Ed Sheeran has closed this year’s Glastonbury Festival at the Pyramid Stage, just six years after his debut at one of the festival’s smallest venues.
In 2011, Ed Sheeran played the solar-powered Croissant Neuf stage, playing “to about 500 people”.
On June 25, he closed the festival, attracting a much younger audience than Friday and Saturday’s headliners, Radiohead and Foo Fighters.
Ed Sheeran, 26, admitted he was “very nervous but very excited” to be there.
“For those of you who haven’t seen one of my shows before or haven’t heard one of my songs, please pretend that you know them,” the singer told the audience.
“For those of you who have, please sing all of the words.”
He added: “The aim of tonight is to lose our voices.
“I’m going to lose mine as well.”
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The audience took Ed Sheeran up on the challenge; joining in wistfully as he sang the ballads Photograph and Thinking Out Loud.
They didn’t quite keep up, however, with the spittle-flecked Take It Back – a whirlwind of wordplay in which Ed Sheeran declared: “I’m not a rapper, I’m a singer with a flow.”
Ed Sheeran played, as he usually does, without a band; using a loop pedal to layer his vocal and guitar lines and create a backing track live, on the spot.
He also invited traditional Irish band Beoga on stage to accompany him on Nancy Mulligan, a song about his paternal grandmother.
It was a moment that reeked of cheese but, watched from the side of the stage by his grandfather, Ed Sheeran made it seem genuine.
This year saw more pop and grime acts than ever, from Charli XCX to Katy Perry; from Wiley to Stormzy.
On June 25, the festival also saw sets from Royal Blood, Courteeners, Foo Fighters, The Jacksons, Radiohead and The Killers – who played a secret show on the John Peel stage on Sunday evening.
