Ed Sheeran Concert Rocks Wiltern With Passenger & Selah Sue Music

October/02/2012 11:54 AM

Ed Sheeran at Wiltern Theatre Los Angeles The A Team concert tour

Singer Songwriter Ed Sheeran
Concert Rocks Wiltern

With Opening Acts
Passenger & Selah Sue

"Ed Sheeran Brings His A Team"
Rock Star Music News
Concert Review
October 1, 2012 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
@LifeofaRockStar

READ the PASSENGER interview with singer songwriter Mike Rosenberg

Los Angeles, CA- Ed Sheeran's fans showed up en masse Monday night at the Wiltern Theatre arriving as early as 6:30 in the morning to insure they had up close access to their favorite artist. Judging from the line wrapped around the venue it would seem Ed Sheeran has hit the goldmine market of One Direction fans: 14 year old girls.

The UK sensation sang some of his most popular songs to a crowd that could not get enough of him. "Drunk" is a huge hit with his live crowds, and the audience loved the letters that fell away one at a time on screen behind him. Ed Sheeran's concert set list Monday night included (in no particular order): "Give Me Love," "Small Bump," "Lego House," "The A Team," "Kiss Me," "You Need Me, I Don't Need You," "The Parting Glass," "Drunk," "This," "Grade 8," and "U.N.I."

Ed described "You Are beautiful" as is his "music festival song." He asked the crowd to hug the person next to them--whether they knew them or not--put their arms around one another and sing along just like you would if you were at a music festival. Halfway into the song, Ed instructed his obliging audience, "Now grab their face and sing into their eyes- stop looking at me! ...Hug the person next to you or hug a security guard!"

Ed Sheeran is a singer songwriter one man show with his guitar and amazing voice. Above all, he is an entertainer. He has the ability to at times quiet down his enthusiastic fans to tell stories which the audience listens to eagerly. For instance, Ed told a lovely story about his Godparents that had divorced but remained friends. They watched one another remarry new spouses only for each of them to wind up divorced yet again. Ed says they were still best friends and helped each other through those second divorces. Then one night after some wine and a good family party, his Godfather proposed to his Godmother on the tube. She said yes. They asked Ed to play at the wedding. He says, "My Godmother asked me to play a classic love song… "You Are So Beautiful To Me" or "Golddigger." The crowd laughed. "Or, she said, 'write us a love song.' I preferred that challenge," Ed told the crowd and they cheered in approval. "So this song is about two best friends who fell in love and got married. I wasn't in rehab, [as the media was reporting] I flew back four days early to play at their wedding. …My actual backstage antics include fruit squash and legos…But tell people I am [in rehab], it makes me sound a bit more rock and roll!" The audience screamed and Ed poured out "Kiss Me." Every heart in the Wiltern melted.

Ed Sheeran performs "Kiss Me" on YouTube music videos acoustic for Radio 5

The audience was captivated at the Wiltern by Ed Sheeran's music. You could hear a pin drop when he asked the audience to be quiet or sang a ballad.

In his simple tee shirt and jeans, Ed Sheeran's voice was the show. He moved his voice like river water, getting wild rapping his songs with unbelievable speed at times then slowing down and singing a bit more smoothly. The chords he reached were impossibly high and he sang virtually acoustic most of the night.

The crowd made an "acceptable amount of noise" as Ed Sheeran told them they must if they wanted an encore. It was obvious though that he had to come back. (The crowd would never have left without hearing "The A Team.")

When he returned to the stage, Ed Sheeran talked about the acts he brought on tour with him telling his fans, "You should really select amazing musicians and talent you are a fan of." He reintroduced his opening acts, also singer songwriters, Selah Sue and Passenger. At the mention of Passenger a massive scream was let out by the crowd. Ed spoke of how he met Mike Rosenberg (Passenger), "We used to play in rooms of six people." Then he joked that those six people included his parents, his manager and Mike. Ed goes on to say, "Mike has made 4 of my favorite CDs." Then he invited back out on to the stage both Passenger and Selah Sue to sing a Passenger song titled "My Heart's On Fire," which Ed called his "favorite Passenger song." The three of them on stage performing live together was an absolute treat. At the song's end Mike and Ed hugged like genuine mates. It was a touching moment on stage.

Watch Passenger Sing "My Heart's On Fire" on YouTube music videos:

The encore also included Ed firing off his British rap lyrics insanely fast while performing "You Need Me, I Don't Need You," which he could never have pulled off if he were "Drunk." So either the rehab worked or he is really just having fruit backstage.

As the electronic tribal beat of the song got louder and faster, Ed Sheeran dropped his guitar and broke into a full rap that was beyond impressive. The crowd went wild and the energy was palpable. Ed spit out one witty line after the next, "They say I'm up and coming like I'm in a fucking elevator."

"I get to achieve a lot of dreams with my job," Ed Sheeran told his adoring captive audience. "I grew up listening to a singer songwriter...noone has really properly heard of him yet...we've become good friends." Then he used his powers for good and selflessly promoted someone else's song, a song he says he has loved for years: Foy Vance's "Guiding Light."

Watch Foy Vance "Guiding Light" on YouTube music videos:

When all was all said and done, the concert and evening ended as it began with the crowd singing along. He sent his ecstatic crowd off after a two hour live performance singing "The A Team."

Mike Rosenberg Passenger October 1, 2012 Wiltern Los Angeles Ed Sheeran concert

Mike Rosenberg is Passenger

"Ed Sheeran Brings His A Team"
Concert Review

October 1, 2012 Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
@LifeofaRockStar

READ the PASSENGER interview with singer songwriter Mike Rosenberg

Los Angeles, CA - Ed Sheeran's opening act, Passenger looked out onto the massive crowd at the Wiltern in astonishment. "I usually play in pubs with like 12 people." But by the crowd's response, you might have thought Passenger was the headliner. They adored him.

As per usual, "I Hate" was a fun sing-along that garnered laughter and cheers. "Let Her Go" stunned the crowd into silence with its beauty, sentiment and emotion.

Watch Passenger “Let Her Go” Music Video (Official)

Every song in his thirty minute concert set was well received, and when some of his lyrics contained a bit of adult language-(nothing more than a few swear words), he was sweetly shy about singing them out to the crowd of mostly 14 year old girls. He apologized in the sweetest endearing way but pushed through and gained nothing but an enormous number of new fans.

Also in Passenger's set list was a song named "27" with humorous lyrics that include, "87,000 cigarettes passed through these lungs and every single day I wished I had never smoked one."

Watch Passenger "27" on YouTube Music Videos:

Mike also sang "Traveling Alone," telling an endearing story about the two lonely travelers he met separately--one that was widowed and one that endured a painful breakup. He says he was busking in Copenhagen in Denmark and "no one was listening [to me] let alone putting any money in…"

A 72 year old man from Australia walked over to tell Mike a story about how he and his wife had been married for many years and had been saving up to take a thrip to Copenhagen when the wife unexpectedly passed away. The man was brave enough to still take the vacation alone because he knew that's what his wife would have wanted. The second part of the story / song Mike tells the audience is about a woman from Switzerland whose boyfriend of 12 years had broken up with her. Mike tells the crowd about how he sat and talked with her for 3 hours. Those two stories combined inspired the sentimental song "Traveling Alone" with the powerful lyrics, "Oh I never heard silence ring out like a bell."

Then with a huge smile on his face and his eyes all lit up, Mike said, "Holes is always my last song… My songs are pretty depressing. [the crowd laughed] It's about those little interruptions you have through life…" After starting the song out in slow form, he picked up the pace of "Holes" and ended off his set with a lively audience singing along:

"well we’ve got holes in our hearts, yeah we’ve got holes in our lives
well we’ve got holes, we’ve got holes but we carry on
said we’ve got holes in our hearts, yeah we’ve got holes in our lives
well we’ve got holes, we’ve got holes but we carry on

Mike told his cheering fans, "I would love to come back to Los Angeles very soon," and we're certain based on the love he received at the Wiltern, Passenger will be back very soon.

Purchase Passenger Music “All The Little Light” on iTunes

Follow @PassengerMusic on Twitter
Like Passenger on Facebook
Passenger YouTube music videos

Selah Sue:

Singer Songwriter Selah Sue touched the crowd with her endearing presence and talent in her thirty minute opening set at the Wiltern.

Watch Selah Sue "Raggamuffin"

Follow @SelahSue on Twitter
For more information on Selah Sue visit: http://www.selahsue.com/
Download Selah Sue music on iTunes

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