After playing three nights at the Forsyth Barr Stadium, which has a capacity of 40,000, in Dunedin, New Zealand, British pop star Ed Sheeran finally returned to Manila on Sunday to stage a one-night concert in support of his third studio album, ÷ (Divide).
The “Thinking Out Loud” singer was supposed to return to Manila for his second concert last November, but it was pushed back to April this year after he was injured in a cycling accident.
Wearing black shirt, dark blue jeans and black sneakers, the 27-year-old artist came on stage at 9:00 p.m. with “Castle On the Hill” to a deafening roar from the 25,000 fans who flocked to the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds.
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Although he started the show an hour late, Sheeran was a crowd-pleaser, he knew exactly how to draw loud cheers and applauses from his fans who waited five months just to see him again live.
“Philippines is a country which is so passionate about music. There’s nowhere else in the world that has this sort of pandemonium and I love it. It really makes me feel special,” he told the crowd making the concert intimate amid the massive size of the audience.
“I have just found out that my album went 8X Platinum here in the Philippines. In my hometown, it also went 8X Platinum. That’s an equal amount of love you have for me,” he added.
Armed with a small-scale acoustic guitar and looping effects pedal, and standing alone on a stage brightened by eclectic visuals on giant LED walls, Sheeran strummed furiously and sang vigorously as if his world tour has only just begun. Before and after every song, he would thank the crowd and give them a short background of the music he composed.
“My favorite experience in attending a concert is leaving without my voice because I sing too much,” he told the audience complimenting them for their active participation singing along with him most of the time.
Similarly, he praised the crowd by saying, “Thank you so much. You sound wonderful,” before delighting them with the chart-topping “Perfect.”
Sheeran was vocally consistent and reliable. He’s so impressive that’s why you cannot blame some people who accused him of lip-syncing and using backing tracks in his previous shows.
Every song played in the Manila show was loud and crisp given that the Concert Grounds is an open-air venue. The 100-minute set finished on “Sing,” followed by an encore of “Shape of You” and “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.”
Sheeran began his tour in March 2017 in Turin, Italy. The Manila leg presented by Smart Music Live was the 132nd date on his world tour, which is set to culminate in Atlanta in November later this year.
The show on Sunday was sold out and if he had a second show the following day, which was a holiday, no doubt it would have been another successful concert with fans uniting for a few specific reasons: to see Sheeran who is currently one of the biggest mainstream pop stars on the planet; and sing along with his charting hit songs.