Ed Sheeran ÷ Tour

Following last year’s successful arena run, Ed Sheeran moved his ÷ tour into UK stadiums throughout June. TPi’s Stew Hume catches up with the singer’s crew over his 4-day residency at Manchester’s Etihad Stadium to see what goes into the production behind Britain’s one-man looping sensation.

If there was one thing that TPi took away from spending time with the Ed Sheeran camp it’s this: loyalty is of the utmost importance within this touring family. For anyone that has been living under a rock for the last decade, Ed Sheeran, armed with his trusty loop pedal, created a buzz in the mainstream UK music scene, and, following the release of his debut album, +, continued to go from strength to strength. Despite this success, his core team remains by his side. Last year, following the release of his eagerly anticipated third album, ÷, Sheeran again hit the road with a new eye-catching arena show that has now grown for his 2018 stadium run.

Juggling the roles of Production Manager and FOH Engineer was Chris Marsh. Having first met Sheeran backstage at London’s Forum in 2011, the audio pro originally only expected to fill the role for a 2-week stint. “During that time, The A Team started getting picked up by a lot of radio stations and his popularity skyrocketed,” reminisced Marsh, while sitting down for a coffee backstage at the Etihad Stadium. “I then got signed on for more dates – that was over 7 years ago and I’m still here!” he chuckled. Even during those early tours, Marsh filled the role of both PM and FOH Engineer. “Back then I don’t think there was the budget for 2 separate crew members. Personally I think the 2 positions complement each other. I like to be kept busy on tour so I get to do all the advancing in the morning then by the evening I get to be part of the show. I much prefer this than being stuck in an office all day. This way you get to be part of the vibe and enjoy the adrenaline of a show, while still serving as the backbone of the production.” Aiding Marsh in day-to-day production duties is Stage Manager, Matt Caley, who has been working with Sheeran almost as long as Marsh; initially filling the role of guitar tech during his first headline tour. “I had to jump ship for another tour and our now current Guitar Tech, Trevor Dawkins, took my place,” stated Caley.

Marsh recruited Caley - who won at this year’s TPi Awards - back into the ranks to handle Stage Managing duties. “Ed has certainly come a long way since those early tours but years of working together have built a strong Stage Manager / Production Manager relationship. Prior to this tour, both Chris and I sat down for a very long time and worked out how we were going to split the workload for this tour,” stated Caley. “He puts a lot of trust in me to run the load-in and outs and trusts my judgement to get the job done while he is in the office advancing the next shows we will be moving into. I also make sure that when it comes to show time he gets to concentrate on his FOH duties.” Another vital crewmember that enabled Marsh to juggle both positional was Production Assistant Cally Harris who among many other things aided in chaperoning TPi through the various departments of the tour.

Along with Marsh and Caley, there were several members that had been part of Sheeran’s extended tour family including, Tour Manager Mark Friend, Video Director Phil Mead and Guitar Tech Trevor Dawkins - all familiar faces throughout the years. According to Marsh this regularity of tour attendance is all thanks to Sheeran himself. “Ed has always been fiercely loyal,” stated the PM. “He cares a great deal for his crew and understands the importance of having a happy and healthy team working for him. This creates a really comfortable environment, which people can’t wait to come back to.”

This due care and attention is also given to 50 strong touring crew who they’ve picked up over the years. “We want to make sure each one of our crew are taken care of on the road,” stated Marsh. “The ‘suck it up’, oldschool approach of dealing with peoples’ feelings and emotions is certainly not one we endorse out here! You have to be hyper aware of your crew and appreciate that each one of them has a family at home; they’re not a nameless person on a tour bus. With that in mind, we always encourage the crew to bring along wives, children and parents so they can see what we do out here and bring a little taste of home to them on the road.”

As well as familiar faces in the crew, Marsh reinstated many of Sheeran’s regular suppliers, including; audio vendor Major Tom, video supplier Colonel Tom Touring, KB Event for gear transport, Rock-It Cargo for freighting, TAIT for set building and No.3 for tour catering. New to the Sheeran team is Lights Control Rigging, which supplied lighting for the tour along with HighPost Structures for the touring roof system.

MOVING TO STADIUMS Show Designer, Mark Cunniffe spoke to TPi about the design and approach for the ÷ campaign. The creative has been at the forefront of helping Sheeran develop as a live performer, creating sets that have enabled him to bring his music from theatres to arenas to sell-out stadium crowds. “To look at the history of this show you really have to go back to his Wembley performance in 2015,” began Cunniffe. “This was the real test to see if Ed could be a stadium act. As a performer, it was clear he was up to it, but the real question was the level of production that would be necessary to bring one man with an acoustic guitar out to 60,000 people.” It’s safe to say that the event was an unquestionable success, which led to Sheeran and the rest of the team continuing to conquer stadiums including Croke Park as well as stadiums in Australia all the way to the end of the x campaign.

“When it came to this tour, I was keen to recreate that vibe of Wembley but make it tourable,” explained Cunniffe. “I knew that I would have to design a show that was scalable, so when we finished the 2017 arena run we would be ready to move into stadiums.”

The stage show consisted of a giant chalice-shaped structure that was coated in a healthy supply of LED. The overall goal of the design was to lead the eye down to the centre of the stage and Sheeran himself. “From the start I wanted a large roof piece with an LED backwall so this design catered for both,” explained Cunniffe. The show designer discussed one of his greatest issues with the design. “Personally I am not a fan of traditional IMAG. I hate going out onto a show floor and the audience’s attention is split with the left and right sides looking up at a screen rather then the artists on stage.” However, dealing with the sheer numbers of the stadium meant the Cunniffe had to come up with a solution. “We’ve using the divide logo of the album and turning in 90 degrees, using the 2 circles and the central line as 3 video surfaces. This gives us the width and yet still ties in with the overall look of the stage rather than being an extra element to the show that draws the crowd’s attention away from the action.”

STAGING

“TAIT really were the only staging manufacturer that had the capabilities of touring Mark’s design,” explained Marsh. “Although their services come at a premium, the product they deliver is always fantastic. We have had some elements out with us for almost 18 months and the pins still hammer in effortlessly. Not only that, the support from TAIT has also been outstanding.” The set was quite a feat of engineering, all centred around a mother grid system that hung behind the chalice set pieces. “We always knew that we wanted to include some movement within the show with fixtures dropping in at moments in the set,” stated Cunniffe. “But what we what we’ve actually done is put the whole mother grid on a Kinesys system.” In total the mother grid housed 50 points, 12 of which were used for automotive movements within the show. “The mother grid facilitates every point being about to be precisely in the right place which is essential in a set with very little tolerance for error, a slight deviation in hook position could result in set pieces crashing into each other,” stated Cunniffe. “Despite the expense, it was the right move on Chris’ part and it has given the production peace of mind throughout the tour.”

Leading the rigging department was Seth Cook alongside fellow automation specialist Omar Franchi with all rigging supplied by Major Tom. Excluding PA, the set weighed almost 40 tonnes. “Usually for a show of this size, as a head rigger I would be very busy on build days,” stated Cook. “However, due to the meticulous planning of our production, the show is incredibly manageable. Everything has been thought out correctly.” Aiding TAIT in the design of the show was Jeremy Lloyd from Wonderworks who helped design the grid, which was built by Litec. “During the build I’m bringing in 19 local riggers,” continued Cook. “The way we have been running the show is to have ground riggers pull all the points into place meaning less people in the roof. Effectively all the riggers have to do is move the looms and pulleys into the next place and make the connection with the shackle. This leads to a more effective show day and keeps everything much safer with less people in the roof.” For motors Cook opted for GIS Loadguards. “I’ve worked with every brand in the industry and I never want to use another motor,” stated Cook.

Production Manager and FOH Engineer, Chris Marsh; Lighting Director, Matt Jones; Head Rigger Seth Cook; Show Designer, Mark Cunniffe; KB Events owner & Sheeran’s Transport Manager, Stuart McPherson.

As Sheeran is a one-man band, there was little need to factor in a very large upstage area. This resulted in a set that was heavy on the downstage. “While we were still on the arena run we got in touch with most of the major outdoor staging companies,” explained Marsh. “However, none of them were able to deliver what we need with their available infrastructure.” This led to the PM joining forces with a new company, HighPost Structures. Formed out of the Danish company European Staging, founder of the company, Mikkel Brogaard was approached to try and create the specific staging roof for the tour. TPi spoke to Brogaard on site to outline some of the features of this custom roofing system. “The set itself is really quite heavy. To combat this you can either just make your staging system bigger or you can go down the route of a cantilever.” HighPost opted for the latter option, creating a stage that could counter balance the heavy upstage set pieces. This staging system also had another advantage as Cunniffe pointed out: “With most staging options, how many tickets you can sell is affected by staging legs on the left and right of the structure. However, due to HighPost Structures cantilever system we are truly able to make this show a 180 degree set meaning we can play to even larger audiences with out the risk of obtrusive sight lines.”

“High Post really went above and beyond on their design,” enthused Marsh. “The stage essentially builds itself, with each piece being pushed up by hydraulics. This meant there was no need to bring in cranes to build the set and the number of crew that had to work at height was serious diminished - a huge bonus on the advanced health and safety paperwork.” In total, HighPost Structures produced 4 staging systems for the tour. “We are essentially leap frogging sets across the globe,” laughed Brogaard. “This is our third day in Manchester but our advance team are already in Glasgow setting up for the next date. The other 2 are currently on flatbeds in America ready for the state side tour.” It’s also worth noting that, underfoot, keeping Manchester City’s playing surface in great condition was Mojo Barriers’ Tarratrak Plus pitch protection. We are used to seeing the name Mojo Barriers as safety barriers but since being acquired by German company Evago, it has diversified, introducing stadium pitch protection to its portfolio when it also acquired Terraplas. Mojo’s crew was the first supplier on site in May to install 9,500 sqm of the Terratrak Plus pitch protection. The temporary stadium floor was in position ready for Ed Sheeran’s production team to start installing the stage and tech 24 hours later. Mojo’s UK Director Kevin Thorborn commented: “The Terratrak Plus is our heavy duty system, which gives the ultimate protection for the heavy loads and vehicles that all go on the pitch for load-in and load-out. The product is well known and trusted across the globe by production managers in a similar way to Mojo Barriers, and it’s great that the team at Kilimanjaro (the tour’s promoter) have had faith that we can install their pitch protection to the same high standard we’re known for.”

Following the sold-out Ed Sheeran shows, the Terratrak Plus pitch protection remained there until mid June for a series of concerts including tour stops from Jay-Z and Beyonce, Foo Fighters and Taylor Swift.

VIDEO AND LIGHTING

Video was critial to the show design. Colonel Tom Touring once again provided all the LED screens and back end control for tour alongside Lights Control Rigging, which provided the complete the lighting package for the tour.

“Personally I don’t see lighting and video as separate departments,” commented Cunniffe. “These days with the abundance of LED technology, we’re able to seamlessly blend the content and your lighting show. It’s amusing to look back to shows I used to work on, such as Phil Collins at Knebworth, where you needed to put ballasts under the stage to deal with the weight of the video. Now, LED is so much lighter, it’s really opened to the doors for other show designers like myself.”

Backline Technicians Trevor Dawkins and Dave White; The hard-working No.3 Catering team.

The LED product in question was a ROE Carbon 5mm product. A total of 400 full panels and 175 half tiles were deployed. The IMAG configuration consisted of 560 KTL Flyer 12mm tiles. “ROE really is a great product,” enthused Cunniffe. “It’s light and easy to handle and looks fantastic with the content creation by our two visual content makers, Montreal-based Moment Factory and Bristol’s SHOP.”

The tour’s Video Director, Phil Mead, discussed various changes within the video department. “We’ve certainly upgraded our rig for this stadium run from last year’s arena tour,” he stated, clearly excited about the various new elements of this video setup. “I suppose the most obvious addition is the IMAG to the rider. Prior to this I was looking for shots that we would feed to our media servers for the LED back wall. As well as supplying those clips, I have also had a chance to polish up my directing skills for IMAG, which has been really enjoyable. The configuration that Mark created with the 2 dots and portrait screen has also been an interesting challenge to deal with and certainly gives me more options to work with.”

To deal with the greater directing demands, Mead opted to use a Ross Carbonite Black video switcher. “It’s a real joy to use and gives me a higher degree of control.” The camera package for the tour consisted of 3 Sony 1700’s, 3 Canons with a selection of 100x, 86x and 24x lenses. Also making a return were 5 Bradley Engineering CamBall 3’s, which the production have had on their rider for some time, with the addition of a GoPro Mk 2, the sole purpose of which was to capture footage of Sheeran’s feet to showcase his loop pedal skills. “We’ve also added a Sony A7RII with a Teradek Bolt 1000 radio transmitter,” added Mead. “The sole purpose of this camera is to film Ed as he makes his way to the stage. It’s a really nice moment when the crowd sees him for the first time on the screens. You can see the excitement on his face and that feeds the excitements of the crowd.”

The media servers also received an upgrade in the shape of disguise’s gx 2 media server. The tour is also the first show to use the company’s HDMI 2.0 VFC card. “I’ve been a fan of disguise since I began using the product in 2014 for the start of Ed’s x world tour,” said Cunniffe. “The seamless integration between Notch real time effects has made disguise my go-to product.” Mead noted that when the stadium leg of Sheeran’s tour kicked off, the show added side IMAG elements and the servers were working at capacity. “Upgrading to the gx 2 not only gave us greater headroom to continue using Notch for the main screens and IMAG but also had the advantage of scaling down the number of servers we needed,” he said. “We had been using 2 active 4x2pros and one understudy, and now the entire show is powered by a single gx 2 with a second in the wings, should we need a backup. The HDMI was running in 4K DCI and feeds all but one of the walls on the entire flown system. The HD-SDIs were running in 3G SDI mode and feed 2 M2 processors for 1 wall and all the floor systems. A third output feeds the side IMAG screens.”

The production relied on Notch to produce real time effects on the live video content. “The power of Notch in combination with disguise is incredible,” enthused Mead. “One of the most impressive looks we have achieved is during the songs The A-Team and Galway Girl. Essentially we are running video content that uses UV data and the Notch is able to take that information and overlay images of Ed within the content. For example in The A-Team during the chorus we have content of a city street at night with various neon signs, on which we are able to stream real-time footage of Ed. Rather than having to key frame each image, Notch is able to just take that data and do it all automatically.”

According to Cunniffe: “Everything was programmed in my studio before loading onto the touring gx 2’s. The fact that the system can be run on any high-end computer set up makes it very flexible during the pre-production period. The roll up to the system’s newer software releases was faultless.”

For LED processing the production put its faith in Brompton. “We have used them for years and the experience I have had with their products is second to none,” stated Mead. For this tour Mead opted from the company’s new Tessera SX40 Processor with 4 Brompton XD fibre distribution and 2 M2 HD LED processors. “This is the company’s new 4k processor, which only has 2 fibres coming out of it. This has given is a much cleaner infrastructure and the foot print is now relatively small especially with the sheer about of LED we have out on this tour.”

HighPost Stuctures’ Mikkel Brogaard; Stage Manager, Matt Caley; Audio Systems Engineer, Charlie Albin.

During the design process Cunniffe brought in Alex Passmore to program the show who worked with the show designer on all Sheeran’s show. Over seeing the show design on tour was Lighting Director, Matt Jones.

The LD’s control package consisted on a full sized MA Lighting grandMA2 console with Luminex giga Core 16XT being used for data distribution. The grandMA was very much the centre of the show with both lighting cues and video content being launched from the console. “I know there are several show designers that would disagree with the decision to put all visual element onto one desk,” stated Cunniffe. “However it makes sense for this show as many of the elements are cued at the same time as the video. Because everything that Ed does is live, timecode has and will always be out of the question. Having Matt launch everything live is the only way to have a completely sync up the design.”

“He certainly keeps me on my toes each night,” laughed Jones while discussing his nightly routine throughout the ÷ cycle. “He’s incredibly fluid and dynamic as a performer and enjoys the flexibility we offer so at any time he can change around the set list. That means I always need to be ready at the drop of a hat to bring up another set of cues for any given song. More than that, as he builds the loops of each of the songs there is always a chance he will play an extra bar of a song or perhaps break a string. It means watching him and being ready for the next cue. You can never assume anything. There are times where I might get a radio call giving me a heads up for any changes but on the whole its all live. Thankfully I have a good pool of macros set up on the desk that give me some safe transitions which would go unnoticed by the audience.”

The lighting rig consisted of 140 Claypaky Mythos 2’s, 32 Scenius Unicos and 18 Solaris Flare Q Plus. On each of the Kinesys pods there were 10 Mythos fixtures that descended at certain moments in the show, creating a canopy of light above Sheeran. “It’s during that moments that allows us to really utilise the Unicos which are under the Kinesys pods,” commented Jones.

Out at FOH on 2 towers were a collection of 74 SGM G4 Wash Beams and 24 P10 washes. For spots 4 Robert Juliat Lancelot Followspot were deployed. “When we first start the set it’s still sunny so I’m having to push the intensity more than I normally would, tending to pull them back as it gets darker,” commented Jones. “I also tend to only use the house left spot while Ed performs as it produces a nice shadowed looks on his face that looks better on the screens with the content. Then we he speaks to the crowd I use both the left and right so they can all see him clearly.”

STADIUM SOUND

“Ed’s live set up used to be incredibly simple,” stated Marsh disusing the evolution of the singer’s famous loop pedal that made him a household name. “It was just a traveling guitar and a Boss RC20 loop station. We could effectively put on a show anywhere.” Although this setup was ideal for bars and clubs, the limits of his live setup began to show as Sheeran moved to bigger venues. “The issue with the RC20 was that, when he built his loops, it started to compress the sound. I used to have to really push both the low and high ends to keep the power of his percussive hits and melodies intact. It began to become a bit of a mush.” What Marsh really needed was a new loop option that offered endless headroom as well as give the FOH engineer a greater level of audio control. The end result was Sheeran’s custom loop pedal, which the singer affectionately refers to as Chewie II - a system just as formidable as its fuzzball namesake. “We spoke to all the major looping manufacturers and custom pedal companies but nobody was really able to deliver what we were after, so we ended up creating our own,” commented Marsh. The system that Sheeran uses is the second version of the Chewie and, in essence, is an 8-channel looper all in a robust shell with triggers that are very similar to that of Sheeran’s RC20. “Both Ed’s guitar and looping vocals come to me at FOH first as individual stems,” outlined Marsh. “This is especially useful when its comes to Ed’s percussive work on the guitar. I can really treat the stems to make more impact with what is effectively a kick and a snare drum hit.” Post treatment and stems are sent back to stage for Sheeran to sample. Marsh also has control of each one of the loop tracks to continually monitor each section of the song. “The interface of the Chewie also gives Ed more control, so if he makes a mistake while recording a loop he can undo the last overdub rather than having to record the whole build up again.”

Aiding in the development of the pedal was long-time Backline Tech, Trevor Dawkins. “I have been with Ed since 2012 and used to handle both his guitars and pedals. However, as soon as we started developing the Chewie, I knew we would need some extra help.” Enter Dave White, who now oversees the Chewie as well as monitors all the RF elements of the show. White discussed some of the other elements of the pedal. “The original stems come from FOH via an Optocore loop and splits into 2 stems, which gives me a seamless A/B redundancy. This gives us peace of mind that the show will keep going no matter what. After all, there’s only one guy on stage making noise so if we lost our audio line people would notice.”

With this latest version of the pedal, the production has now gone fully digital. “We are not going analogue for anything,” enthused Marsh. “This decision was only made when I discovered the Sennheiser 9000 Series. It’s the first wireless system I’ve found that makes an acoustic guitar sound natural. Many of its counterparts really lose the integrity of the instrument - and when it’s only Ed up there on stage that is unacceptable. His guitar goes into his belt pack then that’s us in the digital domain until its hits the speakers.” Sennheiser was also the microphone of choice for his vocals. “For main vocals we use the 9235 capsule with 945 for his loop microphone,” said Marsh. “Admittedly, as a vocal microphone, the 945 is not the ideal choice for Ed’s tone. However it has an incredibly tight pattern so the only thing it picks up is his voice - and even then he has to really be on it to pick anything up. This is a necessity as the crowds we have here are loud and the last thing we want is for the pedal to record a scream from a fan and repeat it every other bar.”

“It really is a neat set up we have here now,” commented Dawkins. “We actually have 2 pedal setups now. The main one we have here is 30kg and made of steel making it really robust. We also have a second lighter 1 - around 17kg - meaning we are able to be as flexible to travel as we were back in the day.”

While TPi was speaking to the backline team, we couldn’t help but to ask about the singer’s impressive range of guitars. More than happy to divulge some of the 6-sting secrets, Dawkins pulled some of the highlight out of the arsenal. “Ed recently moved from Martin to Lowden guitars. George from the company has frantically been making us guitars to fulfil the rider for this tour. We now have 9 out with us. It took some experimenting with various pickups to get the tone we were looking for. Finally we have the ideal setup where we are using a Fishman bar pick up with a Baggs preamp. Finding a combination that was able to deal with the way he abuses guitars was a challenge but this has been working superbly.” With a selection of tunings, Dawkins is always ready to go with the next instrument, with another in the wings in case of Sheeran’s all-to-often string breaks. “We always joke that Ed has alien sweat as he goes through strings like no one else. It keeps me on my toes.”

At FOH, Marsh talked TPi through his set up: “I’m using the DiGiCo SD7, which controls FOH as well as Ed’s monitors,” he stated. “The SD7 is my favourite mixing console! I love the layout and the ease of operation for the engineer. I have been using DiGiCo Consoles since serial number 001 of the D5 came to the Major Tom Warehouse. With Ed we have used all of the SD consoles from SD11 all the way to now using the SD7.”

As far has Sheeran’s onstage sound, he uses a combination in Sennheiser 2000’s IEMs and stage wedges. “The only requirement that Ed has with monitors is that nothing changes,” explained Marsh. “He never wants anyone mixing it as it’s too distracting while he is building up the songs and keeping in time. We moved onto the IEMs some time ago mainly for clarity. As he’s now playing to such large audiences fatigue would have really become a factor.” However the stage wedges remained to give the singer the impact needed to keep in time as well as giving him the option of taking out his ears to hear the crowd.

The SD7 was split into 4 distinct areas - incoming audio from guitar and vocals, the loop mixes and the monitor and FOH mix. “I’ve also got an insert on the left and right mix which enables me to to enhance the sub bass of Ed’s percussive hits,” explained Marsh. “I use a Waves Maxx BCL unit and have a few presets for each songs. There are some songs where I really want the ‘drums’ to punch through, others make them more subtle and achieve this by adjusting the intensity of the low end frequencies in the entire mix.” Meyer Sound was again the PA of choice. This time around the array consisted of a Leo system with 72 boxes alongside 42 1100 LFCs. For front fills there were 20 Lina along with 8 Leopard. For delays a total of 56 Milo with 14 on each tower. For stage monitors 2 Meyer Sound 900 LFC and 2 Meyer Sound MJF 212 were used. “Through the years during Ed’s rapid rise to fame, we were given a lot of opportunities to support various people, through which we got to try almost every flavour of PA system,” stated Marsh. “Throughout, Meyer systems have always been the most consistent. It’s the only PA I have come across that gives us the separation we need for the loop pedal. You can hear the definition and the clarity with what is going on and it never seems to give up. It has become part of Ed’s identity as a live act. Even his family recognises the brand now!”

Speaking through some of the specifics of the array in the Etihad was Audio Systems Engineer, Charlie Albin. “Throughout we have been using Meyer Galaxy processing, which handles all the EQ and delay times for the system,” stated Albin. “We have 10 of them distributed in the racks which we are using in conjunction with SIM 3. Here in Manchester the rear stands are particularly steep and we have had to angle the delays quite notably, but both Chris and I have walk the venue several times and we are really satisfied with the coverage we have achieved.”

To close out the audio conversation, Marsh gave special mention to the tour’s audio supplier, Major Tom. “They have been with us since day one,” began the PM. “Prior to working with Ed I was an employee of theirs. When I first took on Ed there were certainly some sceptical people that questioned my decision to take a risk on this - at the time - unknown act. But there were those who were very supportive and one such group were the Major Tom family.”

POWER & LOGISITICS

The power supplier for the UK was Buffalo Power Services. Production Manager Chris Marsh stated: “I was very impressed with their on-site staff who were always available to help, and their power equipment is always clean and able to provide the correct voltage. It may sound simple but I wish every generator company could do the same!” Collectively, 2 900kVA and 2 400kVA twinsets provided the power with full loadsharing backup. Mark Wright took the role of Head Electrician on behalf of Buffalo.

Within the Sheeran touring unit, each supplier is treated as one of the family, with KB Events owner Stuart McPherson himself going from supplier to full time crewmember. “I’ve been involved with Chris and the rest of the team from the very beginning, hiring them their first truck,” began McPherson. “They have come a long way since those days, as we now have 51 trucks out on this one.”

Along with owning the tour’s trucking vendor, McPherson has a more practical role as touring Transport Manger. “This tour is quite a beast!” he stated. “As well as 21 production trucks we also have 2 sets of 15 trucks running advanced systems for the staging.” For the UK run, the advanced staging team loaded into venues 3 days prior to production rolling in to finish off the build. “There certainly is a lot of leap frogging on this run which is why it was easy for Chris to pass of the logistics side to me so he could concentrate on production.”

McPherson explained how the key to the success came down to one thing, “efficiency”. He elaborated: “With such a large tour it’s easy for cost to get out of hand, from double drives to having to get hotels on a layover day. From the beginning of this tour, both Chris and I have worked closely together to make each move as efficient as possible. We’ve even managed to keep each move to a one driver per truck.”

McPherson continued to give credit to his team who are holding the fort at KB Event HQ. “They are the only reason that I am able to go out on tour. They are all very good at what they do and are keeping everything ticking over while I’m out here. Also the miracle of modern technology means I am able to keep tabs on everything from the road.”

Handling all the freighting side of the tour was logistics specialist Rock- It cargo who handled all the international movements of the tour. “Working with Rock-it Cargo has made dealing with international freight a hassle free experience,” stated Marsh.

No.3 IS NUMBER ONE

Joining the Sheeran ranks again was Charlie Amos’ new company, No.3. “I started out with Ed back in 2014, doing his personal catering, and from there, set up No.3, which has looked after his tours ever since,” stated Amos. “It’s amazing to think I started looking after 15 people a night and now we are feeding up to 220!”

Amos supplied 2 catering teams, all of whom traveled with the advanced staging crews. “We move with them so throughout the build we can keep them all fed and then we stay on site until they load out of any given venue,” stated Amos. Each catering team consisted of a head chef, as well as Amos, to ensure the menus were varied from city to city. “No matter where we are, we always try to use local suppliers to give a flavour of each city to the crew - especially as some time the men and women don’t always get to leave the venues during some of these show.” For example, while in Manchester, Amos brought in a local supplier for the after show meal to supply some local pies and beers. “Dublin was another highlight in terms of providing some of the local delicacies - especially when it came to the black stuff!”

As is now company policy within No.3, each part of the catering equipment had been put together with the road in mind, with a rig that was custom built to move just as easily as another flight case.

NOT DIVIDED, DEFINITELY CONQUERED

With 60,000 excitable Sheeran fans eagerly waiting to hear hits from the singer’s back catalogue, the 27-year-old hit the stage for a 2-hour set that didn’t pull any punches. From his ballads to hip-hop inspired tracks, Sheeran certainly proved how he has earned his place at the forefront of 2018’s jam-packed summer of stadium shows. With the end of the UK leg drawing to a close, the production has its sights set on mainland Europe, before heading out on a North American leg for the rest of the year.

TPi Photos: Lee Allan • www.leeallenphotography.com www.edsheeran.com www.markcunniffe.com www.majortom.cc www.coloneltomtouring.com www.lcr-rental.com www.momentfactory.com www.weareshop.co.uk www.kbevent.com www.buffalopower.co.uk www.rockitcargo.com www.taittowers.com