Hi friends, welcome back! Jon and I are huge Ed Sheeran fans and he’s always our go-to artist on road trips. We last saw him in concert in 2018 and were excited to hear he was going on another tour. Tickets went on sale in October 2022 and luckily, I didn’t have any issues like people did with Taylor Swift tickets. A few weeks before the concert I looked up his setlist so I could make sure I knew all the new songs he’d play. Some people like the excitement of not knowing, but I don’t like any kind of surprises. The week leading up to the concert I was getting nervous it would get cancelled because of the smoke from the wildfires, but luckily Saturday was relatively clear and the show could go on.
The night before the concert we watched Ed’s documentary series The Sum of it All on Disney+ but we were unprepared for the emotional roller coaster it took us on! The latest album is more of a diary than hit pop songs, and a very personal record for Ed. His best friend and person who helped start his career passed away unexpectedly and Ed dealt with his grief through writing the songs on his latest album. The documentary also features throwback footage before he made it big and introduced Ed’s wife to his fans. Even with all his immense talent and success, you can tell that he is a genuine and humble person. I’d highly recommend watching the documentary if you’re a fan or just curious.
The concert was at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ about eight miles away from NYC. We were dreading the three train trek out there, but it was surprisingly seamless! I downloaded the NJ Transit app and bought the tickets we would need to avoid having to wait at a kiosk. The first step was taking the subway to Penn Station and from there we miraculously found seats on a train to Secaucus. The train pulled out about five minutes after we sat down, and ten minutes later we were getting off at the first stop in NJ. There were so many transit workers holding signs pointing the way to the Ed Sheeran concert so it was impossible to get lost. We just made it on the final train and it took about twelve very hot minutes to get to the stadium. In total it took about an hour and fifteen minutes from when we left our apartment until when we were in our seats and I was impressed by how painless and smooth the commute was.
We got to our seats right as the second performer, Khalid, went on the stage. He put on a great show and some of his most popular songs are Young, Dumb & Broke, Better, Talk, Location, and he duets in Beautiful People with Ed Sheeran.
At 8:15 Ed came on and the next two plus hours went by way too fast!! He performed mostly by himself and he uses a loop pedal that he plays chords into before each song with his keyboard, guitar, drumming on his guitar, sometimes singing a little, and then it plays on loop until he ends it. He doesn’t save any of it for future shows, it’s all done in the moment making it even more impressive. The loop pedal also builds up the hype for each song because you can start to guess what’s next based on the few notes.
I thought he did a great job mixing the upbeat, slow, new, and old songs and I loved singing along. My top favorite songs that he played are Perfect (our wedding song), Castle on the Hill, Afterglow, Shivers, Bad Habits, and Photograph. He ended with Bad Habits and the loop pedal malfunctioned almost all the way through, so he restarted the song and we got to hear it twice. The place was rocking and it was the perfect ending!
My only complaint about the concert was the stage setup. I get why he would want to be on a circular stage so you can fit more people and maybe be more interactive, but the speakers obstructed the view at times. The following night broke a record with over 89,000 people attending.
After the concert ended, we hurried out to beat the rush. As we were heading towards the line for the train, bus operators were calling out that the bus was faster, had air conditioning, and was free. That sounded good to us so we followed the line to the buses, and it was exactly as advertised. I’m guessing the police had certain streets from the stadium to the train station blocked off because we went directly to the train station without making any stops. We didn’t have long to wait for the train back to NYC and everyone seemed pretty exhausted from the highs of the concert. We got to the subway right as it pulled in and were back home an hour after we got on the bus. I’m usually not impressed with NYC and NJ’s public transportation, but they really did an excellent job getting everyone to and from the concert. If you’re going to MetLife, don’t be intimidated by the multiple modes of transportation to get there because it’s a lot easier than dealing with parking and traffic. Tickets are $11 roundtrip per person, so it’s a great deal compared to an Uber.
We had the best night at the Ed Sheeran concert and are already sad it’s over! I highly recommend seeing him in concert if he’s ever near you, he puts on a great show and his talent is really special to see in person.
