Chronicling Ed Sheeran

On Tuesday night we both had the absolute pleasure of attending a secret Ed Sheeran gig after Liz won a double pass to the I Heart Radio show through Kiis fm. Having loved Ed's  music since his debut album ‘+’ in 2011, and having already been to his sold out Sydney concert last year, we were ecstatic that he was coming back to promote his latest album ‘x’ and we had the highly sought after tickets. The arrangement of the secret shows was inspired by the title of his new album, in that Ed would play at a very small venue, such as a lucky fan’s house in Melbourne, then multiply the number of concert goers two more times at other venues. Our concert was the third and final big Australian show, after he had played in Melbourne the day before.

After some schedule shuffling, we cleared our afternoon to prepare to line up and hopefully get front and centre at the gig. The idea was that we wouldn’t receive confirmation of the time or venue until a couple of hours prior to the concert. Though, being as eager and excited as we were, we tried our luck at emailing and seeing if we could find out the details a little bit earlier, and it worked! The venue was Paddington Town Hall and having already had uni classes in the city, we headed there as soon as we could. After arriving five and a half hours prior to when the show was expected to commence, it made sense that we were the second in line. In front of us were two other fans who were equally as excited and ended up bonding with us over our mutual love for Ed.

Fast-forward five and a half hours of standing/sitting/talking/eating/boredom/ excitement and rage at people trying to push in line, we were finally let through the doors and rushed to the front of the stage. About an hour later Ed walked on stage with the only forms of backup he needs: his guitar and loop pedal. He kicked off the show with an extended version of crowd favourite 'You Need Me, I Don't Need You' which left all the wannabe rappers in the crowd out of breath by its end. Ed then announced that if anyone had a curfew or other plans that night, well too bad, because he would be playing for as long as he liked as this was his final show in the country, suiting us just fine. He performed an array of songs to around 700 fans, ranging from classics from his debut album, a Nina Simone cover and his chart topping ballad 'I See Fire' from the latest Hobbit film. He also threw in some exclusive tracks from his soon-to-be released album including the somewhat scandalous 'Sing', 'Take it Back', and a personal favourite, the tear invoking 'Tenerife Sea'. 

One of the most mesmerising moments was when he unplugged his microphone and guitar and stood at the front of the stage (close enough to touch) and played a couple of songs to a crowd who were in complete silence. The show lasted for 90 minutes and ended with the crowd continually singing a line from "Sing" whilst Ed left the stage until the lights came back up and it was apparent that there would be no encore. The whole show in itself was fulfilling enough that the crowd was happy enough to move on out. This has definitely got to be one of the most amazing concerts we have been to and the sheer talent and range of Ed Sheeran will surely be difficult to forget. The above photographs are evidence enough of the perfection we experienced that night.

♫ ♪ One - Ed Sheeran ♫ ♪ 

Chronicling Passenger

As you may have guessed by the obvious title and images, Liz dropped any set plans as she headed to the northern boardwalk of the Sydney Opera House to see Passenger perform a free busking gig. As a self-confessed Passenger fanatic and beard lover, it was not an option to miss this rare opportunity, with Liz arriving in town before the destination was even announced. 

The location was picture-perfect with Sydney’s finest weather emerging for the talented singer with the luscious beard. As Liz walked around the sails to see the stage hours before he was scheduled to perform, her eagerness proved to be beneficial when Mike himself was doing a sound check. Her awkward attempt to avoid annoying him and asking for a photo were surely squashed when he casually started talking to his dedicated fans and playing the likes of Bruce Springsteen to test the amplification of his inimitable voice.

When it finally came to his time to perform, the crowd had multiplied with hundreds flocking to the picturesque location. Despite the large numbers, you could hear a pin drop amongst the mesmerized audience. Mike’s ridiculously mellow attitude and hilarious sarcasm brought laughter out of the polite bunch. Not one person sat during the entire 60 minute set, with some fans originating from his busking days in Pitt Street Mall. Mike’s husky vocals and acoustic set made the crowd fall even more in love with the lyrical genius. He sang many new songs set to be released in his upcoming album, Whispers, a perfect progression from All the Little Lights.

If one thing came out of today, it was that Passenger is a rare talent that has somehow remained humble and grateful to all of his fans. If anything, today made everyone slightly depressed that we all still have to wait until June 10^th to get our hands on his new album. Let’s all just keep our fingers crossed that this lyrical genius will bring his Whispers tour down under at the end of the year as we await for dates to be confirmed...

P.S. We just added the image Passenger uploaded onto his Facebook, that Liz managed to just scrape into!
P.P.S. Passenger also commented to Liz about this blog post!! *insert high pitched squeal*

♫ ♪ Whispers - Passenger  ♪♫