Ed Sheeran has announced an array of worldwide tour dates including dates across the UK and Scotland. This will include Ed’s return to London The O2 for two nights on May 1st and 2nd, marking his first shows in the capital since his record-breaking stint at Wembley Stadium in July 2015.
The news comes straight off the back of a phenomenal few weeks for 25-year-old Ed Sheeran. Kicking-off music in 2017 and delivering the biggest musical comeback in recent years, Ed’s dual singles “Shape Of You” and “Castle On The Hill” have taken the globe by storm, hitting the #1 and #2 spots across the charts worldwide while seeing the Suffolk native break a magnitude of records along the way. On course to cement his third week at #1 & #2 respectively in the UK’s Official Singles Chart tomorrow [Ed made OCC history as the first-ever artist to land the two spots respectively with two brand new tracks], Ed recently conquered more milestones in the USA after landing his first-ever #1 as a performer on the Billboard Hot 100 with “Shape Of You” – with “Castle On The Hill” sitting closely behind at #6 on the chart, Ed also became the first artist to debut in Billboard’s ‘Top 10’ with two songs simultaneously. Not to mention the huge assortment of Spotify records broken by the troubadour this month, making history with their biggest-ever ‘one week’ and ‘one day’ streams for a track, globally with “Shape Of You” (the records were previously held by Drake’s “One Dance” and Adele’s “Hello”, respectively). Moreover, Ed topped the streaming service’s biggest-ever opening 24 hour streams with both singles, surpassing previous title holders, One Direction. Reaching 132 combined #1 iTunes positions around the world and accomplishing Apple Music’s biggest-ever ‘day’ and ‘one week’ streams, the two singles have accumulated over 370 MILLION worldwide streams to date. Launched on Monday, Ed’s official video for “Castle On The Hill”, which was shot in his native Framlingham, Suffolk, has already reached over 10 million hits!
In addition to Ed’s epic rise with his recorded music, the Suffolk-born artist has also broken records in the live sphere over recent years. In July 2015 Ed took to the stage of Wembley Stadium, solo, becoming the first-ever artist to headline the prestigious venue without a band – with just his trademark loop pedal and guitar – seeing him play to 240,000 people over three consecutive sold-out nights! Securing a very special collaboration with Sir Elton John on the opening night, Ed followed with the release of his live DVD ‘Jumpers for Goalposts’ at the end of 2015, documenting the lead-up and live performances from the Wembley weekend. Moreover, not only has Ed caught the headlines with his phenomenal solo concerts, he’s also been involved in an array of spellbinding collaborative performances over his career to date, further proving his colossal status in the musical world – in 2012, Ed performed at the London Olympics’ closing ceremony alongside members of Pink Floyd and Genesis for a very special version of “Wish You Were Here” and in 2015, Ed shared the stage with Beyonce and Gary Clark Jr. at that year’s Grammy tribute for Stevie Wonder.
Ed Sheeran’s genre-defying third studio album ÷ (divide) will be released on 3rd March through Asylum/Atlantic Records (available to pre-order now).
The UK tour dates are as follows:
April
Sun 16 Scotland Glasgow The SSE Hydro
Mon 17 Scotland Glasgow The SSE Hydro
Wed 19 UK Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Thu 20 UK Newcastle Metro Radio Arena
Sat 22 UK Manchester Arena
Sun 23 UK Manchester Arena
Tue 25 UK Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Wed 26 UK Nottingham Motorpoint Arena
Fri 28 UK Birmingham Barclaycard Arena
Sat 29 UK Birmingham Barclaycard Arena
May
Mon 1 UK London The O2
Tue 2 UK London The O2
Tickets go on general sale on Thursday 2nd Febuary at 10am here.