Ed Sheeran: Possibly the World's Best Ginger Performer and Poet So Far

On Sunday, February 17, I encountered one of those spur-of-the-moment, spontaneous opportunities that's really a now-or-never kind of chance. Those kind of moments of spontaneity are the best, you know? My level of excitement was practically bouncing off the walls. Ed Sheeran was performing his last show on his tour at the Nokia Theater in Hollywood that night. And I must say, that guy's a pretty big deal. And he's got talent.

Surprisingly, most people don't seem to know much about him, but I guess it's one of those teenage girl/fandom kind of things. Ed attracted a lot of fans when he wrote some One Direction songs. I know it is tempting to dismiss him because he is guilty of association with that Brit pop boy band, but give him a chance. I found him in the pre-One Direction Days when a friend mentioned his name, and then I became hooked. Basically, Ed Sheeran could be labeled as a British singer/songwriter (also rapper/beatboxer), and some have even called him the male version of Taylor Swift. But really, his songs are a lot more poetic and less, hmm, whiny. He's a big hit in England and is continuing to grow in popularity each day, and will be touring with Taylor Swift for her "RED" Tour as the opening act from spring to fall 2013. His most famous tracks are "Give Me Love," "A-Team," "Lego House," and "Kiss Me."

When my friend Grace and I waited in line to get in, hundreds of girls were dressed up in costume, which was a bit awkward for us. Because neither of us are connected to Twitter, we didn't get the memo that everyone was supposed to dress up. Woops. If you're a teenager who lives on Tumblr, you've likely scrolled across those crazy fangirls.. That basically consisted of the 7,000 audience members. Except Ed Sheeran fans are not as fanatical as One Direction-ers (is that what they're called?). Nevertheless, there is definitely a cult-like following going on, but nothing too freaky. 

The opening act was a British hip hop duo called Rizzle Kicks. We didn't have high expectations, but it turns out that we were pleasantly surprised. They definitely knew how to get a crowd pumped with their British funk and spunk.

When Ed Sheeran came onstage, everyone went crazy, maybe because he was dressed as a pirate. For some uncomprehensible reason, he was able to control the audience, which was something I'd never seen before, especially with so many people. He opened with his hit song "Give Me Love." Then he played "Drunk," which is very upbeat. Dubbing us the gospel choir of Los Angeles, he cued us when to sing and when not to, and we were able to create a somewhat harmonious melody. Quite a few of his songs are slow, and he went to great lengths quiet everyone so he could sing so that everyone could hear him. It's cliche, but it was so quiet in that room you could hear a pin drop, despite the fact that there were 7,000 people. "Kiss Me" was one of the slower songs, and he even told the story behind the song, which was about his parents falling in love. It was rather cute. He played most of the tracks on his album called +, and because it was his birthday and the last night of his tour, balloons were released from the ceiling during his encore performance amidst thousands of thrilled teenagers. 

I definitely recommend giving Ed a listen. My mom got a ticket and ended up loving him, and somehow my brother's hooked on him too. Basically, people of all ages can enjoy his music. He's got a fantastic personality; very fast-talking and completely charismatic. He doesn't let the whole celebrity image consume him. He has the ability to capture your attention with his eloquent yet simple words that can bewitch you, which I can't say Taylor Swift has done yet (no offense). For example, a line from "UNI" goes a little like this: "I don't get waves of missing you anymore, they're more like tsunami tides in my eyes, never getting dry..." or from "Wake Me Up": "I can do without a tan on my left hand where my fourth finger meets my knuckle." I don't know, maybe it's just some teen heartless-romantic phase, but his lyrics are really beautiful, lovely, and comforting. He makes love to an acoustic guitar like no other, and makes me want to wrap myself around his words and listen to him for all eternity and drink tea and write poetry. You're bound to see him winning a Grammy sometime soon or hear one of his songs on the radio. And I guarantee that you'll fall for him, even just a little bit.