Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour Launches in Perth with Ambitious Solo Show
Ed Sheeran kicked off his highly anticipated Loop tour in Perth, Australia, delivering a one-man stadium spectacle that combined pyrotechnics, hyperactive visuals, and a few technical hiccups. The British singer-songwriter performed for a crowd of 55,000 at Optus Stadium, navigating the challenges of his signature looping technique in an ambitious two-hour-and-45-minute set.
A Self-Made Manifesto and Looping Mastery
Before Ed Sheeran even appeared on stage, a pre-recorded video narrated his rise from an acoustic singer-songwriter in Suffolk to global stardom. He then emerged on a hidden platform, launching into the scrappy, self-referential track You Need Me, I Don't Need You from 2011. This opener set the tone for the Loop tour, which relies heavily on Sheeran's use of a loop pedal to layer guitar, percussion, and vocals live.
Throughout the performance, Sheeran moved between a main stage and a separate platform connected by a retractable bridge. A giant screen displayed vibrant visuals, including balloons, dragons, and even Justin Bieber in a monkey suit, complemented by occasional pyrotechnic flourishes. The setlist spanned 29 songs, drawing from his 2025 album Play and his 15-year career, with early highlights like Sapphire and the nostalgic Castle on the Hill.
Technical Challenges and Intimate Moments
While watching Sheeran assemble songs live with the loop station was impressive, the stadium's acoustics presented issues. During quieter numbers such as The A Team, vocals echoed with a heavy delay, muddying what should have been intimate moments. This soundscape problem proved distracting, especially during between-song banter and softer tracks.
To engage the audience, Sheeran shared a QR code before the show for fan requests, incorporating deeper cuts like The City (2011), Visiting Hours (2021), and Supermarket Flowers (2017). The performance lifted notably when Irish folk band Beoga joined him on stage, adding fiddle, accordion, and percussion to tracks like Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan, providing a welcome break from the looping rig.
Romantic Core and Spectacular Finale
The night settled into its romantic core with sing-alongs to Thinking Out Loud and Perfect, which even prompted an on-the-spot proposal from a fan. Sheeran slipped comfortably into this role, though sound issues occasionally blunted the intimacy these songs rely on. Despite being an engaging presence throughout, small wobbles such as missed cues and a faulty pedal highlighted the precision-dependent nature of the show.
The encore leaned into familiarity and spectacle, with the crowd erupting for Shape of You, dancing to the 2025 track Azizam, and ending with a pyro display during Bad Habits. This big, noisy signoff demonstrated the tour's ambitious scale, though the quieter, looping elements remained challenging to perfect in such a vast venue.
Overall Impressions and Future Prospects
Ed Sheeran's Loop tour debut in Perth was a crowd-pleasing affair that showcased his technical prowess and vast songwriting reach, including a medley of tracks he wrote for other artists. However, the technical hiccups and acoustic limitations underscored the difficulties of translating a intimate looping setup to a stadium environment. As the tour heads to North America, these teething issues may be refined, but for now, the show stands as a bold, if occasionally flawed, experiment in solo performance.
