Oh, Ed Sheeran. How you make my heart sing.
Not including his quick two-song performance during this year's iHeartRadio Music Awards, his ÷ Tour stop in Oakland on August 3 was the first time I've seen him live. So many good songs, so many guitars, and just one man on stage.
Before I get more into details with Ed, I need to talk about James "You're Beautiful" Blunt. Like many of us, I really only know that one song, so it was really wonderful hearing his other songs, old and new, miserable or upbeat. And yes, miserable — you should really listen to his new song, "Don't Give Me Those Eyes."
Three things struck me about James, who I also saw for the first time live that night. 1) He's quite a comedian. In between songs, he kept us entertained with his humor, which kept the crowd (or at least me) engaged. 2) "YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL" CAME OUT 12 YEARS AGO. TWELVE. He was joking to the crowd that most of us were probably conceived from this song, which is exactly when I thought, "Is this song THAT old?" And yep. 12. 1-2. TWELVE. 3) He is such a talent. I mean, that's nothing new, really. But seeing him live brought me a whole new perspective of him. Consider me a renewed fan.
So, Ed. Oh, Ed. He was a one-man show with a woman who handed him a different guitar for practically every other song.
When James was on, we were a little concerned that Ed isn't going to have screens, which would make it harder to see him. Oh, we were wrong. Look at those Eds. ALL OF THOSE EDS! It wasn't like this the whole time though. It was often mixed with different graphics and camera angles.
Ed performed all of his hits, and a good number of songs from ÷. My only, only disappointment is that he did not perform one of my favorites, "Barcelona." I can't say I was too surprised though, given that it's one of those more bonus songs.
Right when I got home, I YouTubed "Barcelona" and just pretended like I was still there.
Of course, the one outfit change Ed had was to slip on Steph Curry's jersey. I dig it though.
Because there weren't any outfit changes, or anything, he did do a lot of songs in 90+ minutes. Personally, I wish he would've just done two hours do at least another 2–3 songs, including "Barcelona." But overall? I'm just wondering what took me so long to finally go to an Ed show. He is just ah-mah-zing.