{"id":251354,"date":"2026-01-25T17:47:27","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:47:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251354\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T17:47:27","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T17:47:27","slug":"ed-sheeran-poured-it-all-into-his-first-christchurch-gig-in-11-years-literally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/251354\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Sheeran poured it all into his first Christchurch gig in 11 years – literally"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m going to be 100% transparent right now and say that I AM writing this with still-pruned fingers after attending Ed Sheeran\u2019s first Christchurch show in 11 years – and I wouldn\u2019t have it any other way.<\/p>\n

If this is a review where you\u2019re expecting videos and photos of the most extravagant moments, I\u2019m sorry, but you\u2019ve come to the wrong place. This review is simply about vibes.<\/p>\n

Not just because it was bucketing down and my fingers couldn\u2019t function on my phone screen to hit record, but because the experience is what made the whole show – and it was one of the best \u2018live in the moment\u2019 times of my 25 years.<\/p>\n

If we\u2019re talking about the bridge that scaled across the mosh pit<\/a>, or the sheer number of guitars Ed Sheeran uses on stage, Auckland and Wellington, you got the best of that. We, however, got a hilarious bridge fail that resulted in Ed staying longer on the middle stage (we can\u2019t complain), and two guitars left standing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never seen a puddle on my set list before,\u201d Ed joked mid-show.<\/p>\n

For his first gig in \u014ctautahi in over a decade, it was many firsts for CHCH kids – some who weren\u2019t even alive for some of his first hits from his \u2018+\u2019 album back in 2011.<\/p>\n

But still, whether it was a first, second or fourth time seeing the redhead legend, not even the rain could keep us from having a good time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to address the elephant in the room,\u201d Ed said to the crowd.<\/p>\n

\u201cThank you so much for waiting in the rain up until now. It\u2019s nice to know that New Zealand summer is the same as British summer – I feel at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the one thing I realised, \u2019cause I do a lot of outdoor shows and a lot of those outdoor shows end up being in the rain – whenever it rains, the gigs are always WAY better.<\/p>\n

And the reason they\u2019re way better is that when we\u2019re soaked, we go, \u2018I gotta have fun now.\u2019 And I promise you, this show, I can feel the energy just looking out at people. You don\u2019t look miserable and wet.<\/p>\n

And you know what? He was 100% right. We might\u2019ve had cold hands and water dripping from our foreheads, but to see the sheer number of people embracing the weather, phones away, and enjoying each other\u2019s company was something I\u2019d never experienced before.<\/p>\n

I debated even writing this review, but if it wasn\u2019t for the lovely lady Gail and her partner, who were sitting next to me, my experience could have been cut short.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

We spent the night singing, dancing and chatting – bonding over an artist who might be the only solo artist thousands would continue to push through three hours of rain for.<\/p>\n

Even right up until the last encore track, \u2018Bad Habits\u2019, we got up from our seats to show support for an artist who loves us right back.<\/p>\n

So much so, if he hadn\u2019t married his childhood sweetheart, he\u2019d probably be calling this place home.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s anything to take away from Ed\u2019s performance, it\u2019s this: he shows up for his fans, and his fans show up for him.<\/p>\n

Ed\u2019s final \u2018Loop Tour\u2019 NZ show is tomorrow night at Apollo Projects Stadium in Christchurch, and he admits it\u2019s \u201cgoing to be a while\u201d before he\u2019s back.<\/p>\n

So enjoy him while we have him – rain or shine.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I\u2019m going to be 100% transparent right now and say that I AM writing this with still-pruned fingers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":251355,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,157,111,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-251354","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-music","10":"tag-new-zealand","11":"tag-newzealand","12":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251354","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=251354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/251354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/251355"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=251354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=251354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=251354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}