Ed Sheeran ‘so happy’ to end record-breaking tour with Ipswich homecoming gigs
The singer-songwriter kicked off the first of four gigs in Ipswich on Friday night as he finishes his world tour.
Ed Sheeran kicked off the final shows on his mammoth Divide world tour with a homecoming gig in Ipswich.
The singer-songwriter took to the stage at the Suffolk town’s Chantry Park venue to croon to more than 40,000 fans around 20 miles from his hometown Framlingham.
The first of four shows in Ipswich, it marks the end of his record-breaking tour, which has seen him play more than 250 shows to more than seven million fans since March 2017 and which recently saw him break a record set by U2.
Sheeran, 28, was supported by The Darkness before performing hits including Shape Of You, Castle On The Hill, Beautiful People and You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.
According to the East Anglian Daily Times, the chart-topper told the crowd: “It feels so great to be home, this is wicked.
“This feels really weird and cool to be on stage in a place I was brought up.
“I did do the typical musician thing where you think that you have to move to LA, so I moved to LA and hated everything about it.
“But I’ve lived back here for sort of, like, seven years and I just love being here and I’m so happy to be able to end the tour here.”
Sheeran’s Divide Tour recently became the most attended and highest grossing tour of all time, breaking U2’s record.
It launched on March 16 2017 and is due to end on Monday with his fourth and final show at Chantry Park.
He will have spent 893 days on the road, compared to the 760 days U2 toured.
Sheeran also bested U2’s attendance record of 7.3 million on May 24 in France with a total attendance of 7,315,970.
Before his first Ipswich show on Friday, Sheeran’s local newspaper changed its name for the first time in its 145-year history to honour the star.
The East Anglian Daily Times became the Ed Sheeran Daily Times for one day only.
Sheeran gave one of the shows to all pupils and staff at his former school, Thomas Mills High School in Framlingham.
The star’s latest album No.6 Collaborations Project is currently at the top of the charts for the fifth non-consecutive week.
