Ed Sheeran returns to Italy for the first time since 2019, and does so for two sold out dates at the Lucca Summer Festival. Two and a half hours of non-stop concert, guitar and loop station. We were at the first of the two Italian shows, and we went there with the fan bus: 40 thousand (arriving from all over the world) listened to the poet singer-songwriter, an artist of immense talent and incredible humility, who loves every moment of it what does he do. And, with his music, he has been the soundtrack to more than one marriage proposal
“Sorry, can I ask you a question?” I think this girl with lively blue eyes that I meet in Milan Lambrate, the meeting point of the buses organized for the Ed Sheeran concert in Lucca, is about 20 years old. I too, like my traveling companions (much younger than me!), chose to take the bus: I cannot stay in Lucca in the evening, and the best option is the Milan-Lucca return journey. .
The bus trip with the artist’s fans
When I hear this question my thoughts immediately go to age: now they will ask me how old I am and why I go to see Ed Sheeran with them. But no. “Are you lawn A or lawn B?” is the theme of his question. I smile and tell her that I’m going for work, and I don’t think I’ll see the concert from the lawn, but I don’t deny that I was pleased to think that she wanted some information on access to the area closest to the stage. With her were some friends, and also a girl who confided that she was – but only initially – a little undecided whether or not to go alone, and then took the ticket and participated. You are never alone at a concert: so if you are indecisive, go. Always. In the end, a lot of people are there for the same reason, and someone always knows each other (I’ve experienced it myself!) They are very organised, like the bus: there is a stop in Piacenza, then the one at the motorway service station for eat and then leave for Lucca, where you arrive after about four hours of travel. The manager gives directions for the return, and then she goes towards the historic walls.
Birdy, and the arrival of Ed Sheeran
While waiting for the concert, I take a walk in the center, while my traveling companions go towards the entrances to the lawn. I pass in front of the window of Sky Stone & Songs, a historic record shop near Piazza Napoleone, whose window is decorated specifically for each artist in concert in Lucca. For Sheeran we read “In Lucca nights getting longer with Ed Sheeran”, and there are many people who stop to photograph vinyl records and shop windows. I meet some friends, and then go to listen to Birdy at 8.30pm, who opens the Ed Sheeran concert. “Thanks to the incredible Ed for wanting me here, and thanks to all of you for the welcome”, are the words of the singer-songwriter of Skinny Love to the forty thousand of Lucca, who listen to her attentively and applaud her skill. Then, however, the wait is all for Ed Sheeran, who arrives on stage at 9.29pm.
Music, guitar and loop station
Very punctual, with a black t-shirt and the colorful Lucca writing clearly visible (it’s a t-shirt they sell in merchandising!), the singer-songwriter arrives jumping on stage and kicks off the concert. It’s a riot of joy and positive energy, of jumping and singing, and you can hardly see the end of the people present: there are so many and from all over the world! There are those who come from Brazil, from Finland. But there is also a gentleman from the United Kingdom who follows Sheeran all over the world for about twenty years. They are the people of Ed, the street poet singer-songwriter, with the enchanted guitar and the loop station. Sheeran, in fact, is alone on stage for most of the concert, and accompanies himself only with the guitar and the loop station, an instrument that allows the musician to record and play musical fragments in a cyclical sequence. And after recording a phrase, when the button (or rather pedalboard) is pressed it is repeated until the musician presses the stop. This instrument ensures that every concert is always different. And this is what Ed Sheeran himself says shortly after saying goodbye to the four-piece band that accompanies him for just a few songs: “Every concert is different… you will see me use this loop station, tomorrow there will be another live show… and it will have other nuances ” says the singer-songwriter.
in-depth analysis
Lucca Summer Festival kicks off with Eric Clapton, waiting for Ed Sheeran
Caste on the Hill, Blow and some marriage proposals
It’s impossible not to recognize the incredible talent of this artist: finding the right words is very difficult, because they wouldn’t do him justice. But perhaps words are superfluous on occasions like this: Sheeran managed to bring people from all over the world, eighty thousand in two days, on a June weekend in Lucca, and that’s it. His music and the love that people feel for him and his songs speak for themselves. He puts his heart into it, because you can see that he loves what he does madly. And he is not a given. Sometimes artists, having reached very high levels of fame and sales, tend to flatten out. Which doesn’t happen with Sheeran, who interrupts the concert only to ask security to help people who feel ill. When told that the duration of the concert is getting closer and closer to the curfew to be respected, the singer-songwriter says to those present: “Ok, I don’t want to shorten the concert. So I won’t take any breaks because my goal is to give you the best live show ever!” And in fact he never stops, he sings for two and a half hours straight, and his show ends at midnight sharp with fireworks and endless applause. Applause that we also heard during the song Tenerife Seawhen a marriage proposal arises, or rather two.
Hello Lucca, hello Italy
And soundtrack of people’s life and love. With him everything is possible, and it starts from the Lucca Summer Festival, the only event to bring Sheeran to Italy this year (from 2019) for the only two dates in Italy. Hello Lucca, hello Italy! Ed, who has a house in our town and is learning Italian, and who also sings part of the song Perfectin our language. A concert to experience and to talk about, especially to those who haven’t been there, with the hope that it will be talked about, and a lot. Because a live show like this just needs to be broadcast, and above all it cannot be skipped. Then I leave the concert area and head towards the bus: I check on those present and we set off again for Milan. We are all a little tired but happy, and in the silence of the night we take the opportunity to rest a little. We arrive in Lambrate, perfectly on time, with my traveling companions. A new unlocked experience, which I recommend everyone to do, at least once in their life.
in-depth analysis
Ed Sheeran performed for children in Boston hospital
The ladder
With the band
Castle on the Hill
BLOW
Alone
I’m at Mess
Shivers
The A Team
Take It Back / Superstition / Ain’t No Sunshine
Don’t / No Diggity
With the band
Lego House
Alone
Eyes Closed
Give Me Love
Divas
Boat
With the band
River / Peru / Beautiful People / South of the Border / I Don’t Care
Overpass Graffiti
Galway Girl
Thinking Out Loud
Alone
Love Yourself (cover of Justin Bieber’s song)
Sing
Photograph
Tenerife Sea
With the band
Happier
Alone
Perfect
Bloodstream
With the band
Afterglow
Alone
You Need Me, I Don’t Need You
Shape of You
Bad Habits
