After seven long years, the four-time Grammy award winner, and singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran join Stephen Colbert again as a guest on The Late Show. He talks about his experience meeting Queen Elizabeth II and his upcoming plans regarding his first United States tour in 5 years.
Ed Sheeran first made an appearance on the late show in 2015 when he was initially invited as a guest alongside Bill Withers, where they spoke about the concert they were due to perform in honor of Withers at Carnegie Hall. “Man, that was like, honestly, one of the most special days of my life. They were doing a tribute show for Bill at Carnegie Hall. It all happened quite last minute and suddenly, I was sitting next to him like this is pretty cool.”
He commented. This was the year his second studio album ‘x’ (pronounced multiply) received the title of the second best-selling album worldwide. In addition to this renowned success, the album won album of the year at the 2015 Brit Awards. Overall, Sheeran has sold more than 150 million records globally, making him a well-accomplished and celebrated artist. Sheeran also spoke about meeting the Queen and how he initially became inspired to begin his career as an artist.
Colbert holds a picture of Ed Sheeran shaking the Queen’s hand and asks: So, her majesty? How much time, this is, is it like an instant with her or did you spend any quality time?
Ed: “This is a fun picture because she was smiling when she met me. That was really, really early stages of my career. I had released, one hit single, and I was playing her jubilee. I was next to a really famous comedian who cracked a joke while she was shaking my hand. I have this picture of her delighted to see me, but I remember Kylie, who was taking the queen over to me, being like “this is Ed Sheeran”, and the queen being like….
And then hearing the joke and then laughing. And that’s the picture.” He moves on to explain how his passion to pursue music arose after watching Eric Clapton play at the Queen’s 50th golden jubilee.
“The day I picked up the guitar, the golden jubilee was on television. It was in 2002 I was 11 years old. And I didn’t play the guitar at that time. I was watching this thing on television. Eric Clapton comes on and does the first opening bit of “Layla”.
I was like what is that? He finishes the song, and I knew in that instant I wanted to be that. I want a guitar and play on the stage. And 10 years later I’m playing the same thing. And I just played the one 10 years on from that as well. It’s bonkers.” Sheeran exclaims. Sheeran then expressed his wishes for an 11-year-old to watch the golden jubilee and be as inspired as he was at the same age to pursue a career in music.
“You have your first U.S tour coming up, the first one in five years. This tour which is, is this right, the mathematics tour?”
“The mathematics tour Yeah. We have just done all of Europe. As you said, I haven’t been here for five years, and it feels like it’s time to come back” Ed answers. His last tour was proclaimed the biggest-selling tour of the year, as reiterated by Colbert.
Sheeran spoke about wanting to experiment when making a comeback for his most recent tour “When I finished the last tour, it had been so heavily publicized of being the biggest tour of all time, when I came back, I wanted to make something that was – I never played in the round. I never played with a band. I never had fireworks and flamethrowers and all of that sort” he explains. “What’s it like to be in an 80,000-person arena while the board is exploding behind you?”
Colbert enquires. “I mean, it’s the most amazing experience because usually you play end on and you’re playing to a crowd like this (facing forward) but when you’re submerged in the middle and it’s coming at you at all angles, it’s incredible. It is my favorite show I have done. I can’t wait to bring it over” Ed answers. Fans are looking forward to the anticipated 2023 mathematics North American tour, where Sheeran will perform in 21 cities featuring opening acts with artists Khalid, Russ, Cat Burns, Maisie Peters, and Rosa Linn.
With positive reception towards his previous tours, there is an incitement that this tour will be equally as exhilarating.
| text & article by Sharifa Charles |