First Times

Estimated Reading Time: 4 minutes

This week was a week of first times. My first time on Irish soil and the first time I’ve travelled internationally to go to a concert. 

Having seen Ed Sheeran open for Snow Patrol in the Bay Area more than a decade ago I’ve been a fan since. Back then he was an emerging artist playing to a somewhat disinterested audience. Infact, if I recall correctly, a large majority of the audience chose to drink in the bar rather than listen to this young tattooed ginger rapping out his tunes. 

It didn’t take long for Ed’s star to rise and although I’ve wanted to see him perform live again, I’ve always balked at the idea of seeing him play in a stadium.  He played in San Francisco just before we left California and then he played London Wembley the week that we returned to the UK. On both occasions I sat and sulked on the night of the shows because although through my own choice, I had missed the opportunity to see him perform again. 

Earlier this month Ed announced a handful of last minute shows, one being in Dublin. We’ve never been to Ireland so after almost a year without travel while we re-established ourselves in England, we decided to get tickets and make a mini-break out of it.  Tickets went on sale the day we moved into our new house and I’ll never forget standing at the front door as the movers unloaded boxes while Mike locked himself away in the laundry room hitting refresh on Ticketmaster until his mission was accomplished. A new house and tickets to see Ed. That was a good day!

After a couple of weeks unpacking boxes and getting our house in some sort of order we were more than ready for a break. 

Getting to Dublin couldn’t have been easier. We flew out of Birmingham airport (another first) and were in Dublin in about the same time it would have taken us to get to London.

First impression of Dublin?  This is a drinkers city. Holy cow, so many bars and pubs! 

Second impression?  What a great city for shopping. Fortunately (or unfortunately) I have an aversion to buying “stuff” having spent half of last year purging many of our belongings, but it was nice to see so many thriving independent businesses selling unique goodies as we strolled around and glanced in shop windows. 

We sat outside a bar in the late afternoon sun sipping our first Guinness of the trip.  Surrounded by the local after-work crowd, it felt good to be in a new city taking in the surroundings and atmosphere.  Maybe it was the Guinness but I could feel my travel bug stirring out of it’s cocoon where it’s been dormant since the beginning of the pandemic.

A visit to Dublin can’t just be drinking and window shopping. There is so much history here, much more than you can grasp in just a few days, so we focused on the Easter Rising of 1916. After guided tours of Kilmainham Gaol and the GPO I was embarrassed to realize how little I had known of Anglo-Irish history but reminded myself this is one of the reasons to travel, to learn. 

While the Guinness Storehouse was a welcome break from some heavy political history, I couldn’t help but feel that we’d paid 26€ for a merchandising and marketing extravaganza.  A brewery tour it is not.

And so to the big event, Ed Sheeran at the 3 Arena.  The benefits of seeing him in Dublin were that:

a) we could walk to the Arena from our hotel ✅

b) the Arena was smaller than any of the locations he played in England ✅

c) the Irish know how to let loose and enjoy a concert 🙌🏻

d) Ed is a wannabe Irishman so he REALLY wanted the audience to have a good time🇮🇪

On arrival I was a little disappointed to see the 360 degree revolving stage wasn’t being used.  It also came to light that the format for this handful of European shows was intimate and scaled back, a chance for Ed to play some of the older material he’s been omitting from his big stadium shows because those audiences “expect” the big hits.

There had been nothing indicating this in the pre-ticket sale promotions.  Duped?  Not a chance. From the moment Ed stepped on stage the pure joy emanating from him as he ripped through song after song was contagious.

Love him or loathe him, you can’t deny his creative talent. It’s hard to believe that one man, a guitar and a loop pedal can create such a sound and totally captivate 8,000 people for over 2 hours.

Songs aside, I was delighted Ed was very chatty throughout the show.  In sharing his stories he showed a genuine humbleness and sincerity which he is known for and I believe is real and from the heart.

As the final songs were sung and the energy in the Arena elevated to a higher altitude I found myself hoping Ed’s success will continue over many decades and that I will have the opportunity to enjoy more shows in the future as he grows and evolves as an artist. 

Was the show worth getting on a plane for?  Absolutely!

“I can’t wait for a million more first times”

Ed Sheeran