered a set list which was new song heavy. But this did not deter his army of loyal fans as they had obviously been rehearsing, singing his words right back at him.

He ducked and dived out of all of his three albums, with a bit of beautiful nostalgia from + and some gems from X, and plenty from the breathtaking, record breaking Divide. New tracks Eraser and Happier seemed familiar; but it was Photograph and Bloodstream from X which were very special.

With his percussive guitar techniques, a bit of wizardry on the loop pedals and a hugely impressive light show, this one man band simply mesmerised. The crowd went wild for two tracks from Divide, Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan, whilst a particular highlight was the mash up of Don’t and New Man which worked very well together.

The impressive ballad Thinking Out Loud was quite simply stunning and with his musical partners being his devoted fans, they sang backing vocals for the entirety of The A Team and took the lead for the chorus in set closer Sing.

Coming back on for The Shape Of You and You Need Me I Don’t Need You, Sheeran was an animated presence as he skipped around whilst switching between rapping and singing.

Looking unpretentious, casually dressed in a black T shirt and black jeans, he has staked his place as a musical phenomenon. But there is a down side to going to an Ed Sheeran concert; 8,000 people singing back to him did mean that he was sometimes hard to hear. But this did not deter this crowd who continued singing his songs long after Ed Sheeran had left the stage.