{"id":478694,"date":"2026-02-14T03:47:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:47:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478694\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T03:47:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T03:47:09","slug":"superstar-opens-loop-tour-in-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/478694\/","title":{"rendered":"Superstar opens Loop tour in Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kate Prendergast<\/p>\n

February 14, 2026 \u2014 10:20am<\/p>\n

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MUSIC
ED SHEERAN: LOOP TOUR
Accor Stadium, February 13
Until February 15
Reviewed by KATE PRENDERGAST
\u2605\u2605\u2605\u00bd<\/p>\n

Britain\u2019s biggest male pop star opens his new Loop tour with You Need Me, I Don\u2019t Need You. Despite the passive-aggressive shade, the crowd gets on side from the get-go. \u201cSee, I\u2019m real, I do it all, it\u2019s all me,\u201d he brags. (Of his many genre dalliances, one wishes he\u2019d avoid rap.)<\/p>\n

It takes a second to realise Ed Sheeran has made his entrance: he\u2019s popped up on a circular plinth on the arena floor. Against the screen visuals \u2013 high-definition, wildly immersive and stylistically adaptive to the eclectic set list \u2013 it can be easy to overlook the relative homunculus, a ginger-topped, one-man band with his magical layering loop pedal and trusty acoustic guitar.<\/p>\n

\"EdEd Sheeran is a phenomenon driven by his own self-belief. Brett Costello<\/p>\n

Fireworks (timed with, for example, Sapphire), flame jets (I See Fire etc) and a glittering retractable bridge connecting front to centre stage add further swagger to this blockbuster event. (With tickets from $150 up, you\u2019d better hope for pyrotechnics.)<\/p>\n

Sheeran is a phenomenon \u2013 he\u2019s built it, he\u2019s got the widely appealing voice for it, and he knows it. In lyrics and production, the sheer force of his stardom as \u201cone of the lads turned self-made king\u201d looms and imposes.<\/p>\n

Over two-and-a-half hours, he\u2019s joined by a small army of digital doppelgangers: futuristic Russian Doll Sheerans, disintegrating Sheerans, collaging live-streamed Sheerans.<\/p>\n

IRL Sheeran sticks largely to the public 29-track set list, with a few requests added in the middle. Just six come from 2025\u2019s Play, an anodyne rehashing, with the exception of Sapphire and Azizam, irresistibly catchy in their Eastern-influenced beats.<\/p>\n

For all the spectacle and sentiment, dissonance keeps a-jangling.<\/p>\n

The 70,000 assembled fans \u2013 mums and daughters, couples and families \u2013 are guaranteed to tick off multiple faves from a chart-topping canon.<\/p>\n

However, for all the spectacle and sentiment, dissonance keeps a-jangling. Sonically, this is most acute when Sheeran briefly welcomes a live band, starting with the diddly stomp-clap Galway Girl. The instruments frequently slosh in confusion, the stadium roaring like a huge watery heart.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Mark<\/a><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the moment Sheeran asks us to take a flash photograph in time with the very lyric: \u201cI don\u2019t need a camera to capture this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

And, of course, there\u2019s dissonance in the fact that one of the world\u2019s most famous singer-songwriters opens ballads with \u201cWhen your legs don\u2019t work like they used to before\u201d. But that\u2019s well-worn grist. For Loop, we came, we felt, we got queue-jammed on the return trains.<\/p>\n

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