Ed Sheeran breaks attendance record at Levi’s Stadium
Ed Sheeran paused to remember how it all started, thinking back to the time he launched “The A Team” in an English pub and no one paid attention.
Of course, that song ended up being a game-changer for the British singer-songwriter, launching him on a career that would result in fame, fortune and, on Saturday night (September 16), the largest crowd ever assembled . at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara.
“It’s crazy now to have 80,000 people singing ‘The A Team’ to me,” remarked Sheeran, who said he was informed by stadium officials before taking the stage that his show had established the all-time attendance record at the home of the San Francisco 49ers.
The previous record for concerts was set in June 2015 by Fare Thee Well: Celebrating 50 Years of the Grateful Dead, which featured surviving members of the Dead and other musicians long associated with the group and drew nearly of 76,000 people every other night. nights. WrestleMania, also from 2015, held the overall mark for a single event with around 77,000 attendees — that is, until Sheeran stepped in and put his name on the record.
Compare these numbers with what was seen at the two previous big shows at Levi’s in 2023 – Taylor Swift in July and Beyoncé in August – which attracted approximately 58,000 and 50,000 people, respectively. (Swift performed two shows at the stadium, so her total attendance was around 116,000 people.)
Regardless, the crowd that turned out at the Bay Area stop on Sheeran’s +–=÷× tour (aka the Mathematics Tour) was absolutely massive – probably ranking among the biggest crowds to have ever attended a non-festival concert in the Bay Area. history.
What makes the attendance figure even more incredible is that this wasn’t a legendary rock band with a massive stage production like U2 or a superstar pop group like Beyoncé, touring with Backup dancers, costume changes and plenty of bells and whistles. Instead, it was mostly about one guy and his guitar, singing well-written songs in a way that would easily translate to a theater or club setting.
Indeed, Sheeran performed a small-venue concert at Oakland’s Fox Theater on Friday night, and the musical experience probably wasn’t all that different than at Levi’s. The women’s toilet lines, however, were probably very different.
Sheeran performed “in the round,” which meant fans could sit on all sides of the stadium and still see what was happening on stage. This setup sells many more tickets than you get with a traditional setup (like the one used by Swift and Beyoncé), where a huge stage is pushed to one side of the stadium floor and renders thousands of seats unsellable.
Sheeran’s tour setup was fairly utilitarian in design, offering little more than a stage that rotated, as the singer himself put it, “like a giant lazy Susan” so fans could have different views throughout the night.
Sheeran roamed the stage like a caged cat, moving just for the sake of moving, while chatting with the crowd and singing along to all of his biggest hits for about two hours and 15 minutes on stage.
The show got off to a pretty energetic start as Sheeran and his band members – each stationed on their own small satellite stage on the stadium floor – kicked off their set with “Tides” and then moved into a version of “Blow” which seemed huge. and dramatic enough to be the finale of the show.
Then, just two songs into the set, Sheeran gave his fellow musicians a break and continued solo. Yet there didn’t seem to be just one guy on stage, as Sheeran used his loop station to simulate the sounds of an entire band.
Knowing that those who had never seen him perform live before might be wondering what was going on, Sheeran took the time to explain how he was able to use his pedals to record several samples live – a riff some fast guitar here, some hand percussion there, new layers of vocal melodies, etc. – then everything in a loop. The end result came across as a mini-army of Sheerans all working at the same time to produce fully fleshed out group material.
Some of the best tracks of the evening came during this solo segment, including standout versions of “Shivers” and “Castles on the Hill.”
However, as the solo act started to get a little tired, Sheeran called the rest of the group members back to their individual stages and ran through fan favorites like “Galway Girl.”
“Now we’re getting into the part of the concert where the real singing starts,” said Sheeran, who was wearing a Santa Clara T-shirt. “Santa Clara, if you don’t know the words to this next song, then you’re at the wrong concert.”
Apparently, everyone was indeed at the right concert because they all knew the lyrics to “Thinking Out Loud” and they would prove it when Sheeran performed the number with his band. Then it was time for more solo work, as the star delivered some of her most poignant tracks of the evening, including a version of her best song, the beautiful love song “Photograph.”
Sheeran closed the show with “Afterglow” before making his return – in a 49ers shirt – for an encore including “Shape of You”.
Gam
