Ed Sheeran gives shirt off his back to Wexford expat’s son
BOSTON CONCERT GIFT FOR FAMILY
SUPERSTAR Ed Sheeran donated the shirt off his back to the son of a Wexford expatriate as a lasting memory of a concert he and his family attended in Boston recently.
John Furlong, who is originally from Carrig-on-Bannow, said his daughter Julia is a huge Ed Sheeran fan and the family bought two tickets for the Friday night show and four for the Saturday night performance.
‘For Saturday night we had two seats in nosebleed section and other two seats were down lower but partially obstructed view way on the side,’ said John.
He said Ed’s tour manager, Amanda, picked about 20-25 people at random just walking among the crowd and upgraded them to front row.
‘She picked my wife Karyn and son first and then as my wife was explaining to her that our daughter was the main fan and asked if she could swap out with her, the tour manager said “I’ll upgrade her as well”. So it was pure luck that we ended up in the front row. I snagged one of the guitar picks that he flung off stage,’ said John, who left for the USA after completing his Leaving Cert at Good Counsel in New Ross in 1989.
‘Then to top it all off, for the encore he came out wearing a Boston Celtics jersey and played two final songs. (The) House lights came on and we were taking a few final photos when one of the roadies came over to my son Eamon and asked him if he enjoyed the show and had a good time.
‘Eamonn said he did and the roadie handed him the Celtics jersey that he wore for the encore and said “Here, Ed wanted you to have this”,’ said John, who lives with his family in Hampton, New Hampshire, about an hour north of Boston.
‘It was a once in a lifetime experience and as both kids said, it was the best night of their lives,’ he said.
John said he tried to make a trip home every year, usually for the first two weeks of July and had been back in Ireland for the Leinster final this year.
‘We are heading back for Christmas this year which will be the first time in 11 years that we will be there on Christmas Day itself,’ he said. John said he had a large number of family members still living in the county.