MANILA, Philippines — British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran was back in the Philippines for the first time in six years, and his Filipino fans made sure his Manila 2024 concert was one for the books.
The artist was in the country for the third time after his previous visits in 2015 and 2018. His latest concert features opening acts Calum Scott and Filipino nine-piece act Ben&Ben.
Promptly starting at 8:15 p.m., Ed immediately made an impression by wearing a customized "Mathematics" tour shirt bearing "Manila" on the front when he showed for his opener song "Tides."
The crowd sang their hearts out for many of Ed's songs like "The A Team," "Lego House" and "Overpass Graffiti."
Ed even invited the audience to participate in his remix of "Don't" and "No Diggity," then had two different ends of the SMDC Festival Grounds harmonizing during "Give Me Love."
"The name of the game is for people to lose their voices tonight and I lose my voice," Ed quipped before going on to sing "Dive."
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For "Galway Girl," Ed was accompanied by violinist Alicia Enstrom, and for fun, he made the crowd greet her with "Hi, Alicia!"
"From this moment on, these are songs even your grandmother knows," Ed joked. "If you don't know the words, you're at the wrong concert."
That run on songs included "Sing," "Photograph," "Tenerife Sea" and "Happier." He also had everyone riffing the bridge and doing vocal warm-ups during "Thinking Out Loud." Ed also performed one of the songs he wrote for Justin Bieber, "Love Yourself."
During the quite upbeat "Sing," everyone was energetically singing the song's iconic "oh-oh" portion, so Ed switched things up by asking to start out quiet then gradually belting their voices.
Probably the most touching audience participation was during "Afterglow" when the audience's low singing of the final chorus was like a buzzing hymn making its way through the air.
"Manila, this has been really special. I do not take this for granted," Ed said, expressing his gratitude and vowing to return much sooner.
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