Fortunately there are still stories like Ed Sheeran’s

He raises his hand who when his debut album “+” came out in Italy in Italy, already a case in the United Kingdom, dragged by the single “LEGO House”, he would have bet one euro on the fact that that red -haired songwriter, who presented himself with nerd glasses and wide shirts, would become one of the largest pop stars of his time. Liars. It is easy to get on the cart today that Ed Sheeran is a 200 million copies artist sold and 185 prizes won (including 4 Grammy Awards), who has been performing for years in front of ocean crowds, like last night, when he enchanted 80 thousand spectators with a mega show at the Olympic Stadium in Rome, the only Italian date of his “Mathematics Tour” of over 650 million dollars. But the truth is that it was not at all obvious that in years in years in which pop music that met to conquer the peaks of the rankings it had to pass by the talent shows (“I would never make them anyway, it is not my world”, he assured him) a songwriter who made an anti-coolness and the refusal of the canons of pop idols his strong point, who came to sign a record contract after years of performances for London. Underwater of the premises and which in the first interviews underlined how after all people had “still desire for a little melancholy love songs”, he could not only survive after a success, but also to become a classic.

After “LEGO House” came “Sing”. After “Sing” “Don’t arrive”. After “Don’t” came “Thinking Out Loud” and it was clear to everyone that that ED Sheeran would not have been a One Hit Wonder, a meteor. And then “Photograph”, “Shape of You”, “Perfect”, “I Don’t Care”, “Bad Habits”. Like or not, they have all become some of the greatest hits in the history of pop-rock in the last fifteen years. Yet while last night he listened to them in the center of the Olimpico, on stage at 360 degrees wanted to allow anyone to enjoy the show regardless of where they were sitting, they did not seem. Despite the confetti, the flames and the fireworks that in the muscle shows in the stadiums cannot be missing, they emphasized the power.

To look at him well, Sheeran did not have the aura of the pop star: it still seemed the singer -songwriter who made “The a Team” listened to London, as he said, convinced that he had in his hands the catchphrase that would change his life, but every time he played the song the people sitting at the tables seemed not to express any interest in that piece. Perhaps the secret of so much success is all in that approach from Antidivo, by Antistar, who does not have problems sharing the stage, for such an important occasion, with an artist who is at home at the Olimpico, as last (they duetted on “Perfect” and “Little Stella”, as a spoiler from the fans’ videos pending the gates, who found themselves unwittingly yesterday afternoon at the tests). «Everything you listen to tonight is played live. There are no pre-recorded bases. It is I who create them, live. And now I will show you how I do it, “he explained at a certain point of the show, alluding to the complex system with which through the loops he creates the rhythmic rugs on which he performs live. It is not new: it has always done it (sharing the stage for a few pieces even with a band). But fans listened to him as if it were the first time.

From “Castle on the Hill”, a tribute to adolescent escape with friends at the Castle of Framlingham, in the County of Suffolk, to “Bad Habits”, passing through “Shivers”, the same “The A Team”, “Don’t,” Sapphire “(the latest anticipation from the new album” Play “, which will be released on September 12, after” Azizam “and” Old ” Phone “),” Eyes Closed “,” Take Me Back to London “,” Photograph “,” Tenerife Sea “, the concert was a monument to dedication and commitment that Sheeran has always put in his music, in his path. Fortunately, there are still stories like this.

“Castle on the hill”
“Blow”
“Shivers”
“The A Team”
“Don’t”
“LEGO House”
“Dive”
“Sapphire”
“Eyes Closed”
“Give Me Love”
“I Was Made for Loving You” (with Tori Kelly)
“Take Me Back To London/River/Cross Me/Peru/Beautiful People/South of the Border/Own It/I Don’t Care”
“Drive”
“Celestial”
“Galway Girl”
“Nancy Mulligan”
“Thinking Out Loud”
“Love Yourself”
“Sing”
“Old Phone”
“Happier”
“Photograph”
“Tenerife Sea”
“Little Stella” (with last)
“Perfect” (with last)
“Bloodstream”
“Afterglow”
“You need me, I Don’t Need You”
“Azizam”
“Shape of You”
“Bad Habits