ED SHEERAN F
illing the Stade de France in Paris was a dream of his and he can tick it off of his list now. After performing in several smaller venues like Le Bataclan in 2014, the Zenith of Paris in 2015 and the Accorhotels Arena last year, Ed Sheeran did not fill one but two stadiums in France. On the first date, he confided to the public that this dream of his came up when he saw the French rap band IAM perform there. However, he was told that few international artists could boast of having performed on this legendary stage, the French public being quite difficult to conquer.
After two very successful support acts, Jamie Lawson and Anne-Marie, who, as for her, already had several songs known by the public such as «Ciao Adios», «Friends», or «2002», Ed Sheeran entered the stadium with simplicity. Indeed, it’s without artifices and without musicians that the British singer-songwriter appeared: only him, his guitar, and his pedal loop, which allowed him to play his instrumentals on stage all by himself. Ed Sheeran chose to position “Castle On The Hill” at the top of his setlist: right from the first notes of the single, which had given a taste of his album «Divide», the crowd came alive and sang the chorus at the top of their lungs. Then came «Eraser» and the atmosphere did not weaken, quite the contrary. This is indeed a very energetic track that shows the singer’s talent as a rapper. Our favorite ginger boy continued with «The A Team», the first single from his debut album. Although not everyone is here since day one, this song is still strongly present in everybody’s minds. A magical and intimate moment where we got back to the atmosphere of his first small gigs. A mashup then followed up: «Don’t» / «New Man». It is a quite successful and very effective combination between these two titles that appear respectively on the 2nd and 3rd album of the British prodigy. «Dive» and «Bloodstream» also won unanimous support and the fans were delighted to hear the latest single from the album «Divide», «Happier», performed live. Once again, the audience sang in unison, which Ed Sheeran genuinely loves, seeing his fans react to the rhythm of his melodies. As he says so well, we are not only his audience, we are also his «dancers» and his «backing vocalists».
WORDS AND PHOTOs by DEBORAH GAILLARD WITH LUDIVINE DESUMEUR
