Ed Sheeran in Chennai: A first-time concertgoer’s live music experience

Ed Sheeran's concert in Chennai, featuring a surprise duet with AR Rahman, converted a skeptic into a fan.

I have never been a huge fan of concerts. I get the hype about live music, but to endure huge crowds, getting pushed around, overpriced water and snacks, sweating, standing for hours, and the invariably dirty washrooms, I would rather stay home with my noise-cancelling headphones. Or so I thought until Ed Sheeran and AR Rahman took the stage to sing an unlikely  ‘Shape of You’ and ‘Urvashi Urvashi’ duet. 

Ed Sheeran is on a six city tour in India organised by BookMyShow Live. The +–=÷× Tour (aka The Mathematics Tour) is the fourth concert tour by the English singer-songwriter, and Chennai was his third stop in India.

As a sceptical first-time concertgoer, I found Ed Sheeran the perfect artist to start with. He is a sweet, cheery, happy-go-lucky performer with a voice of gold, and I knew most of the songs on his setlist, even if not by heart. So with my most comfortable pair of shoes, I breezed my way through security check, got a boba tea for a good sugar rush, settled down to first watch the sun go down (not over a castle on the hill), and then saw the opening act, singer Jonita Gandhi bust out some incredible moves. 

Warming up the crowd, she performed hit numbers like ‘What Jhumka’, ‘Chellama Chellama’ and ‘Arabic Kuthu’, and the crowd danced and sang along. After a short break, a brisk walk around the arena, inspecting the food stalls and planning my snacks, I stood front and centre in the midst of buzzing anticipation. 

In the blink of an eye, Ed Sheeran ran on stage with guitar in hand, dressed in a black t-shirt with the word CHENNAI printed on it.  This little gesture, which has become symbolic of his concerts in each city he is touring, felt a touch more personal here. Chennai hardly has international artistes coming in for big concerts, and this seemed to signify the start of something new. Is this going to be our year of multiple big acts making a beeline for the city? 

The first song of his setlist was ‘Castle on the Hill’, and it set the tone for what was to follow.  “This is kind of a selfish trip for me, because I came here to be a tourist and spent the last two days just going around,” said Ed on stage, who has been posting updates on his social media of getting a head massage and singing his songs at AR Rahman’s music academy KM College of Music and Technology. 

While he was on stage rapping without taking a breather, I realised I couldn’t sing along even if I wanted to. Ed’s vocal range and command throughout his entire performance felt like an awe-inducing experience. The loop pedal gave this one-man army backing vocals, instruments, and a pedestal to wow the crowd. “When I was younger, I thought I should have an electric guitar and be in a rock band, but it just didn’t suit me. So I got a loop pedal and this is how I have done it for the last 20 years. This means that the members of the band will be you guys,” he said, making the entire crowd do vocal exercises.