After a lot of persistence, Jo and I were lucky enough to get invites/tickets to Ed Sheeran's invite-only Melbourne show on the 09/11/11 - a massive thank you is owed to Teresa; without her we would have never even gotten this opportunity.
We had a Pharmacy exam the next day, so in the days leading up to the gig we were both studying our butts off so we wouldn't feel guilty at the show. Needless to say, on the morning of the gig I was way too excited to study properly - I somehow managed to read up on Psychology while my brain was elsewhere though.
After cramming the last few pages of notes, we both got ready to leave at 5. Driving to the venue was horrible at that time, we got stuck majorly in peak hour traffic but we managed to arrive at the venue only fifteen minutes late (thanks to Jo's amazing patience and driving skillz.) We also ran into some of Ed's roadies at the front of the venue - I think they were really amused at the fact that we were driving the wrong way down a one-way road and we also had no idea where to park. Woops.
When we finally got inside, Ed was just sitting out the front on a porch and greeted everyone that walked in. I gave a quick 'hi' and Jo a 'welcome to melbourne!' to which he replied with 'thanks for having me.' :)
The venue was gorgeous. There were lanterns and shorts hanging from the timber ceiling, rugs on the floor and flowers on the tables. The bar was also really pretty.
After the support act finished, a woman from The Big Issue encouraged everyone to support the efforts of all The Big Issue sellers in Melbourne (we all got Big Issue badges at the beginning of the show and donated gold coins to the cause.) Then it was time for Ed Sheeran to come on.
He started off by saying how much he loved Australia, and asked if there were any Australian government officials in the room because he wants Australian citizenship.
U.N.I is about one of his relationships where it no longer worked out, despite both of them willing it to, because of the long-distance they had to endure when they both moved to different universities.
Kiss Me was so beautiful. He wrote it as a wedding song for his godmother and godfather. They're getting married this year.
He introduced Small Bump as a sad song that's one of his favourites off the album. You could really feel his emotion while he was singing it, and it was one of my favourite songs that he performed that night. Thunder softly crept in during the middle of the song and rain started falling lightly on the timber roof which made the mood of the song and the rest of the gig even more intense.
He told cheese jokes in the middle of gig which was really cute. Said it was the only banter he could manage. Haha.
You Need Me, I Don't Need You was SICK. Ed mashed it up with In Da Club - 50 Cent. The entire crowd got really into it. Plus I think he majorly wow-ed a lady sitting behind us with his loop-pedal because she let out a 'wtf!' quite loudly. Haha. :) Which reminds me, he told us we were more into it than the crowd at his Sydney Guerilla Gig. Take that Sydney-siders. ;)
Before Drunk, he told us he had quit drinking at the end of last year (a couple of the guys in the crowd boo-ed ha) but thought tonight would be the perfect night to get drinking again after the gig as the venue was serving free-flow beer and champagne. He said he'd love it if everyone wanted to stay around afterwards to share a beer with him.
Give Me Love is his favourite song off the album and he'd like to one day release it properly as a single. It's also one of my favourite songs as well!
Near the end of the show he jumped onto the table behind us to sing The Parting Glass acapella and The A Team. Jo has a really amazing recording of this!! The A Team was inspired by a girl he met a charity gig in the UK.
After the gig was done Ed hung around and chatted with everyone. Jo and I approached him and talked to him about koalas, the UK, surfing and what else he was planning to do in Aus! He said he'd be going to a koala sanctuary tomorrow in Brisbane, which he ended up doing, judging by his koala photo on Twitter. :)
We asked him for autographs on our CDs, but our pen wasn't working so he asked another guy for a sharpie.
We got photos with him. :)
After hanging around for a little while longer we decided we should probably head home and study (boo). We said bye to Ed who was sitting on the porch outside with a bunch of people. Everybody was really chill.
Overall it was an amazing and beautiful night. Definitely one of the most memorable nights of my life and hands-down the best gig I've ever been too. I feel soo lucky to have experienced Ed Sheeran live, let alone getting to chat to him and getting autographs and photos as well!
Thank you Jo for coming with me, I'm so glad that you came. <3 (We both couldn't get Small Bump out of our heads afterwards - we kept singing it to ourselves during the exam.) Thank you Teresa for your generosity (hope you enjoy your signed album!) and lastly, thank you to Ed Sheeran for being such an all-round nice guy, performing a brilliant gig for us Melburnians and being an incredible live performer. Come back to Australia soon!
P.S - I'd love to hear Gold Rush and Let It Out live one day!