Pictures of Ed Sheeran performing to fans at Dubai Media City Amphitheatre in Dubai.
ocamcho@thenational.ae
Updated: March 07, 2015, 12:00 AM
Ed Sheeran’s Dubai concert - in pictures
Utilising his trademark loop station to spellbinding effect — a device which allows him to layer his guitar and vocal parts on top of one-another, essentially sampling himself live — Sheeran can flit from intimate troubadour to full-on freak out with the step of a button. Sarah Dea / The National
Most reaction however goes to the balladeer Ed, the sensitive boy-next-door of Lego House, Kiss Me and set-closer Give Me Love, all received amid torrents of hyperventilating teenage squeals. Sarah Dea / The National
“If you don’t know this next song thank you for coming, but I don’t know why you are here,” said Sheeran, introducing debut single The A Team, a class singalong that felt like a love song, scarily devoid of any empathy for the tragic tail that inspired it. Grown women ran back to their places for last year’s soppy UK No 1 Thinking out Loud, a sole outing on a clean electric guitar. Sarah Dea / The National
There cannot have been a better time for Dubai to catch Sheeran’s meteoric rise. Recently named the most-streamed artist of 2014 by Spotify, just eight days earlier he picked up another two Brit Awards (British Album of the Year and Best British Male Artist, so kind of the big ones). Sarah Dea / The National
Sheeran has moved the hackneyed genre of one-guy-and-a-guitar into the 21st century with a mix of contemporary influences and technology — namely, hip-hop sensibilities and mastering the myriad possibilities of live looping. Sarah Dea / The National