ed sheeran divide tour toronto

For Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour stop in Toronto, Shawn Mendes was his plus-one

This article was published more than 6 months ago. Some information may no longer be current.

Ed Sheeran performs on NBC's Today show at Rockefeller Plaza in New York, on June 6. Charles Sykes/The Associated Press

“I hope you felt entertained,” Ed Sheeran said to a full house at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Saturday. It was toward the end of a dynamic and endearing two-hour concert, after Canada’s Shawn Mendes had made a two-song cameo appearance. A pair of pop superstars for the price of one. Do the math – you know Sheeran has.

Indeed, the British singer-songwriter is currently on his Mathematics Tour, so named because the set list draws on his albums Plus , Multiply , Divide , Equals and, his latest, Subtract . Life for the uncomplicated bloke from Suffolk comes down to equations: Some of Subtract ’s heartfelt pop was inspired by the sudden death of his best friend.

He talked about it during the first night of two at the Rogers Centre, saying he thought in his grief he had bumped into his deceased pal one night in West London. “I obviously didn’t,” he continued, before singing the emotive Eyes Closed . “Every song reminds me you’re gone, and I feel the lump form in my throat because I’m here alone …”

That is about as maudlin as things got. Operating in the round on a stage that offered 360-degree views as it often revolved as he sang, Sheeran rocked convincingly with a small backing band on show-starters Tides and Blow . More often than not he strummed an acoustic guitar solo in his upbeat and syncopated way, using an electronic looping device to create repeating instrumental and vocal patterns.

Even when his bandmates did appear, they were spread out around the stage and separated from Sheeran by 10 metres or more. All focus was on the ebullient Sheeran, who works a stadium as if it were open-mic night at the Fox & Friar. His hypermodern pop tunes are simple, slick, sincere and highly serviceable.

For the so-many singalongs, he asked the crowd if they knew the words. (They did.) To accompany the sentimental ballad The A Team , he requested and received a sea of smartphone lights. When instructed to jump to Castle on the Hill , his fans did not bother to reply, “How high?” They even indulged his terrifying moments of red-haired rap.

Sheeran’s tour also incorporates a number of theatre dates, including a concert the night before at Toronto’s 2,500-capacity History venue. While those intimate appearances are dedicated to the new album specifically, the stadium shows are career encompassing.

The staging was colourful and artful, not colossal. Black and white images flooded the circular screen that hung over the stage. Because the stadium roof was open, one could notice that the construction cranes high in the sky outside matched the ones inside that held up six giant guitar picks doubling as video screens. (Were they guitar picks, or were they teardrops? The shapes are similar, and Sheeran knows how to use both.)

Nearby condo owners sitting on their balconies would have heard the crowd scream at about 10 o’clock. That is when Mendes, the pride of Pickering, Ont., appeared on stage to accompany Sheeran on Lego House and on his own There’s Nothing Holdin’ Me Back . It marked a comeback for Mendes, who last summer cancelled a number of concert dates to focus on his mental health. He had not performed since.

Sheeran and Mendes hugged. These are young men not afraid to show their vulnerability, and public displays of fragility are common among pop stars of their generation. Mendes broke down in tears in the 2020 Netflix documentary In Wonder . Sheeran did the same in his Disney+ series The Sum Of It All .

For his encore set of You Need Me, I Don’t Need You , the megahit Shape of You and the nightcap Bad Habits , Sheeran wore a numbered Toronto Blue Jays jersey with Mendes’s name on the back. This fellow doesn’t miss a trick: No. 8 in the program, but No. 1 in your heart.

Ed Sheeran plays Vancouver’s B.C. Place, Sept. 2.

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• Sheeran, Ed
• June 17, 2023 Setlist

Ed Sheeran Setlist at Rogers Centre, Toronto, ON, Canada

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Tour: +–=÷x Tour statistics Add setlist

• Tides Play Video
• BLOW Play Video
• I'm a Mess Play Video
• Shivers Play Video
• The A Team Play Video
• Castle on the Hill Play Video
• Don't ( with "No Diggity" by Blackstreet snippets ) Play Video
• Eyes Closed Play Video
• Give Me Love Play Video
• Boat Play Video
• River / Peru / South of the Border / I Don't Care Play Video
• Beautiful People (with Khalid ) Play Video
• End of Youth Play Video
• Overpass Graffiti Play Video
• Galway Girl Play Video
• Thinking Out Loud Play Video
• Love Yourself ( Justin Bieber  cover) Play Video
• Sing Play Video
• Photograph Play Video
• Perfect Play Video
• Lego House (with Shawn Mendes ) ( Shawn Mendes’ first live performance since the cancellation of Wonder: The World Tour in July 2022 ) Play Video
• There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back ( Shawn Mendes  cover) (with Shawn Mendes ) Play Video
• Bloodstream Play Video
• Afterglow Play Video
• You Need Me, I Don't Need You Play Video
• Shape of You Play Video
• Bad Habits Play Video

Edits and Comments

17 activities (last edit by kfinch , 28 Aug 2023, 04:21 Etc/UTC )

Songs on Albums

• Bloodstream
• I'm a Mess
• Thinking Out Loud
• Overpass Graffiti
• Give Me Love
• You Need Me, I Don't Need You
• Castle on the Hill
• Galway Girl
• Shape of You
• End of Youth
• Eyes Closed
• Beautiful People
• Love Yourself by Justin Bieber
• There's Nothing Holdin' Me Back by Shawn Mendes
• River / Peru / South of the Border / I Don't Care

Complete Album stats

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Rogers centre.

• Rosa Linn Start time: 6:00 PM 6:00 PM
• Khalid Start time: 7:00 PM 7:00 PM
• Ed Sheeran This Setlist Start time: 8:15 PM 8:15 PM

Ed Sheeran Gig Timeline

• Jun 11 2023 MetLife Stadium East Rutherford, NJ, USA Start time: 8:15 PM 8:15 PM
• Jun 16 2023 History Toronto, ON, Canada Add time Add time
• Jun 17 2023 Rogers Centre This Setlist Toronto, ON, Canada Start time: 8:15 PM 8:15 PM
• Jun 18 2023 Rogers Centre Toronto, ON, Canada Start time: 8:15 PM 8:15 PM
• Jun 24 2023 FedExField Landover, MD, USA Start time: 7:15 PM 7:15 PM

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Tour Update

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Ed will begin the North American leg of his worldwide “+ – = ÷ x Tour,” hitting stadiums across the continent starting May 6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, including two shows at Rogers Centre in Toronto and anothjer at Ford Field in Detroit.

The trek marks his first stateside tour since the history-making “Divide Tour” in 2018, which officially became the most-attended and highest-grossing tour of all time by its completion.

Ed closed 2022 topping Billboard’s Top Ticket Sales chart after wrapping the UK/European leg of the “+ – = ÷ x Tour,” performing in front of over 3 million people in 6 months, highlighted by a five-night stand at London’s Wembley Stadium.

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Ed Sheeran Wants To Play Stadiums, But Settles For Arenas On His Upcoming ÷ Tour

It was only really a matter of time before Ed Sheeran was going to hit the road again. Coming off the release of his stellar new album ÷ last week, when better than now? Today, the British pop star announced a staggering, 59-date run through some of North America’s finest basketball and hockey arenas. The run is set to kick off at the end of June in Kansas City and will take him all across both the U.S. and Canada before closing in October in Nashville.

As ambitious as this new tour is, Sheeran already has bigger designs in his mind going forward. “I want to do stadiums everywhere,” Sheeran told Rolling Stone . “Like George Strait’s level – he tours every four years, does a couple of stadiums and then fucks off again.”

Check out the announced tour dates below.

06/29 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center 06/30 – Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena 07/01 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center 07/07 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre 07/09 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center 07/11 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center 07/14 & 15 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena 07/18 – Quebec City, QC @ Videotron Centre 07/19 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre 07/22 – Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre 07/23 – Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre 07/25 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place 07/28 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena 07/29 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome 07/30 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center 08/01 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center 08/02 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena 08/04 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena 08/05 – Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena 08/06 – San Diego, CA @ Valley View Casino Center 08/10 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center 08/15 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center 08/17 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center 08/18 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center 08/19 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center 08/22 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center 08/25 – Duluth, GA @ Infinite Energy Center 08/29 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena 08/30 – Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena 08/31 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center 09/02 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena 09/03 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center 09/05 – Charleston, SC @ North Charleston Coliseum 09/07 – Louisville, KY @ KFC YUM! Center 09/08 – Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse 09/09 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena 09/12 – Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Center 09/15 – Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena 09/17 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center 09/19 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center 09/22 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden 09/26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena 09/27 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena 09/29 & 30 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center 10/03 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena 10/06 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena

Ed Sheeran Announces Massive ‘Divide’ Arena Tour

• By Daniel Kreps

Daniel Kreps

UPDATE: Ed Sheeran has added 11 dates to his North American tour. See all dates below.

Rolling Stone cover star Ed Sheeran has charted a massive North American tour in support of his new LP Divide .

Sheeran, who announced the arena tour on Wednesday, will start June 29th at Kansas City’s Sprint Center. The 59-date trek will conclude October 6th in Nashville, Tennessee. 

A pre-sale for the tour will launch March 13th on Ticketmaster, which will roll out its new Ticketmaster Verified Fan– a tech product that aims to ensure fans and not bots get in-demand tickets – for the event. A general on-sale will follow on March 17th.

While Sheeran will play North American arenas this tour, the singer told Rolling Stone  that he has even bigger aspirations. “I want to do stadiums everywhere,” Sheeran said. “Like George Strait’s level – he tours every four years, does a couple of stadiums and then fucks off again.”

Ed Sheeran Tour Dates (New dates bolded; second show of each venue only)

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June 29 – Kansas City, MO @ Sprint Center June 30 – Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena July 1 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center July 7 & 8 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre July 9 – Buffalo, NY @ KeyBank Center July 11 & 12 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center July 14 & 15 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena July 18 – Quebec City, QC @ Videotron Centre July 19 – Montreal, QC @ Bell Centre July 22 – Winnipeg, MB @ MTS Centre July 23 – Saskatoon, SK @ SaskTel Centre July 25 & 26 – Edmonton, AB @ Rogers Place July 28 – Vancouver, BC @ Rogers Arena July 29 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome July 30 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center August 1 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden 1 Center August 2 – Oakland, CA @ Oracle Arena August 4 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena August 5 – Glendale, AZ @ Gila River Arena August 6 – San Diego, CA @ Valley View Casino Center August 10 – 12 – Los Angeles, CA @ Staples Center August 15 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center August 17 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center August 18 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center August 19 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center August 22 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center August 25 & 26 – Duluth, GA @ Infinite Energy Center August 29 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena August 30 – Miami, FL @ American Airlines Arena August 31 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center September 2 – Raleigh, NC @ PNC Arena September 3 – Charlotte, NC @ Spectrum Center September 5 – Charleston, SC @ North Charleston Coliseum September 7 – Louisville, KY @ KFC YUM! Center September 8 – Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse September 9 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena September 12 – Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Center September 15 & 16 – Chicago, IL @ Allstate Arena September 17 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center September 19 & 20 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center September 22 & 23 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden September 26 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena September 27 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena September 29 – October 1 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center October 3 & 4 – Columbus, OH @ Nationwide Arena October 6 & 7 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena

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Ed Sheeran Unveils Dates for First North American Tour in Five Years

By Jem Aswad

Executive Editor, Music

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Ed Sheeran has announced details for the North American leg of his “+ – = ÷ x Tour” (pronounced “The Mathematics Tour”), hitting stadiums across the continent for the first time since his 2018 “Divide” tour,

Dates begin on May 6th at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, before wrapping up on September 23rd at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA (see itinerary below). Main support on a majority of the dates comes from R&B singer Khalid (May 6th-September 2nd), with rapper/singer-songwriter Russ rounding out the tour (September 9th-23rd); Dylan, Cat Burns, Maisie Peters, and Rosa Linn alternate as first of three.

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To usher in the news of the tour, Sheeran is set to make a pair of television appearances: on CBS’ “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on October 13th, followed by ABC’s “Good Morning America” on October 14th.   

“+ – = ÷ x TOUR” North American tour dates 2023 with: + Khalid – Russ × Dylan · Rosa Linn % Cat Burns ≠ Maisie Peters

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Toronto ranked the most visited music tour destination in the world

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A new study has ranked Toronto as the most popular tour destination in the world, beating out other major global tour stop favourites like Paris, London, and New York City. 

To find out which cities in the world were snubbed by musical artists the most, a data analysis conducted by Radical Storage  — a luggage storage company — reviewed over 700 concert dates from major artists since 2015. 

The study crowned Toronto as the most popular tour destination, with 85.1 per cent of world tours attending the city since 2015, closely followed by London, England at 83 per cent. 

With the 55,000-person capacity Rogers Centre in concert configuration and nearly 20,000-person capacity at Scotiabank Arena in a region home to almost 8 million residents, it's no wonder why musical artists around the world are honing in on Toronto to score huge profits. 

In recent years, some of the world's highest-grossing and most-attended tours have landed in Toronto for more shows than some of the biggest cities in the U.S. 

For example, Ed Sheeran brought his  Divide Tour  to Toronto four shows in 2017 and 2018, compared to only one show in other major U.S. cities like Miami and Las Vegas. 

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour concert movie is already breaking ticket sale records https://t.co/N1oudXKK4V #TaylorSwift #ErasTour — blogTO (@blogTO) September 4, 2023

After practically begging American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift to bring her sold-out Eras Tour to Canada, the artist revealed that she would be performing a record-breaking six nights at the Rogers Centre in November 2024 — surpassing the three concerts Swift held in both Atlanta and Chicago. 

Beyhive fans in Toronto were also treated to two shows by Beyoncé during her Renaissance World Tour , while other U.S. cities like Detroit, Miami, New Orleans, and Nashville only got one show. 

Despite its popularity as a tour destination, Toronto fans have been disappointed in the past. British rock band, Coldplay recently skipped out on Toronto as part of their ongoing eight-concert tour, The Music of the Spheres World Tour  — with Vancouver being the only Canadian stop. 

More recently, Toronto's very own, Drake, recently added more 2024 dates to his It's All a Blur Tour  — subtitled Big as the What?  —alongside J. Cole. The joint tour kicks off in January with no confirmed Canadian dates as of yet, leaving Toronto fans in the dark. 

On the other side of the spectrum, the study found that Forth Worth, U.S., and Puebla, Mexico were the most snubbed cities in North America, with 97.9 per cent of world tours skipping the cities. 

"Cities like Hong Kong have complained in 2023 as huge global artists skip them on their world tours, while some African nations have previously commented that world tours should be renamed if they're not going to visit the continent," the study reads. 

"For fans around the world, it can mean having to travel long distances to see artists, while many will miss out on a world tour entirely." 

Here are the top 5 most popular world tour destinations, according to the study : 

• London, U.K. 
• Chicago, U.S. and Houston, U.S. (tied)
• Philadelphia, U.S. 
• Manchester U.K.

Here are the top 5 most snubbed world tour destinations, according to the study: 

• Athens, Greece
• Bogota, Colombia
• Fort Worth, U.S. 
• Fortaleza, Brazil 
• Gold Coast, Australia

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Global superstar Ed Sheeran has announced details for the “- Tour” (pronounced “Subtract Tour”), a very special run of dates set to take place in theaters and auditoriums in 14 cities across North America.

Singer-songwriter Ben Kweller supports on most dates.

These intimate performances – which kick off at the Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL, on May 19th, and wrap up at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA, on September 22 – coincide with the massive stadium shows of Sheeran’s previously announced “+ – = ÷ x Tour” (pronounced “Mathematics Tour”).

To ensure more tickets get into the hands of fans who want to go to his shows, Ed Sheeran is using Ticketmaster’s Verified Fan technology for his “ – Tour.”

Verified Fan uses a registration system to help filter out buyers looking to resell tickets.

Registration opens on Friday, April 28 at 10 a.m. ET and closes on Sunday, April 30 at 11:59 p.m. ET.

Fans can register HERE .

The Verified Fan Onsale is set to begin on Tuesday, May 2 at 10 a.m. local venue time.

The newly announced tour supports Sheeran’s forthcoming, soul-baring, new album “ – “ will be released on May 5 via Atlantic Records and is available for pre-order here .

Written against a backdrop of grief and hope, Ed wrote and recorded the fourteen-track record with Aaron Dessner (of The National) in February last year after a series of hard-hitting events impacted his life.

Last week saw the arrival of the album’s poignant opening track “Boat,” following lead single “Eyes Closed,” which marked Ed’s 14th #1 in the UK, earning him the 3rd most chart toppers in UK history, behind only Elvis Presley and the Beatles.

To coincide with the arrival of “ – “, the all-new, four-part documentary “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All” will begin streaming on Disney+ starting May 3.

Blending never-before-seen personal archive, interviews and performances, the intimate documentary explores how his personal experiences have shaped him to become the artist he is today.

Watch the emotional, official trailer, below:

Ed will begin the North American leg of his worldwide “+ – = ÷ x Tour,” hitting stadiums across the continent starting May 6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX, including two shows at Rogers Centre in Toronto and anothjer at Ford Field in Detroit.

The trek marks his first stateside tour since the history-making “Divide Tour” in 2018, which officially became the most-attended and highest-grossing tour of all time by its completion.

Ed closed 2022 topping Billboard’s Top Ticket Sales chart after wrapping the UK/European leg of the “+ – = ÷ x Tour,” performing in front of over 3 million people in 6 months, highlighted by a five-night stand at London’s Wembley Stadium.

The Sydenham Current is an online newspaper owned and operated by Glassroots Media.

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Ed Sheeran’s ‘Divide’ World Tour

• By: FOH Staff
• Production Profile
• September 13, 2017

Singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran is out on his world tour in support of his latest album ÷ (Divide), a title which follows in the footsteps of his previous releases, 2014’s X (Multiply) and 2011’s + (Plus). The albums were released, respectively, in March 2017, June 2014 and Sept. 2011.

Sheeran, who performs alone on stage, is a talent to behold. Unaccompanied by bands, backup singers, dancers or orchestras, he relies on just his acoustic guitar and a custom loop pedal to keep arena-sized audiences in thrall, selling out A-level venues months in advance.

Though working solo onstage, Sheeran is supported by an offstage crew headed by production manager and FOH engineer Chris Marsh, who has held both posts since the earliest arena-touring days.

FRONT of HOUSE also spoke with Charlie Albin, system tech with U.K.-based Major Tom, another mainstay on Ed Sheeran’s tours, and also guitar tech Trevor Dawkins and “Chewie” tech David White on the nuances of managing this simple-yet-large scale production.

Chris Marsh FOH Engineer, Monitor Engineer and Production Manager

Marsh has been a DiGiCo user for Sheeran’s tours for some time, first having used the SD11, SD10 and then moving over to the SD7, he notes.

“I’ve been very happy with the SD7, and why change something that has worked so well and been so reliable for the last four years? We still have very few channels, actually up to 16 but who’s counting! The only addition to the FOH setup this tour is the Waves BCL unit, which is inserted over the L&R bus. Mixing Ed is a very hands-on affair — he plays and sings very dynamically, and no two shows are the same. I’ve learned to use dynamic EQ and Multiband compression to great effect; they are my two favorite tools on the desk.

“I use very little outboard. The Maxx BCL is used to control the low-end frequencies. There is a big difference in how I want the P.A. to respond to the big looper songs and the acoustic ballads. I use two Bricasti M7 (guitar and vocal reverbs) and an Eventide Eclipse (vocal harmonizing and pitch shifting). Ed’s main vocal goes through an Avalon 737.”

For the Oakland, CA show pictured here (Aug. 2), Marsh and his audio team were visited by John and Helen Meyer, co-founders of Meyer Sound, based in nearby Berkeley, CA. Sheeran has been touring with Meyer systems for the last five years. (For more on the Meyer setup for this tour, see sidebar, page 32.)

“I love the consistency in the coverage of the Meyer systems. It really does sound good from the farthest nosebleed seat to the front row. Also, I hear a lot more detail in the mix than with any other system. It’s controlled by Callisto and Galileo processors, and we tune with SIM 3. I’m using a JoeCo 1u recorder to multitrack-record the show everyday, then use this as playback for virtual soundcheck each day.

“Charlie [Albin] leads the team in flying, cabling and testing the system. Once everything is in place, he time-aligns and tunes the P.A., measures the room, plotting those measurements into MAPP, which is Meyer Sound’s proprietary system design software. He and I then walk around the venue making sure we’re getting great coverage everywhere. During the show, Charlie walks around the venue again with his wireless tablet control and listens to the room again. It can change so much once the audience is in that it’s very important that we make any necessary changes to the system in order to keep the show sounding as close as it does at FOH, everywhere else.

“As an FOH engineer, the show is challenging. Having so few inputs to work with, there is really no margin for error. There are also a lot of variables with an acoustic guitar. As the one and only instrument on stage, it can create quite a busy time at FOH. Acting as his monitor engineer as well, it’s much easier. All Ed asks for is for the mix to be consistent, so I very rarely get asked to make any changes. We just check that the monitors are ‘safe’ every day. The monitors on stage are very loud and pointing directly at an acoustic guitar, so on initial setup we had to be quite creative about the placement of monitors and the EQ.

“I have communication with Trevor, Ed’s guitar tech, via a shout speaker system. Ed changes guitars every song, so if there are ever notes to feed back to me, Trevor is able to relay them. We’re using the Sennheiser 9000 series RF system for Ed’s vocal and guitars, a Sennheiser 9235 capsule on his vocal and a 935 capsule on the loop vocal.”

Charlie Albin System Tech

Major Tom system engineer Charlie Albin, like Marsh, is another veteran of multiple Sheeran tours.

“Since the last tour, we’ve added both Leopard and Lina Meyer Sound cabinets to our inventory, both of which are compact yet powerful boxes. The Leopard arrays at the upstage corners give us much improved coverage of the far edges of the upper bowl, often a tricky area to reach effectively with a side hang alone. The LINA make a superb front fill box where the small format and wide dispersion mean I can get a really smooth transition across the down stage edge while giving the audience the best possible view of Ed.

“As a starting point for the PA tuning, I use the Meyer delay integration and U-shaping EQ curves to accurately phase alignment the different speaker models, and also adjust for the low frequency build up inherent in large arrays. Using the SIM 3 system, I can then walk the venue, time-aligning the flown arrays and ground package, plus make any EQ changes to correct for the tonality of the room. Working with only Ed’s guitar and vocal onstage, we’ve found it useful to reduce the low-mid frequency content in the arrays more than if we had a full band onstage, which serves to improve clarity and minimize potential for the guitar to feedback.”

Trevor Dawkins Guitar Tech

Trevor Dawkins, who handles guitar maintenance, also sets the stage, finalizes the set list pre-show with Ed and advises of any set changes that Ed chooses to make during the show.

“Ed’s very good at “reading” the audience, and if he feels that a song a few numbers down the set may not work as well as another at that moment, then he’ll often change it. It’s my job, therefore, to make sure that all the various departments know of these changes during the live show, which I’ll do via radio.

“We currently use a ‘stable’ of nine guitars, and all are custom in one sense or another. The LX1Es, although being Ed’s third signature model from Martin, rather than having the factory fitted pick-up and controls, actually still have the discontinued Fishman “Mini Q” pickups fitted that we’ve been using since day one. We managed to obtain a stock of them during the + (Plus) campaign [2011-2013] and have been using them ever since. Unfortunately, we’ve not yet managed to find a pick-up that will stands up to Ed’s rather ‘robust’ style of playing, so we keep coming back to the ‘mini-Q’ time after time.”

Most of Ed Sheeran’s guitar effects are handled by Marsh at FOH, but Chewie Tech Dave White does apply some reverb to the guitar for the opening track of the set, “Castle On The Hill,” as Dawkins notes.

“I was tech for the Chewie 1 guitar pedal board as well, but to be honest, the guitar setup was a lot simpler back then. A decision was made to get somebody else in when it became apparent that there were going to be more guitars involved in the show, as well as the fact that we needed to try and streamline the Chewie board and to try and make it ‘stand alone,’ which it now is. It’s made a big difference to me having David around, as he’s now the person that the pressure will be on to sort any issues with the Chewie II during showtime. Thanks, David!

“Although the Chewie II is pretty future-proof (there’s another bank of four channels that Ed’s not used yet……), I’m really looking forward to seeing just how far we can take the entire ‘One Man, One Pedal’ scenario. Who knows, there might even be a need for a Chewie III at some stage…”

Dave White Chewie Tech

The Chewie II is a complete new creation based on Ed’s original Chewie Monsta loop pedal. The pedal that Ed uses onstage is a remote control for a larger system that sits under the stage.

“With this remote, Ed can record, play and stop the loops, and select which tracks to record onto, which are a mixture of vocal, guitar, percussive (also known as ‘Boom’) or both with a total of eight tracks that can run simultaneously. The pedal can also mute individual tracks as well as undo layers, which is track specific. The system in hosted in Ableton Live, which runs the plug-ins as well as patches some Choral and Delay plug-ins for certain songs. It’s completely digital, with all of the inputs from Ed’s guitars and vocals being wirelessly transmitted via a Sennheiser 9000 system.

“Matrixing and switching is controlled by the DiGiCo SD7, then fed into the Chewie II via AES. There is nothing in this system that stores sounds or loops. Once the Clear button has been hit, the machine is ready to record on a completely blank canvas. As the system is custom build for Ed, maintenance on the road has sometimes been a challenge with updates and new hardware being added as we progress on the tour.

“There is one patch built into the Chewie to add FX to a couple of channels for one song. All the other FX and production is added by Chris at FOH. It’s been a pleasure working with Ed and the team. The idea of a loop pedal has never been taken to this extreme and has presented some very technical challenges, but what has been created here is a marvel which only sounds the way it does due to Ed, the man with the guitar in his hands and the pedal at his feet.” 

The ÷ (Divide) Tour’s Tech Setup: A Closer Look

Along with Chris Marsh, who is serving as FOH engineer, MON engineer and production manager for Ed Sheeran’s + (Divide) tour, a Meyer Sound LEO Family linear reinforcement system supplied by UK-based Major Tom, Ltd. is traveling with the solo artist as he tours the world in support of his latest album release. It’s the fifth consecutive year that this speaker system has been supporting Sheeran’s shows.

“Ed pretty much entrusted production to me since the beginning of our relationship,” says Marsh, “and one thing that we’ve proven over the past four years is that the Meyer Sound LEO Family is the way forward.” As FOH engineer, Marsh depends on the system’s long throw and uniform response and credited the setup for its consistency. “I am entirely confident it will sound the same everywhere. For example, in Barcelona, where it was a 105-meter throw to the back seats, it sounded the same there as at front-of-house.”

Wearing his production manager hat, Marsh also appreciates how LEO Family’s rigging accommodates the tour’s up-tempo schedule: “My guys load in the PA and it’s up and out of the way inside an hour, and it’s loaded and on its way in 40 minutes.”

In most respects the main Meyer Sound system is similar to past tours, with a couple exceptions to deal with managing bass frequencies.

“As production manager, I was able to specify a stage only 40-feet wide,” he says. “That’s plenty of room for Ed, but it gave us space to place end fire arrays with three by three stacks of 1100-LFC [low-frequency control elements] at either end. With Ed, I need frequencies around 50 Hz to be really punchy and uniform everywhere, and this design works extremely well with the 1100s. They are fast and responsive where some other subs can get slow and ‘phasey’ in that region.”

Another departure for this tour is running the main arrays full range, rather than splitting bass off into a separate aux send. “I’ve discovered that letting the LEO boxes go all the way down really assists in delivering a tighter low end consistently around the auditorium.”

The tour’s typical configuration comprises twin front line arrays of 14 Leo loudspeakers flown over four Lyon loudspeakers, with extended wide-angle coverage provided by — per side — 16 Milo line array loudspeakers and eight Leopard compact linear line array loudspeakers. Twelve flown 1100-LFC low-frequency control elements supplement the 18 in the end-fire floor arrays, and eight UPA-1P loudspeakers supply front fill. The rig is optimized before each show by Major Tom system engineer Charlie Albin, another veteran of multiple Sheeran tours.

Foldback on stage is via MJF-212A stage monitors augmented by two 900-LFC low-frequency control units, while at FOH Marsh listens in the nearfield with a pair of Amie monitors.

Although the relatively new Leopard arrays play a secondary role in the current arena tour, Marsh has found them a welcome addition. “I’m blown away by what comes out of such a little box,” he remarks. “Last year we did private charity shows with Ed in smaller, conference hall venues using Leopard as the mains in ground-stacks. They were phenomenal, and perfectly matched to the 900-LFCs.”

Working with Sheeran has been a dizzying ascent for Marsh, a situation he finds gratifying if somewhat perplexing. “I’m still impressed every day that we’re selling out these huge venues,” he says, “but we don’t take it for granted. We are trying our best to give audiences the same exciting and intimate-feeling experience as when Ed was still out trying to prove himself. We have that same energy, though now it’s not trying to impress people but rather demonstrate that they were right to be impressed in the first place.”

At FOH, Marsh mixes for FOH and monitors behind a DiGiCo SD7 console supplemented by an Avalon VT-737 input channel for vocal plus a pair of Bricasti M7 reverb units, one each for vocal and guitar. Ed’s primary vocal mic is a Sennheiser 9000 Series with a 9235 condenser capsule, while a secondary 9000 mic — expressly for vocal loop-building — is equipped with a 945 dynamic capsule.

In the six years that Marsh has been supporting Sheeran’s sound, he has an intimate understanding of what he wants and needs. Sheeran, who had been using Sennheiser microphones from the very start, switched to Digital 9000 during his 2014 U.S. tour for his vocal, loop vocal and guitar.

“We had Ed’s guitar on a cable and DI for four years, because I simply couldn’t find a wireless system that gave us the sound that we needed to deliver his performance,” Marsh says. “On first listening to the 9000 system, we discovered it was the most transparent sounding system we had ever heard. We were only meant to be checking it out on a soundcheck, but Ed and I both agreed we had to use it that night, and we have ever since.”

Four mic channels are dedicated to Sheeran’s acoustic guitar, including one channel for electric guitar and three channels for vocals — main, spare and loop vocal. “For the loop vocal I use an MMD 945 super-cardioid capsule,” Marsh says. “As this vocal gets looped and repeated throughout the songs, I can’t risk there being too much background noise, so the tight pickup of the 945 is perfect.

“Ed’s main vocal is a cardioid MD 9235 dynamic capsule which captures a lot of detail. Importantly, it copes very well with being handled heavily and cupped a lot, which is Ed’s style,” Marsh concludes. “I use the Sennheiser 2050 wireless in ear monitors as they are rock solid, which is all that really matters to Ed.” — FOH Staff

The ÷ (Divide) Tour: A Solo Artist’s Marathon

Ed Sheeran’s ÷ (Divide) tour, the artist’s third major tour, is now traveling through North America, and it’s just part of a marathon, multi-year global trek.

The tour began with a leg in Europe and the U.K., starting in Turin, Italy on March 16, with 34 shows capped by three consecutive nights at the O2 Arena in London. The Latin American leg followed, with 14 shows South American, Mexico and the Caribbean. Then after a couple of shows back in the U.K. in late June, the ÷ (Divide) tour hit the U.S., starting with Kansas City’s Sprint Center on June 29.

By the time the current North American leg is completed with a show in Nashville on Oct. 7, Sheeran will have filled arenas for 60 dates. From there, he’ll be off to Asia (Oct. 22-Nov.23). The tour then continues into 2018 with shows set for Australia and New Zealand (March 2-April 1) and the U.K./Europe (May 4-Aug. 12). — FOH Staff

Ed Sheeran 2017 ÷ (Divide) Tour

• Sound Company: Major Tom Ltd/Meyer Sound
• FOH & MON Engineer: Chris Marsh
• Production Manager: Chris Marsh
• System Tech: Charlie Albin
• Guitar Tech: Trevor Dawkins
• Chewie Tech: David White
• P.A. Techs: Brian Thorene, Richard Wonnacot
• Console: DiGiCo SD7
• Outboard: Maxx Bass BCL, (2) Bricasti M7, Eventide Eclipse,
• Avalon 737, JoCoe 1u recorder
• Speakers: (14) Meyer Sound LEO (main hangs) per side, (4) Lyon (underhung from the LEO) per side, (6) LFC1100 (flown) per side, (9) LFC1100 (ground) per side, (16) Milo (side hangs) per side, (8) Leopard (far hangs) per side, (4) UPA 1-P (outfills), (8) Lina (front fills).
• Primary Vocal Mic: Sennheiser 9000 Series w/ 9235 condenser capsule
• Secondary Mic: Sennheiser 9000 Series (for vocal loop-building), w/ 945 dynamic capsule

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Before Ed Sheeran hits Toronto’s Rogers Centre and Vancouver’s BC Place, he’s going to perform for a much smaller crowd at theatres in those cities.

The singer announced Friday he will do shows at HISTORY in Toronto on June 16 and at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Vancouver on Sept. 1.

Registration for Ticketmaster Verified Fan is on now until 11:59 p.m. ET on April 30 with sales beginning May 2 at 10 a.m. local time.

Sheeran added Canada to his  Mathematics   Tour  last October with the announcement of a June 17 stop at Rogers Centre (a second show was added on June 18) with special guest Khalid and Rosa Linn and a Sept. 2 concert at BC Place with Khalid and Maisie Peters.

They are his first concerts in Canada since a pair at Rogers Centre in August 2018.

Sheeran kicked off the  Mathematics  tour (also known as the  +–=÷x Tour)  in last April.

Track Listing

• 01 Eraser /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 02 Castle on the Hill /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 03 Dive /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 04 Shape of You /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 05 Perfect /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 06 Galway Girl /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 07 Happier /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 08 New Man /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 09 Hearts Don't Break Around Here /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 10 What Do I Know? /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 11 How Would You Feel (Paean) /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio
• 12 Supermarket Flowers /sites/g/files/g2000017646/files/2023-11/equals-short-img.png Divide #047CBC Audio

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Ed Sheeran Announces Dates For 2023 North American ‘Mathematics’ Stadium Tour

The outing is slated to kick off on May 6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.

By Gil Kaufman

Gil Kaufman

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Ed Sheeran is bringing his “Mathematics” tour to North American shores next year. The singer announced dates for his first stateside swing in almost five years on Monday (Oct. 3), revealing a string of stadium shows slated to kick off on May 6 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, TX.

Ed Sheeran Covers Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Neil Diamond at Impromptu Ibiza Club Gig

Main support on the tour will be provided by Khalid (May 6-Sept. 2), as well as Russ (Sept. 9-23), as well as sets from Dylan, Cat Burns, Maisie Peters and Rosa Linn.

The “Mathematics” tour will come to North America for the first time since Sheeran’s 2018 “Divide Tour” became the most-attended and highest-grossing tour of all time. According to a release announcing the North American dates, the recently wrapped UK/European leg of the “Mathematics” tour found Sheeran performing for more than three million people in six months.

Registration for Ticketmaster’s #VerifiedFan sale opened Monday morning at 10 a.m. ET and will end on Oct. 9 at 10 p.m. ET; click here to register. The Verified Fan presale begins on Weds. (Oct. 12) at 10 a.m. and runs through Oct. 13 at 10 p.m. (times are local). The general public on-sale kicks off on Oct. 14 at 10 a.m. (local time).

Sheeran will promote the tour announce by dropping by The Late Show on Oct. 13 and Good Morning America on Oct. 14.

See the “Mathematics Tour” dates below:

May 6 — Arlington, TX @ AT&T Stadium (+ x)

May 13 — Houston, TX @ NRG Stadium (+ x)

May 20 — Tampa, FL @ Raymond James Stadium (+ x)

May 27 — Atlanta, GA @ Mercedes-Benz Stadium (+ x)

June 3 — Philadelphia, PA @ Lincoln Financial Field (+ x)

June 10 — East Rutherford, NJ @ MetLife Stadium (+ x)

June 17 — Toronto, ON @ Rogers Centre (+ *)

June 24 — Landover, MD @ FedEx Field (+ *)

July 1 — Foxborough, MA @ Gillette Stadium (+ *)

July 8 — Pittsburgh, PA @ Acrisure Stadium (+ *)

July 15 — Detroit, MI @ Ford Field (+ *)

July 29 — Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field (+ %)

August 5 — Kansas City, MO @ GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium (+ % )

August 12 — Minneapolis, MN @ U.S. Bank Stadium (+ %)

August 19 — Denver, CO @ Empower Field at Mile High (+ %)

August 26 — Seattle, WA @ Lumen Field (+ #)

Sept. 2 — Vancouver, BC @ BC Place (+ #)

Sept. 9 — Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium (- #)

Sept. 16 — Santa Clara, CA @ Levi’s Stadium (- #)

Sept. 23 — Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium (- #)

* Rosa Linn

% Cat Burns

# Maisie Peters

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The Ed Sheeran decade: how the everyman megastar remade music in his own image

In 2014, Sheeran became the most-streamed musician in the world. The 10 years since have seen his dominance grow, helped by relatability, a pick-and-mix approach to genre and a way with an earworm melody. But in 2024 is his influence waning?

E d Sheeran is popular because he is a generational talent. Ed Sheeran is popular because his output is generic and bland. Ed Sheeran is popular because he reinvents himself in line with the latest musical trends. Ed Sheeran is popular because he has a distinctive style. Ed Sheeran is popular thanks to his hardcore fanbase. Ed Sheeran is popular because the public are forcibly subjected to his songs via relentless airplay and playlist domination. Ed Sheeran is an earnest, authentic troubadour who grafted on the open-mic circuit for years. Ed Sheeran is a cynical shapeshifting pop music machine who gamed the algorithm. Ed Sheeran is the perennial underdog of pop. Ed Sheeran is its king.

Middle England’s megastar bard is a mass of contradictions, but one thing is crystal clear: he is unbelievably popular. We are spoiled for stats to prove it, but here are two: Sheeran has the most Spotify followers of any artist on the planet (10 million more than Taylor Swift, his good friend and closest competitor); Sheeran has been the most played artist in the UK for six out of the last eight years. His debut, + (Plus), was the UK’s third best-selling album of 2012 – but he was largely viewed as trite teen girl fodder. Then there was a serious step up in 2014, the year the Suffolk-bred singer-songwriter scored his first UK No 1 single with Sing, a frisky, Pharrell Williams-produced account of drunken desire that saw Sheeran graft rap, funk and rowdy dance-pop on to the acoustic balladry that had become his calling card. That year he would also become Spotify’s most-streamed artist in the world. With his newfound sliver of edge and clever genre-blending, Sheeran had proven he was ready to step out of his troubadour-next-door box and into full pop star mode.

Yet Sheeran went further than just becoming a pop star – he ended up reshaping pop stardom in his own scruffy, unassuming image. In so many ways, the intervening decade of pop has belonged to the 33-year-old: his ability to exist across multiple binaries at once – earnest/calculated, eclectic/bland, ordinary/exceptional – means his career has dictated, fuelled and intertwined with practically all the major developments in modern music. The story of Ed Sheeran’s unit-shifting ubiquity is also the story of contemporary pop – and a roadmap for its future.

The 2010s were a time when stars stopped relying on the traditional press and began using social media as their main publicity tool. To cultivate the impression of intimate relatability that fuels these platforms, they needed to swap distant gloss for fallible approachability: ordinary clothes, goofy friendliness and simple pleasures were in; theatrical costumes, dangerous mystery and the finer things were out. This was a game Sheeran knew exactly how to play. He held his newfound status at arm’s length by repeating his hard-knocks origin story (he spent time sleeping rough in London while playing hundreds of tiny gigs). Although his scruffy hoodie-and-jeans get-up may have been second nature, it was also a ploy; in 2014 Sheeran told the Observer he would never get a stylist because “if you make someone look too like a star, no one’s going to have any connection with them”. His lyrics traded in this normalcy: broad-strokes sentimentality and references that rang with specific ordinariness (V05 wax, Shrek, alcohol decanted into plastic bottles). His stage setup – he generally avoids backing bands in favour of his guitar and a loop pedal – hammered home that sense of unmediated honesty.

The point of all this relatability is to fuel intense parasocial relationships: the modern celebrity’s bread and butter. Sheeran – who provided the personal touch by Zooming with fans on the release day of his 2021 single Bad Habits, and has long insisted he is essentially no different to his followers – is fluent in this dynamic (one that is partly responsible for solo artists such as himself superseding bands in popularity; it’s harder to foster emotional connection with groups online). Although he may seem out of step with his peers where rabid fanbases are concerned – his don’t tend to make headlines any more – he was actually a pioneer in the field. In 2012, the Guardian’s music critic Alexis Petridis found himself under attack from the “ Sheeranators ”, superfans willing to viciously fight the object of their affection’s corner online.

Yet it wasn’t only his fans, or even humans, who catapulted Sheeran into global stardom. In 2014 – just as Taylor Swift pulled her entire catalogue from Spotify (“It is my opinion that music should not be free,” she said), and before a clutch of superstars launched their supposedly lucrative rival service Tidal – Sheeran was waxing lyrical about streaming services. “Ed Sheeran ‘owes career to Spotify’” ran a BBC headline for an interview in which the musician attributed his ability to tour globally to the platform. “Spotify is not even a necessary evil,” he said. “It helps me do what I want to do.”

At this stage, Sheeran grasped what many – even the uber-astute Swift – still hadn’t: recorded music was no longer a commodity in itself. Instead, success was best sought by expanding your potential pool of fans with free-to-stream music, then eventually milking the converts with huge, expensive arena shows, the model pretty much all stars now follow (Sheeran’s 2017-19 Divide tour was the most lucrative ever at the time, a position Swift’s Eras Tour currently holds). But it wasn’t only about future income; Sheeran understood that streaming allowed for unprecedented reach. His 2017 hit Shape of You became the first song to reach 2bn streams on the platform – a headline-grabbing achievement that helped him ascend to a state of self-perpetuating ubiquity.

While Sheeran was breaking records on Spotify, he was also breaking something else: the charts. In July 2014, the Official Charts Company began incorporating streaming numbers; that first week, every single track from Sheeran’s album x (Multiply) appeared on the Top 100. When it came to his third album, 2017’s ÷ (Divide, the entire tracklist had a place on the Top 20, with nine songs in the Top 10. The goalposts were duly moved as a result; now  only three songs by one artist can appear on the chart to allow newer acts to get a look in.

The monoculture – the cultural mainstream that acts as a near-universal reference point – has been irrevocably fragmented through on-demand streaming and internet bubbles. Yet the mechanisms that were put in place to mitigate Sheeran’s success proves the core concept remains: it’s just narrower and more monotonous than before. Rather than chart hits reflecting divergent tastes and fandoms, a select few songs and artists dominate (particularly those who successfully transitioned from the tail end of the top-down record company and radio-dictated music industry into a viral-hit powered landscape, such as Beyoncé, Rihanna, Harry Styles and Drake). In the UK over the past decade, eight songs have topped the charts for 10 weeks or more, a feat achieved just once in the previous 30 years. Unsurprisingly, Sheeran is the only artist to do the double, with Shape of You in 2017 and Bad Habits in 2021.

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Even as Sheeran was forced to release his grip on the charts post-2017, his influence has continued to loudly echo through them. Sheeran’s baseline sound – a rootless, mid-tempo fusion of old-school R&B and post-Britpop indie – was taken up by a glut of fellow guitar-toting crooners ( Lewis Capaldi, George Ezra, Tom Walker ), who also channelled his down-to-earth persona and shifted records by the shedload. His impact shows no sign of abating. At the time of writing, Sheeran descendents Rag’n’Bone Man, Teddy Swims and Michael Marcagi are all in the UK Top 20 – as is Vermont singer-songwriter Noah Kahan; the self-anointed “Jewish Ed Sheeran” has already topped the UK charts for seven weeks this year with his hit Stick Season.

Yet Sheeran has always outpaced his pretenders. Never shy about his fixation on sales (“I do have numerical targets,” he said in 2017, revealing he had data sheets emailed to him each week), he has been commercially diversifying from the get-go. Sheeran’s collaborations with grime artists at the start of his career gave him a gateway into rap. In the runup to Divide’s release, he crafted songs to cater to both Radio 1 and Radio 2 listeners (the tropical house-inflected Shape of You and nostalgic power ballad Castle on the Hill respectively). He made the Irish folk-themed Galway Girl to appeal to the “400 million people in the world that say they’re Irish” and has strayed into massive global genres including Afrobeats (Peru with Fireboy DML), reggaeton (Forever My Love with J Balvin) and metal (his Cradle of Filth collaboration is out later this year).

Sheeran is clever with his stylistic promiscuity: his magpie proclivities tend to remove all subversion and idiosyncrasy from the original genres, producing a more palatable middle-ground sound machine-tooled to climb the charts (see especially: Bad Habits, his anodyne take on the Weeknd’s sinister R&B). It’s an approach that is increasingly widespread: instead of a distinctive community or subculture, genres become a mild seasoning that artists such as Sheeran use to pique interest without alienating their existing audience. The end result is a sludgy, vague, inoffensive post-genre sound that has served to homogenise music in general.

This is why, despite his keen genre-blending, Sheeran’s output exists in a sonic comfort zone (in doing so, his output chimes with the safe, repetitive nature of pop culture at large over the past decade, as it has reverted to reboots and endlessly recycled IP). Yet in 2017 his ability to deal in soothing familiarity entered a newly fraught era. The financial monopoly of the biggest stars – plus the phenomenon of keen-eared social media users sharing melodic similarities between songs online – appears to have increased accusations of plagiarism. This has led to artists pre-empting issues by interpolating or sampling existing songs – turning the charts into an endless nostalgia trip – while others dole out songwriting credits post-release to avoid legal action, something Sheeran did in 2017 when No Scrubs songwriters Kandi Burruss and Tameka Cottle were added to the credits of Shape of You.

The same year, an out-of-court settlement was made between Sheeran and musician Matt Cardle after Sheeran’s song Photograph was accused of copying notes from Cardle’s 2012 single Amazing. Sheeran regretted it, claiming in 2022 that the move opened “the floodgates,” when it came to copyright lawsuits. A year later, when he was taken to court due to the similarities between Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On and his hit Thinking Out Loud, Sheeran was determined to frame these challenges as an existential problem for musicians, vowing to quit altogether if he was found to have breached copyright. He wasn’t – and if his Photograph settlement opened the floodgates, this victory has undoubtedly nudged them in the opposite direction. Even better, the court case allowed Sheeran to breathe new life into a crucial element of his persona – and a quality that is increasingly defining pop stardom: underdog status.Last year a Sheeran fan told the Guardian he connected with the musician “because I’m also that uncool guy – a lot of us fans are”. From endless comic-book movies to Elon Musk, the past decade has seen nerds inherit the zeitgeist, and the scruffy, obsessive, slightly awkward Sheeran – who told Graham Norton he once constructed a Lego set on a date – can claim to bea part of that. “Taylor was never the popular kid in school. I was never the popular kid in school,” Sheeran said in 2017, turning his and Swift’s wild thirst for success into a revenge-of-the-nerds narrative. “Then you get to the point when you become the most popular kid in school – and we both take it a bit too far […] It also comes from always being told that you can’t do something and being like, ‘Fuck you. I can.’”

Sheeran’s winning-loser mentality ties into his relatable, everyman persona – “I’ve done around about a thousand shows but I haven’t got a house, plus I live on a couch”, he sang on early hit You Need Me, I Don’t Need You – and he’s not alone. Nowadays everyone is having their own pity party. Supposedly candid pop star documentaries following everyone from Billie Eilish to Robbie Williams (and Sheeran himself) seem designed primarily to cultivate sympathy, while breakthrough stars trade on victimhood and injustice: Olivia Rodrigo found fame as the teary dumpee on Drivers License, while Raye’s ongoing resurgence was kickstarted by her accusation that her label had deliberately suppressed her career for years.

Now, a decade on from Sing and his Spotify dominion, Sheeran’s imperial phase is petering out. His last album, the subdued and dreary Autumn Variations, produced no Top 10 singles and viewed alongside its melancholic, restrained predecessor, – (Subtract), suggests Sheeran is now less interested in pursuing smash hits. Yet his influence still resonates loudly through the zeitgeist: genre-hopping is now de rigueur, leaving increasingly muddy footprints over the spectrum of musical styles; resistance to the streaming model has dissolved entirely; mega-tours by established heavyweights are now the most important financial facet of the music industry; chart-clogging success is only getting more frequent; and staunch relatability is still the dominant currency for Gen Z superstars such as Eilish and Rodrigo.

In truth, however, Sheeran probably isn’t going anywhere. The stagnant, concentrated monoculture the musician helped will into being is one that will preserve its existing megastars; Sheeran is part of a small, success-hoarding cohort who rake it in as their fellow musicians are forced to work day jobs, while the ladder he climbed (honing his craft and meeting contacts on the club and pub circuit) has been kicked to the curb, with venues in the UK closing at record rates . In this new, rarefied pop landscape, Ed Sheeran has secured his invincible tenure: should he want it, there will always be a space at the top of the charts for pop’s underdog-king.

• Pop and rock
• Music industry

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