I Love Music

This story was originally posted on EP on 3rd Jan 2016

I first photographed Ed Sheeran just over five years ago. It was in a little loft style venue in London’s East End and the audience (about 100 of them) were all uber-trendy and uber-knowledgeable music geeks. Ed was about the third or fourth person to come on stage and I’ll never forget what transpired over the next few minutes.

On walks this guy with his acoustic guitar strapped over his shoulder and introduces himself, in a very humble and self-deprecating way, as a little, fat, ginger bloke who wants to try and entertain them and that he hopes they like his stuff. I looked around at the audience and saw that most of them were more than a little bemused. A very select few had big, knowing grins plastered across their faces. The two organisers of the event were standing to my right and they were trying to supress their glee and general air of anticipation. Then he went into his first number by the end of which I realised that I hadn’t shot a single frame. I was that transfixed. I’ve shot a lot of performers, including some of the true greats like Aretha Franklin, but that’s never happened to me before. Or since.

Some months later he released his single “The A Team”. I posted the video on EP and asked my American friends what they thought of him. Many didn’t even comment. That video has now had over 150 million views on YouTube.

I’m now sitting in my living room watching a TV documentary about the gigs he did at London’s Wembley Stadium last summer. He performed to 250,000 people across three days. Just him on stage with his acoustic guitar and his loop box. On the first day, the camera is constantly panning across the audience and you see all ethnicities, all ages and both genders singing along to every song. On the second day he has Sir Elton John come on stage and perform with him. I haven’t got to the third day of the gig yet.

Not too shabby for a fat, little ginger bloke.