What happens when one of the biggest pop stars turns Chicago Theatre into the equivalent of a large living room? Sad hour, happy hour, profuse sharing, respectfulness and a few surprises — all courtesy of Ed Sheeran, who Friday played the sold-out venue.
The British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran opened two nights in Chicago with a concert at the Chicago Theatre on July 28, 2023.
Even if you think that you’ve never heard Sheeran, you probably have — in a store, via social media, on the radio, on a restaurant patio, in a television show. He’s ubiquitous. In the past decade, he smashed numerous streaming records, established a new tour-sales gross milestone and won Grammy Awards. He appeared in “Game of Thrones,” “The Simpsons,” “Bridget Jones’s Baby” and the Beatles-centric film “Yesterday.
Dressed in a black T-shirt and black pants, his red hair slightly tousled and feet tucked into a pair of yellow Air Jordans, Sheeran looked more like a high school gym teacher than a global phenomenon. His disposition — unpretentious, mellow, sincere, with a dash of dry English humor — underscored his seeming normalcy. Sheeran never boasted or vogued; he refrained from irony, praised contemporaries and credited his parents for setting a good example.
Armed with an acoustic guitar and looping pedal, and flying solo for more than half the concert, Sheeran got people to pause and listen — and be present. The polite tenor matched the overall mildness and tenderness of the music. Basic and minimalist, it didn’t demand much even when broadened with chamber accents or light grooves.
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