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England’s gingerlicious Ed Sheeran hit No. 1 on the iTunes charts before he even had a record deal. We could say we owe Damien Rice for one of the top singer-songwriters on the market today as he is the one who told Sheeran at the age of 10 to write his own music.
Though Damien Rice is the one who pushed the lad to write -- there are many others who fell in love with Ed Sheeran early in his career. Rapper Example saw one of of his videos online and asked him to come to on tour before Jamie Foxx asked him to come on his Sirius show here in the States and helped continue his rise to stardom.
Sheeran is just one of many recent artists who grew into stardom from the online world of videos. He toured early in his career with Snow Patrol, co-wrote for Taylor Swift and even One Direction and eventually went on tour with Swift as well. (Supposedly the rumors about hit "Don’t" being about Swift aren't true -- though now some speculate it was about none other than Ellie Goulding)
Now, just a short few years later, Sheeran headlines for himself filling show after show night after night. And tonight he did it for a sold out crowd at the Marcus Amphitheater.
One man -- Ed Sheeran -- manned the Amp stage all night. People never took their seats once he came out -- in fact, they danced and sang all night long. Earlier concert reviews from this year noted him asking the crowd to just chill with him -- that was not tonight. He encouraged people to sing along from the start -- and to dance however you wanted to dance. Maybe it was the fact this was his last US tour stop -- or maybe it was just that he knew Milwaukee really wanted to celebrate with him -- and his music.
A friend joked to me it was like we were back in the 90's -- a single guy manned the stage in a flannel with a guitar -- and she was right. But the way Sheeran builds a song is captivating and is a completely different feel from the days of old. He starts with a main beat, adds in percussion beats, back beats and more till he gets it where he wants it to be. Then, the ginger lad adds in his English accented voice and eventually the crowd joins in too.
The self proclaimed "acoustic soul" opened the night with "I'm a Mess" and after he shared he did not want us to have the same disappoint that a Winnipeg couple had after a recent show -- he promised that all of this is indeed live and joked there is no backup.
He led the crowd into "Lego House" singing "I'm out of touch, I'm out of love" and the crowd soothed his heartache by loudly joining in. He launched into "Drunk" and then a high energy mashup of "Take It Back" with Stevie Wonder’s Superstition and Bill Withers’s "Ain’t No Sunshine," with him switching seamlessly between two classics and his own new one.
Sheeran quietly sang "One" -- it almost feels like you can see into his soul when he bares himself for the crowd in such an earnest way. Crowd favorite "Photograph" had the crowd singing about love and the mending of souls and the promise of things getting easier. We buy it, Ed -- and we buy you too!
A string of ballads included "Bloodstream" and "Tenerife Sea" before another extraordinary mashup -- this time of "Don't"/ "Loyal"/ "No Diggity"/ "Nina." I have to say that I've always been a fan of Sheeran's heart-opening lyrics -- but the mashups were some of my favorite parts of the night. Not many artists can do them like he did -- and it was all just him on that stage.
The soulful Sheeran led the packed Amp with another cover -- this time "Feeling Good" -- and then "I See Fire" before paying tribute to Stevie Wonder again with "I Was Made To Love Her."
Thousands sang along knowing "they found love right where they are" tonight at the Marcus Amphitheater. You'd be hard pressed to find someone who had their cell phone in their pocket and not waving in the air during "The A Team."
The encore had a long build up as "You Need Me, I Don’t Need You" kicked off a percussion powerhouse of sorts, plus he dropped in a lick from Layla and a taste of 50 Cent’s In Da Club. The Amp was insane with people dancing everywhere -- and no one was leaving their seats early tonight to beat the crowd out.
It's a good thing no one did -- or you'd have missed the Pharell produced "Sing" that had the whole place rocking.
If you hadn't heard of Ed Sheeran before tonight -- you will soon. He could easily keep the crowd entertained with simply his guitar and voice -- that's how damn good he is. He brought hip-hop, heartbreaking ballads and extraordinary beats all night long. And I can't wait to see him all over again.
Carolynn Buser is one of Milwaukee's loudest and most adamant cheerleaders (don't dare try to disagree). She's the primary voice behind much of OnMilwaukee's social media and content direction, and apologizes in advance if she can be too sarcastic at times.
What else? She's a wine lover, closet trashy novel reader, beauty supplies addict and devourer of cheese (shocker for a Wisconsin born and bred girl, right?). She's also a bit of a foodie, which is a word most of you hate, we know. She works as hard as she plays - and that includes in the gym! So, you've probably seen her at one of the area's newest restaurant openings (and yes, she will share her opinions good or bad) or enjoying a cold one at a local pub.
All in all, Carolynn's a believer in positive thinking and will do her best to smack down your negative ones while writing about her city, her loves, quests and more.
