Ed Sheeran, Auckland NZ, 2023

Ed Sheeran

10th February 2023
Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Kate Taylor. Photography by Doug Peters.

Let us face it. When it comes to Ed Sheeran, we own him. He is ours. We cross lease him from the rest of the world, but let’s make this very, abundantly clear. As far as we’re concerned, Ed Sheeran is a New Zealander, we’ve claimed him, and that’s just that. Friday night rolled into Auckland and with haunting worries about the weather looming behind us and before us with Cyclone Gabrielle; an eager crowd of Ed Heads welcomed the chance to boogie away the cares of the week. After a wonderfully received show in Wellington and a well-deserved extended tiki tour holiday for him around Aotearoa, Ed charmed and soothed us all for another great night out…that unfortunately did not go to plan.

Bursting onto the stage with a genuine youthful exuberance, Maisie Peters bopped and bounded around the stage with such energy that she made the older ones of us in the audience want to have a wee sit down. “Aren’t her knees and ankles sore?” we wondered as we nursed our $6 bottle of Pump Water. Kicking off her set with ‘You Signed Up for This’ and included: ‘I’m Trying’, ‘Love Him I Don’t’, ‘Body Better’, ‘Cate’s Brother’, ‘Villain’, ‘Not Another Rock Star’, ‘Worst of You’, ‘John Hughes Movie’ and ‘Blonde’. Delivering an enthralling performance on her second time playing in Auckland, Peters gives an effortless delivery of her gorgeous and unique voice, using every scrap of this huge stage to skip around and drawn every one in with her moreish power pop punk. With huge energy and a tongue in cheek attitude, it was refreshing to hear clever, modern laments on love from a Gen Z perspective that are so confident and far beyond her years. Drawing her set to a close, Peters was sure to advise the crowd that her drummer Jack is single and should punters want to have a lash at Jack the lad then they best get on her Instagram and find him and throw their best chat up line at him, then also mentioned that she is “…looking for a New Zealand surfer boyfriend too, if you fill that credential.” She came, she saw, she wooed, and I’ll bet that Maisie Peters is welcome back any time.

With ten mins to go a timer materialised on the large ring screen to huge applause and as the time melted and ticked down, the crowd enthusiastically yelled the final countdown. As the screen ring lifted our favourite little ginger troubadour appeared into view with fire spurts and the aroma of pyrotechnics and sulphur. Now, I’m no expert on sound production, as after all the old music biz saying goes “Those that can’t do it, write about it”; but to me, at the opening of the gig the sound was undefined, it was hard to pick out the nuances of what was going on audially, it was just loud and yet, muffled. This foreshadowing was sorted out post haste and we rocked on into the show…for now.

Ed progresses on deftly knowing his audience, even the ones who are here tonight that don’t know him saying “…this is the biggest show I’ve played in this city before, I’m going to play some songs for you tonight, I hope you know them and if you don’t this is going to be a long two hours for you”, in a special shout out to the parents and boyfriends in attendance here tonight. Peppered with the fog and fire cannon bursts and blips of pyrotechnics, the impressive stage set up revolved like a vinyl playing on a turntable, pivoting Ed around so everyone could get an eyeful.

There is a magic to these huge stadium shows, to see before you an actual legitimate, international pop mega star performing for you, right there, it’s that fleeting brush with fame, with international talent, which I think is universal, but us Kiwis go especially mad for it. Another aspect that Ed understands really well is his place with his fans, it is not enough to just come and hear the songs live, we want a piece of him and to spend time with him. In the banter during song breaks Ed shared about the joys of collaboration to create a song for The Desolation of Smaug or a Pokémon themed tuned after a visit to their Japan HQ or on the joys of collaboration with artists in genres he never imagined he would when he started out. To the personal stories about getting his first loop pedal at 14 (more on that shortly) or penning the heartfelt ‘Visiting Hours’ during the pandemic whilst in Australia for a friend’s bereavement. He regaled with tales of legendary producer Rick Rubin letting him know that the mark of a good song is one that can be played simply on an acoustic guitar and still have the same effect. Ed took us to the dizzying heights of stadium pop with his stonking run through of ‘Castle on the Hill’ and then yearned for romance on ‘Thinking Out Loud’, which had the couples canoodling and whispering sweet nothings to each other.

For me, I felt closest to Ed when he spoke about the experience of being a 19-year-old performer and having people then, tell him how important certain songs were for them and how he was very privileged and understood the immense honour and responsibility he had in being the soundtrack to many people’s pivotal moments in their lives. Now, this comment from any other performer would sound like a self-indulgent boast. Yet from Ed, it is a heartfelt salvo of gratitude that we’ve chosen Ed to be in our head when we need the synaesthesia of a song to give our lives meaning. He spoke on ‘Thinking Out Loud’ being the song so many chose to express their love; or ‘Visiting Hours’ to express their grief for example.

Shortly after this chat, Ed scooped back to the use of the loop pedal, creating pieces of ‘Bloodstream’ to work with to perform it for us. It was here that the gig did not go to the plan that Ed and Co. had as his ever-trusty loop pedal spluttered and clipped on a particular loop of Ed striking the body of his guitar for a percussive element to it which tripped the intricate set up to blow out and cause Ed to stop mid-song. In what must have been a terrifying moment during your largest show you’ve ever played in one of your favourite cities in one of your favourite countries, Ed pushed on professionally and did his absolute best, retreating to the safety of the stage bunker to sort things out and to his credit he tried to restart ‘Bloodstream’ another two times before conceding that the rest of the evening would not feature his loop pedal and that we’ll be taking this down to an intimate stadium acoustic concert. Asides to having two huge Gingernuts to keep your composure in the face of such difficulties is one thing; but it’s as if you could see the concern on Ed’s face more for the fact that he knew that this song was THE song that framed someone’s important experience. Imagine if ‘Bloodstream’ was the song that helped someone stave themselves off the horrors of substance abuse or is comfort for someone like myself that lost a loved one to addiction. Ed did not want the people whose ‘song that was’ to miss out. Not only did this showcase Ed’s compassion but also highlights what an incredible, versatile performer Ed is and that his adaptability in crisis and the quality of his prolific song writing skills were demonstrably apparent this night.

Exiting the venue, the murmurs from the crowd flowing to the gates predominantly had praise and compassion for the technical difficulties, as I thought of some audio tech somewhere feverishly working over a steaming loop pedal trying to bring it back to life for Ed’s second show in Tāmaki Makaurau the following night. It wasn’t what Ed or everyone expected and this deviation from his performance intention I think only served to create a special, one-off experience that no one else in the world could say they got from their time with Ed. Which suits us here in New Zealand, feeling as I said, a special ownership of this man on our shaky isles.

Eclectically and undeniably the biggest pop star of our moment, Ed was sheer talent and skill on display and I’m sure, we’ll welcome him back again into our eager arms on his next tour, as we always have.

Were you there at Eden Park for this magnificent spectacular? Or have you seen Ed Sheeran perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. Tides
2. BLOW
3. I’m a Mess
4. Shivers
5. Castle on the Hill
6. The A Team
7. Don’t / No Diggity
8. I See Fire
9. Visiting Hours
10. Own It / PERU / Beautiful People / I Don’t Care
11. Overpass Graffiti
12. Galway Girl
13. Celestial
14. Thinking Out Loud
15. Love Yourself [Justin Bieber cover]
16. Sing
17. Photograph
18. Perfect
19. Bloodstream [Unfinished due to pedal board breaking down]
20. Unplanned Acoustic Solo
21. The Parting Glass [traditional cover]
22. Afterglow [Acoustic]
23. Lego House [Acoustic]
24. Bad Habits [Acoustic]
25. Give Me Love
26. Shape of You
27. You Need Me, I Don’t Need You

_{Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.}

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