Ed Sheeran's Loop Tour Premieres in Perth with Ambitious Solo Performance
Before Ed Sheeran even stepped onto the stage at Optus Stadium in Perth, his journey to stardom was already unfolding on the giant screen. A pre-recorded video narrated his rise from an acoustic singer-songwriter in Suffolk, setting the tone for an evening that blended personal storytelling with grand spectacle. As the screen cut, a hidden platform emerged from the crowd, and Sheeran launched into the scrappy, self-made anthem You Need Me, I Don't Need You from 2011, a pointed opener that underscored his independent ethos.
The Premise and Challenges of the Loop Tour
The Loop tour, which is set to travel to North America after its debut in Australia and New Zealand, revolves around Sheeran performing alone using a loop pedal. This technique, which he has favoured since his teenage years, involves layering guitar, percussion, and vocals in real time to build songs live. While watching this creative process is part of the charm, it also presents a significant challenge: keeping 55,000 attendees engaged throughout a lengthy performance.
Over the course of a two-hour-and-45-minute set, Sheeran powered through 29 songs, drawing from his 2025 album Play and his extensive 15-year career. He moved dynamically between the main stage and a separate platform connected by a retractable bridge, with hyperactive visuals flooding the screen—featuring balloons, dragons, and even Justin Bieber in a monkey suit—alongside occasional pyrotechnic flourishes.
Highlights and Technical Hiccups
After the energetic opener, Sheeran delved into familiar territory with tracks like Sapphire from Play and the nostalgic Castle on the Hill, during which he encouraged the audience to jump along. He praised Perth's enthusiastic crowd, noting that cities like Perth and Brisbane often set the tone for his tours. The use of the loop station to assemble songs live was genuinely impressive, but the stadium's acoustics soon revealed limitations. During quieter moments, such as The A Team, vocals echoed with a heavy delay, muddying what should have been intimate highlights.
At times, the audience experienced an unintended looped soundscape, which proved distracting during softer songs and between-song banter. To counter this, Sheeran incorporated audience requests via a QR code shared before the show, pulling out deeper cuts like The City (2011), Visiting Hours (2021), and Supermarket Flowers (2017).
Collaborations and Romantic Core
The show gained momentum when Irish folk band Beoga joined Sheeran on stage, bringing fiddle, accordion, and percussion to give the looping rig a rest. Tracks like Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan felt loose and airborne, with the crowd cheering as Sheeran spotted Irish flags and a fan's sign reading, "I busked to afford a ticket." A brisk medley of songs he has written for other artists followed, showcasing his vast songwriting reach.
The night then settled into its romantic core, with Thinking Out Loud and Perfect prompting massive sing-alongs and even an on-the-spot proposal. Sheeran slipped comfortably into this role, though the sound issues occasionally blunted the intimacy these songs rely on. Throughout, he remained an engaging presence, but small wobbles—such as missed cues and a faulty pedal—were noticeable in a performance so dependent on precision.
Encore and Final Impressions
The encore leaned into familiarity and spectacle, with the crowd erupting for Shape of You, dancing to the 2025 track Azizam, and ending with a pyro display during Bad Habits. This big, noisy signoff provided a thrilling conclusion, yet the quieter ambitions of the Loop tour proved harder to execute in such a vast venue. Overall, Sheeran's Perth debut was an assured stadium outing, navigating teething issues with crowd-pleasing energy and technical ambition.
