Live at Go Media Stadium
16 January 2025
Live Review by Music Journalist: Paul Marshall
Ed Sheeran Opens the Loop Tour in Auckland and Redefines Stadium Intimacy.
If you want a snapshot of where stadium touring sits in 2026, Go Media Stadium on a crystal-blue Auckland evening provided a near-perfect case study: global pop dominance, genuine musicianship, wildly different opener fortunes, and one red-haired Englishman casually redefining how a single human being can command 40,000 people with a guitar, a loop pedal, and a sense of humour.
Opening the night was Biird, an eight-piece band from Ireland playing their very first New Zealand show. From the opening moments, their shanty-style harmonies and folk-punk energy felt purpose-built for daylight and open air. Duelling fiddles (which eventually became three) gave the set a joyful chaos, while one young woman stepped forward mid-set for a burst of Irish dancing that had early arrivals leaning in rather than wandering for beers.
Their latest single landed well, but what lingered was their humility. After their set ended, every band member was seen packing down their own gear. At stadium level, that kind of hands-on graft is rare and quietly admirable. Biird felt real, grounded, and grateful to be here.
Australia’s Mia Wray followed with a tight four-piece: bass, two guitars, and drums. It was her first ever New Zealand show and her first stadium show full stop and you could feel the nerves slip briefly into her spoken moments.
Early on, a voice from the crowd cut through with unexpected accuracy: “Your drummer looks like Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.” She wasn’t wrong and it broke the ice.
Musically, Wray impressed. During a piano-led ballad, she hit and held a series of long notes that triggered a genuine standing ovation no hype, just respect. One newer track leaned into a subtle synth via backing track, but it was tasteful and effective, and clearly part of her evolving sound.
There was something endearing about her spelling out her name to the crowd despite it already being ten feet high behind her on the screen. She skipped on her blue nail polish (some nails were worse for wear), a tiny human detail in a very big environment. Her final song felt cinematic full Bond theme energy, Spector-sized drama and suggested she’s aiming much higher than support slots.
Vance Joy had a tougher run. Starting cold, his voice sounded under-warmed, and it showed. Early material particularly lyrics from his debut era felt thin in a modern stadium context, and when he invited the crowd to sing along, the silence was brutal. No words, no chorus just a quiet reminder that familiarity fuels mass participation.
His voice improved as the set progressed, but cracks appeared, and one cover choice felt laboured and breathless, exposing a lack of vocal fitness rather than reinvention. A telling modern metric: in a stadium full of phones, only a couple were filming.
Then came “Riptide.” The roar was immediate. A sea of phones lifted. Suddenly, everyone remembered why he was here. It didn’t redeem the whole set, but it saved the ending and perhaps the memory.
At exactly 8pm, the Loop Tour 2026 began with a pre-shot intro video charting Ed Sheeran’s life different ages, different eras, all roads leading here. Then silence. Then movement.
Sheeran appeared not on the main stage, but in the centre of the crowd, standing on a smaller circular platform. The opener? “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.” A bold choice. Raw, rhythmic, and confrontational. From there, a massive retractable bridge unfurled above the audience, carrying him back to the main stage like a modern pop Pied Piper.
Dressed all in black with crisp white Nike trainers (very English), Sheeran wore a T-shirt that felt like an Easter egg from the future: LOOP on the front, 2028 Tour on the back. A subtle hint that this global run may still have years to go.
By the second song, the screams were deafening. By the time he hit the main stage, the clouds had cleared completely, Auckland glowing under perfect summer sky.
Sheeran paused to acknowledge the moment: this was the first time he has ever started a world tour in New Zealand. He revealed he’s spent an entire month here building the tour a commitment that showed in the scale and precision of the production.
This tour digs deep. Set lists include songs he hasn’t played in over a decade, and fans can request tracks live via on-screen QR code some of which Sheeran delivered later by popular demand. It’s fan service, yes but done intelligently.
Visually, the video wall adapted to each song rather than overpowering it. Sonically, the stadium was flawless: three repeater stacks ensured clarity even when facing away from the stage. Bass without blur. Vocals without fatigue.
At one point, Sheeran joked about getting the crowd jumping, deadpanning, “I ain’t jumping unless I’m off my tits.” He laughed, recalling a hometown show back in Ipswich England where his attempt to get everyone airborne was met with mixed commitment at best. Then he grinned, added, “But this is New Zealand I know you lot will jump,” and jump we did.
The emotional peak came with “I See Fire,” written here in Aotearoa for his mate Sir Peter Jackson. Sheeran delivered the first verse a cappella, 40,000 people silent, before looping the song into something cinematic and communal.
This wasn’t just a concert. It was a statement.
The stage show itself was nothing short of jaw-dropping. Anchoring the production was the largest video screen ever erected in New Zealand, rendering Sheeran in pin-sharp 4K less man, more modern-day titan, every gesture magnified and intimate all at once. Around it, lasers sliced the night air, smoke rolled in waves, and fire cannons flared on cue, adding muscle to the moment without overwhelming it. Fireworks punctuated the set in carefully timed bursts, saving their loudest statement for the finale, a closing explosion of light, colour, and scale that landed with emphatic intent rather than excess.
Ed Sheeran doesn’t need theatrics to prove scale he is the scale. The Loop Tour balances past and future, intimacy and immensity, and reminds us that sometimes the most powerful thing in a stadium is a single voice, a pedal, and a songwriter who still remembers where the songs came from.
A world tour began in New Zealand. History noticed.
Set List
- You Need Me, I Don't Need You
- Sapphire
- Castle on the Hill
- The A Team
- Shivers
- Don't
- Eyes Closed
- Little Bird
- Sofa
- Tenerife Sea
- Supermarket Flowers
- Give Me Love
- Galway Girl (with Beoga)
- Nancy Mulligan (with Beoga)
- I Don't Care (with Beoga)
- Old Phone (with Beoga)
- Heaven (with Beoga)
- Camera (with Beoga)
- Celestial (with Beoga)
- Photograph
- Eastside / 2002 / Cold Water / Little Things / Love Yourself (Medley of songs written by Ed)
- Thinking Out Loud
- Perfect
- I See Fire
- Symmetry
- Bloodstream
- Afterglow
Encore:
- Shape of You
- Azizam
- Bad Habits
Reviewer: Paul Marshall
Photography by Paul Marshall
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