Ed Sheeran overcomes technical issues at incredible Auckland show

Review: Ed Sheeran made one thing clear at his first Auckland gig at Eden Park – he’s an extremely talented professional who won’t let technical difficulties ruin a good time.

But more on that later.

Sheeran loves New Zealand, and has spent the last three weeks making surprise appearances at Hobbiton, the Hamilton Gardens and a couple of Auckland intermediate schools.

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Perhaps one of the reasons he’s been here so long is to get to grips with his enormous set, a 360 degree circular stage under a wraparound floating screen, with a number of huge red pillars anchored by mini stages for Sheeran’s band to play on.

Dangling off the pillars are massive screens shaped like guitar picks. They form the image of a spider hanging over the audience, creating the feeling of not just watching the show but being immersed in it.

Sheeran had two openers. The first was Kaylee Bell, a country singer from Waimate, a small town in the South Island.

Despite not knowing her songs, she was still a fun watch, and it takes guts to perform to a stadium that’s only a quarter full.

Eden Park started to fill up for the next act, 22-year-old UK singer Maisie Peters, who teased the crowd with a few singles from her upcoming album.

Peters was small, but her voice and stage presence was mighty. A few quips about how she felt at home in Eden Park because she was “built like a rugby player” helped her woo the Kiwi crowd.

After Peters’ 11 song set, the countdown to the main event began.

Sheeran emerged through a platform lifting him up from underneath the stage, wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with ‘Auckland’.

From his arrival, it was clear this was going to be a show on a scale like no other, and with each song came a new colour scheme, lighting, fire and a sprinkle of pyrotechnics.

Sheeran did what he knows the crowd wants him to do – he played his hits and sprinkled in personal anecdotes about the songs in between, with New Zealand references for good measure.

“In 2013 I was in Ibiza, and I got an email asking me if I could be in New Zealand in the next 24 hours,” he said. “I was then involved in a project that was one of the top three things to happen in my career.”

With that, Sheeran launched into I See Fire, a song written for the soundtrack of the 2013 film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

Sheeran was in the middle of Bloodstream when a crackling started to play over the speaker, getting louder and more jarring as the song went on, until the singer was forced to stop.

For the next 30 minutes, the crowd passed the time with a Mexican wave, unbothered about the intermission.

After having two more tries at Bloodstream, the crackling wouldn’t stop, and Sheeran had no choice but to strip it back and play the rest of the set just him and his guitar.

He was visibly gutted at his technical difficulties and explained there was something in his loop pedal, which he uses to create the effect of a band.

“We are going to end the gig in a special way with lots of songs that weren’t meant to be sung,” he announced.

He kicked into Afterglow, and it’s just as good as any of the songs he’s played that evening.

For the final song of the night, You Need Me, I Don’t Need You, Sheeran sheepishly said there were going to be fireworks, but admitted they may be “a bit anticlimactic now” due to his acoustic version.

But the crowd didn’t care, and the show ended with a literal bang.

Aside from the technical difficulties, the show was flawless. Sheeran proved himself to be a professional, talented showman who looked like he was having the time of his life.

Let’s hope he’s managed to get a new loop pedal in time for Saturday night’s gig, but if not, an all-acoustic set wouldn’t be the end of the world.