Ed Sheeran @ Festival Hall
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Ed Sheeran @ Festival Hall

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If my mum listens to it on Mix 101.1, the general rule of thumb is I don’t. Apparently, Ed Sheeran is the proverbial ginger-bull in a china shop that blew that status quo out of the water. In a nutshell: he is one of the most talented live musicians I have ever seen. And that surprised me.

When Ed made his grand appearance it was only him onstage. No backups, no band, just Ed Sheeran and an acoustic guitar. I figured they’d all come a bit later and instead focused on his opening song Give Me Love. His voice is fantastic live and he boasts a tone similar to Tracy Chapman. With no pitch errors whatsoever he was able to fill every crevice of Festival Hall with his velvety yet strong voice. It wasn’t even the end of the first song before girls had to get dragged outside for trying to jump the barrier.

After he finished his opening he formally introduced himself and called his audience the Melbourne Gospel Choir. He sectioned us off in groups and worked on harmonisation’s which were all applied to his next song, Drunk Again. I soon realised there were no backing bands or vocalists and this was Ed Sheeran literally doing a one man show.

He made use of a looping machine he had at his feet to create layered beats and harmonies and to provide a backing track to his vocals. This is risky to do live and if you make a mistake, it’s hard to hide and can jeopardise your entire performance. Regardless, he was making the most out of the machine and was soon singing a cover of Lil Kim’s Put Your Lighters Up. It was here I realised he was a pretty special, genre-defying, soulful little English lad.

He soon asked the audience to go completely silent for his next song, a cover of the classic American folk song The Wayfaring Stranger. The audience obediently obliged and what ensued was the highlight of the show for me. Using only a loop machine and the acoustic guitar he weaved together a masterpiece. Singing at the beginning, he began to record sounds and layers onto the machine. Over the next few minutes he used his own recorded vocals, the guitar and drum beats made by hitting the guitar into a spine-tingling crescendo.  He truly has an ear for dissecting a song, and applying performative elements to it. By starting slowly he was able to showcase his brilliant voice and by adding the loop machine and the beats created by it, he demonstrated his exemplary musical ability.

From rap, to traditional folk, Ed then made the shift to blues. And not just any blues. Nina Simone blues. Huge shoes to step into, but he pulled Be My Husband off very well. Back to his own tunes, he moved to Lego House, which sent the crowd wild. After this song he thanked us and said goodbye, but was soon back for The A Team and a mashup of Thrift Shop and some other songs, during which he rapped.

Blown away by the whole show, I spent the next twenty minutes furiously Wikipedia-ing Ed. Turns out he upped and moved to LA on a whim to pursue music, with hardly any money. He was scouted by Jamie Foxx who was so enamored with his talent that he hosted Ed at his Hollywood home and provided him access to his music studio to record. This may sound like an odd companionship, but seeing how he weaved genres together only with a guitar and loop machine is truly special and testament to the universality of his music.

BY TAMARA VOGL

 

LOVED: His phenomenal rendition of The Wayfaring Stranger.

HATED: That it was a little too hot that night.

DRANK: Water.