Last year, flame-haired singer Ed Sheeran opened for Snow Patrol. Judging by the phenomenal box-office demand for these three back to back O2 shows as Sheeranmania completely gripped Dublin, you could now arguably reverse the roles.
Sheeeran is far more successful in Ireland than any other territory. His debut album + has gone seven times platinum here and even topped the charts yet again in the run up to these shows – a full seventy weeks after its initial release. The doom and gloom merchants may believe that the music industry is in the toilet, but the likes of Sheeran and Adele are soaring.
The charismatic carrot-topped singer explains that somewhere along the way he meant to get a band, but that hasn’t happened as yet. Here he is playing his biggest show to date – times three.
Twelve thousand fans wave their arms in unison with their phones aloft, looking like a surreal army of neon electric eels. Sheeran stuns them with his repertoire of compositions, which are a simple but highly effective amalgamation of folk, pop, soul and rap.
There’s a sprinkling of covers including Nina Simone’s ‘Be My Husband’. Sheeran instructs the faithful to check out the original. Whatever way you look at it, it’s great that there’s going to be a few new Nina Simone fans this week on the back of this choice of cover.
It’s very much a family affair, as Ed gives a shout out to his Irish grandparents and family, mentioning a Planxty show that his Dad brought him to in The Point.
Between his Celtic heritage and inspiration from his musical hero Damien Rice, Sheeran might as well be one of our own, tying a tricolor to his microphone stand and lapping up all the love and affection.
It took Rice years to get to a similar position, but Sheeran has probably eclipsed it already. Maybe the gingers will inherit the earth after all.