Ed Sheeran – Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA – July 12, 2017 (A PopEntertainment.com Concert R

Updated: Jun 27, 2022

Ed Sheeran – Wells Fargo Center – Philadelphia, PA – July 12, 2017

Ed Sheeran’s Divide tour made a stop in Philadelphia for two nights on July 11th and 12th. With James Blunt as opening act, the crowd warmed up their singing voices as they sang along to one of Blunt’s most famous songs, “You’re Beautiful.” After James Blunt’s 30-minute set it was time for the man of the hour to take the stage.

Sheeran opened his show with one of the first songs that he released from his album Divide, “Castle on the Hill.” This song, a hit on the radio, was a good way to get everyone singing along right from the start. Throughout the night Sheeran played many songs off the new album ranging from “Nancy Mulligan” to “Dive,” along with some of his older music like “Bloodstream” off of his Multiply album and the song that gave him his start, “The A Team.”

Every night Sheeran likes to switch up the setlist just a bit, so in Philly he played a song called “Hearts Don’t Break Around Here,” a song that he had only played live a couple of times. He was very happy to hear the crowd singing the words back to him. There were two mashups during the show, one of his songs, “Don’t” from Multiply and “New Man” which is on Divide. There another mashup of “Feeling Good,” a jazz classic originally sung by Nina Simone, and “I See Fire,” a song that Sheeran wrote for the movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in 2013. An interesting combination, but Sheeran sung and played it beautifully.

After an outfit change into a red Phillies shirt, Sheeran played a two-song encore starting with his most recent single, “Shape of You” and finishing up with one of his older songs called, “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.” An upbeat song where Sheeran raps very quickly as the screens behind him flashes lyrics written in red and white.

Sheeran’s performance style is different from most others on the scene, and that’s what I love most about it. He’s up on stage with his guitar and his loop station, while visual effects play on the screens behind him. No band, no backup singers, it’s all him. He gets the crowd involved by getting everyone to sing along, even if they don’t know the words to the song. The “boy with a one-man-show” has been one of my personal favorites for quite some time now. I can’t wait to see what he does next!

Ruth Bekele