Sheeran raises roof at Dunedin stadium

Review

Ed Sheeran. Forsyth Barr Stadium, Dunedin. Thursday night. Reviewed by Hamish McNeilly.

Ed Sheeran’s opening night at Dunedin’s Forsyth Barr stadium saw it claim the title as loudest venue of his world tour.

‘‘It feels like I am playing in Dublin ... you guys are mental,’’ he told the 40,000-strong audience.

I’m a rugby field away from the man on stage, but right from the opener Castle on the Hill it is clear the sound in the covered stadium is clear and crisp.

Standing alone on stage with just his guitar and effect pedal he delivers a surprisingly intimate performance given the size of the venue.

But he knows how to appease the Southern crowd.

There’s the shout-out to the Bath St mural, which he took a selfie of after arriving on Wednesday night, ‘‘it’s great’’.

And he even started the scarfie chant ‘Waisake Naholo’ in a hat-tip to the Highlanders’ fan favourite. He’s clearly done his research. As have the crowd, who recite every lyric, and follow his directions to get on their feet and moving.

‘‘With this concert,’’ he implored,’’ the main goal is to lose your voice. If you know the words. Good. If you don’t. Make them up.’’

In his two hour-long set Sheeran performed more hits than Joseph Parker, with crowd pleasers including Perfect, Don’t, I See Fire, Shape of You, and Photograph.

Sheeran said during his Divide world tour he had measured the loudness of each audience, with Sydney and Melbourne holding the record.

Dunedin, which launched a citywide festival for fans, was not to be out-done.

‘‘You are now the loudest crowd on the tour ... congratulations,’’ Sheeran, who was looking forward to exploring the city on Good Friday.

He was at his best when he worked the crowd, imploring the reluctant boyfriends, the ‘broken’ married men, and the super dads to join in the singing and arm waving.

Sheeran showed his versatility and everyman appeal during his encore closure You Need Me, I Don’t Need You, ensuring thousands walked happily from the venue singing the chorus.

Earlier, hometown heroes Six60 set the stage with a set full of anthems, many of them penned just a few kilometres away from the venue.

The city – population 120,000 – will host 120,000 concert goers on Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights. More than 65,000 fans were expected from outside of the city, pumping an estimated $34 million into the economy. Between 5000 and 7000 vehicles would be travelling for each concert and the NZ Transport Agency was warning motorists to plan ahead to stay safe and avoid delays.