{"id":236078,"date":"2026-01-16T08:42:10","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:42:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/236078\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T08:42:10","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T08:42:10","slug":"ed-sheeran-fans-excited-for-premiere-show-in-auckland-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/236078\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran fans excited for premiere show in Auckland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUPCOL_Media_jfif.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"Ginger-nuts are among those queuing ahead of Ed Sheeran's Auckland concert today\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nGinger-nuts are among those queuing ahead of Ed Sheeran&#8217;s Auckland concert today<br \/>\nPhoto: Gill Bonnett\n<\/p>\n<p>Ed Sheeran fans are converging on Go Media Stadium in Auckland for the premiere of his worldwide tour.<\/p>\n<p>The record-breaking British musician is playing two shows in Auckland, on Friday night and Saturday, before heading to Wellington and Christchurch the following week.<\/p>\n<p>Fans going to tonight&#8217;s show say it&#8217;s exciting to be at the first concert of his Loop Tour.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUPCOL_Media_1_jfif.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"British pop star Ed Sheeran is opening requests for songs on the new large video screen in the South Auckland stadium.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nBritish pop star Ed Sheeran is opening requests for songs on the new large video screen in the Auckland stadium.<br \/>\nPhoto: Gill Bonnett\n<\/p>\n<p>Sheeran, known for his cameos in TV and film as well as his music, made his acting debut in Auckland more than a decade ago when he starred in an episode of Shortland Street.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4K4B7P5_Credit_Mark_Surridge_2743_jpg.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"699\" alt=\"British pop star Ed Sheeran on stage with his arms wide open, mic in left hand and guitar slung on shoulder.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nBritish pop star Ed Sheeran is playing the first show of his Loop Tour in Auckland tonight.<br \/>\nPhoto: Supplied \/ Mark Surridge\n<\/p>\n<p>Since then, his chart hits have gone from strength-to-strength, including breaking records for top 10 hits and sales. A single from his album \u00f7, &#8220;Perfect&#8221;, reached number one in the US, Australia, and the UK<\/p>\n<p>Auckland deputy mayor Desley Simpson says an estimated 80-thousand fans will see him in Auckland alone, with the largest video screen ever built in New Zealand also taking centre stage.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/4JUPCOL_Media_3_jfif.jpeg\" width=\"1050\" height=\"787\" alt=\"Bird is one of the concerts opening acts.\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"photo-captioned__information\">\nBiird is one of the concerts opening acts.<br \/>\nPhoto: Gill Bonnett\n<\/p>\n<p>Special event buses have been laid on leaving from Quay Street in the city centre.<\/p>\n<p>Fans are being encouraged to set out early, with traffic building before the gates opened at 4pm.<\/p>\n<p>Sheeran will wrap up the New Zealand leg of his tour with a show at Wellington&#8217;s Sky Stadium on 21 January and two shows at Christchurch&#8217;s Apollo Projects Stadium on 24 and 25 January.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/radionz.us6.list-manage.com\/subscribe?u=211a938dcf3e634ba2427dde9&amp;id=b3d362e693\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ginger-nuts are among those queuing ahead of Ed Sheeran&#8217;s Auckland concert today Photo: Gill Bonnett Ed Sheeran fans&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[48,47,156,157,111,43,139,69,49,46,44,45],"class_list":{"0":"post-236078","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-new-zealand","13":"tag-news","14":"tag-newzealand","15":"tag-nz","16":"tag-podcasts","17":"tag-public-radio","18":"tag-radio-new-zealand","19":"tag-rnz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}