“I thought the music I made was drivel,” said the 24-year-old artist, who just won two trophies at the Brit Awards. Jasper Lucena/ MMI Live
Into just his second song, Ed Sheeran had the feeling that his Manila concert might go down as his “best ever.” He promised the thousands of fans who packed the SM Mall of Asia Arena to the rafters on Friday night, “We’re going to sing a lot, dance a lot, and have the time of our lives.”
The British singer-songwriter didn’t say “scream a lot.” But this is what they did mostly, way before the first note of every number, all through the song, and long after the last chord was strummed.
The dimming of lights that signaled the start of the show swiftly sent a wave of diehards surging toward the stage; those in the lower box seats scampered down the steps to get as close to Sheeran as the barriers permitted.
They leapt, cheered and shrieked their heads off, and Sheeran hadn’t even taken the stage. Could they get any louder? The answer came as soon as Sheeran materialized: They could.
Sheeran, fresh from winning two trophies at this year’s Brit Awards, kicked off the show with “I’m a Mess.” Bedlam. And new synonyms for “deafening” would have to be coined now.
In a red plaid shirt and jeans, Sheeran looked more like he was going “busking,” which was what he did before hitting the big time in 2011 via his highly successful debut album “+” (pronounced “plus”).
“We’re going to have the time of our lives,” Sheeran promises the audience. Jasper Lucena/ MMI Live
Quiet confidence
“Unassuming” was how Sheeran, 24, struck us (we were watching him sing live for the first time). But there was a quiet confidence about him, especially in the way he engaged the audience.
For the entirety of the show (mounted by MMI Live), Sheeran worked the stage alone: No dancers, no props, no backing band. All he had were his acoustic guitars and looping pedals that allowed him to produce multilayered instrumentations by stacking beats upon riffs.
Where percussive sounds were needed, he simply tapped the guitar he was holding.
Storyteller
His voice was gentle, wistful, with the slightest quiver and intermittent breaks that evoked heartbreak or surrender. This he showcased beautifully in his more reverent numbers—“Lego House,” “Tenerife Sea,” “Photograph” and his latest and biggest hit so far, “Thinking Out Loud.” Needless to say, these elicited enthusiastic (again, more synonyms needed here) sing-alongs.
Sheeran is as much a storyteller as a musician. One of his most poignant works to this day is his first hit, “The A Team,” about a young prostitute’s battle with drug addiction. A few seconds in, he asked everyone to light up their phones. It was breathtaking in the darkness.
Earnest melodies
“I thought the music I made was drivel,” he said. “I come from a small town in England, and I never knew that my music could travel as far as the Philippines.”
Although widely popular for no-frills, earnest melodies, Sheeran showed that he could also let loose and have a rockin’ good time. He proved to be a deft singer, going from impassioned crooning to snappy half-raps à la Jason Mraz, to full-on rapping, as he did in a mash-up of “Take It Back” and “Superstition,” which started off, rather self-deprecatingly, with the lines, “I’m not a rapper /I’m a singer with a flow.”
Sheeran, whose second album “x” (pronounced “multiply”) reached No. 1 in at least nine countries, including the United States, brought the house down likewise with frenetic numbers that incorporated rock, hip-hop and varying tempos.
Sheeran jumped atop a box and implored the fans to clap their hands to his mash-up of “Don’t” and “Nina,” and then ferociously strummed away, his body hunched over, in the electrifying “Bloodstream.”
Best reception
Toward the end, it seemed that Sheeran had gone more and more convinced that this concert would go down in his memory as one of the best. He told the fans—teenagers and yuppies who knew every lyric to every song that he performed, “This is honestly, hand on heart, the best reception I’ve ever received, ever.”
Sheeran vowed, “This is my first trip to the Philippines and it definitely won’t be my last. This has been an amazing night!”
On that note, he ended the show with the infectious bop of the soul/dance ditty “Sing,” which had the whole Arena hollering along.
Then lights came back on; Sheeran had already gone. But the crowd stayed put, and simply kept on singing and cheering long after the music stopped blaring.
(E-mail apolicarpio@inquirer.com.ph)