Ed Sheeran Concert (Divide Tour) at The Etihad Stadium, Manchester!

 A couple of weeks ago now, myself and a couple of my flatmates made a roadtrip up to Manchester's Etihad Stadium having bought ourselves some last minute tickets to see Ed Sheeran on his Divide Tour!

Click here to watch the concert video or see below.

Ed Sheeran had two support artists, both of whom I'd actually seen before.

First up was Jamie Lawson, and unfortunately we did miss the first couple of songs as he started dead on half past 6. The girls hadn't really heard of him nor did they like his music. But I love him! The first time I saw him was supporting the One Direction boys on their farewell tour, then I had an intimate meeting at Fopp! with him and finally I saw him on tour alongside Calum Scott.

I just think his music is so perfect and while I did prefer him performing on a smaller stage, I don't think the huge arena stage made him look small in any way at all. I loved his performance and the fact he did all his old songs was perfect because I obviously knew them all! I can't wait for him to bring out some new songs.
 Anne-Marie followed and I hadn't even heard of her name before I went to the Capital Summertime Ball at Wembley Arena. That day, she amazed me and I've been hooked ever since! She seriously wowed the whole audience last time and I think she did again this time. Personally, I much preferred her last time because I felt she had more energy. It's probably because that was a one-off gig and this is a very long tour stint which as far as I know, isn't something she's done before. Nevertheless, I should compare and my girlfriends were very impressed by the whole set.
I love when she took off her cardigan and she really did seem more energetic when she did. I also love that she constantly challenges herself. Each song is powerful after powerful and she never falters. If you get the chance to see Anne-Marie live...go!
And finally, just 5 minutes behind schedule, Mr Ed Sheeran took to the stage. I'd never seen him live before, so it was a concert ticked off my bucket list!

Much to my flatmates delight, he did his whole set completely alone. She'd seen him back when he was smaller and had hoped it would be very similar and it was. I was personally a little disappointed as I think he did need a little more pump to help everything come together a little more seemlessly. But honestly, he didn't look small on the stage. He is quite impressive in terms of the sheer volume of stuff he does and the constant switching of guitars, playbacks and recordings.
The original seating pictures made the stage look so much bigger and unfortunately it was so small, Ed Sheeran was very far aware from the majority of the audience and almost stood in the exact same spot for the whole 2 hour duration. Yes, he was actively 'dancing' if you could call it that, but it's defintely different from the concerts I've become used to over recent years. Most artists nowadays try to get as much interaction as possible. 
Likewise, even though the music spoke for itself, I was quite disappointed with the staging. The imaging was very poor. The screens were very limited and poorly placed. Half the time, the lighting elements blocked the view. The cameras seemed to be all over the place and nothing really flowed. Finally, unlike most concerts nowadays, there was nothing extra. It was literally just Ed and a guitar. No special effects, no fireworks, no lights. It was interesting...
Of course, some of the prettiest scenes are when artists tell the audience to put on their phone lights. Especially during the slow ballads, the audience lit up and it was absolutely beautiful. While I hated that fact that the show was outside - no joke, it was absolutely freezing as there was no roof! - it did make it special to start in the light and slowly let the darkness take hold.
So in other words, I really enjoyed myself and I'm sure you can tell from the annoying singing in the background of the video, I loved the music! Have you seen Ed Sheeran in concert? Do you want to?

Comments