Chris Schulz: Ed Sheeran kicks off Loop Tour in Auckland

Ed Sheeran kicked off his Loop Tour last night in Auckland, and he had a few tricks up his sleeve.  

With a 10 storey tall screen behind the stage and a bridge that allowed him to perform in the middle of Go Media Stadium, it was a new level of spectacle.  

Chris Schulz was at the show last night, and he told Jack Tame Sheeran took it to levels he hadn’t seen before. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Teams podcast
from News Talks at Me.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Keep this love and sold. We meet these memos for ourselves.
We were as never closing hearts when times forever cross.

Speaker 3 (00:30):
So you can keep me sup Park.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
Jeez. Clubs have.

Speaker 3 (00:45):
Let us each yearn and photograph. He opened his series
of New Zealand shows and his world tour at Mounts
Mart's Go Media Stadium last night. Chris Schultz, our music reviewer,
was there a man who gets to more big gigs
than anyone I've even known. Good morning, So happy New Year, Jack.

Speaker 4 (01:05):
Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3 (01:06):
Yeah yeah, tell us about the show. It sounds sounds fantastic.

Speaker 4 (01:11):
It was a bit.

Speaker 5 (01:12):
This is a big show. This is the biggest kind
of stadium spectacle. I think he took it to levels
I haven't seen before. And he did that in a
couple of ways. One was with this huge screen. I
haven't seen a screen of this size set up in
a stadium anywhere before. It's so big I can't even

(01:33):
really describe it to you, Like I took a few
photos and it doesn't capture how big this thing is.

Speaker 4 (01:39):
It's approximately ten stories tall.

Speaker 5 (01:43):
And I was in the I was in the queue
for a burger, was am waiting for my burger, and
I heard each Aran's voice come out of the loud speaker.
He obviously starts at eight. It's very early for a
stadium show. So I ran in there and there's his
face on this big screen.

Speaker 4 (01:59):
Ten stories tall.

Speaker 5 (02:00):
It's intimidating, and it's kind of overwhelming because his face
is just hovering up there the whole time. You can
see every bead of sweat, every poor It's it's a
little bit terrifying.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
Actually, But he's got that.

Speaker 5 (02:16):
He's got the other trick he's got He's installed this
bridge into a stage, this bridge that comes out of
the main stage and then grows out over the crowd
to another stage in the middle of the arena. I've
never seen this before. It must have cost hundreds of
thousands of dollars. So he walks out over this thing
and he performs in the middle of the arenas, which

(02:38):
is it.

Speaker 4 (02:39):
It's kind of cool. I got it, met.

Speaker 5 (02:41):
I was incredibly impressed when this thing just started coming
out of the stage. But of course, you know, look
each year and he's so humble, he's so down to worth.
He has played probably to more New Zealanders than any
other artist to ever.

Speaker 4 (02:57):
He's kind of up there on his own and it's
sort of lonely at the top.

Speaker 5 (03:00):
You know, there's no one threatening him at this point,
at a time when artists aren't really touring stadium, he's
just casually filling five of them on this jaunt. And
he's done that by connecting with so many people. You know,
he writes these songs that are played during life's biggest moments.
He writes songs that are played at funerals and weddings

(03:22):
and proposals, and that's how he's doing it. I think personally,
I like a little more edge to my stadium shows,
a little more the story, and this is very much
him and him alone. He's got a band for like
about five songs, and to me, that was the best bit.
He had a band up on stage. He seemed really

(03:43):
happy because the pressure was off him. It wasn't just
him and his guitar up there. There were all these
other people to connect to, to jam with, to create
that kind of alchemy that a band gives you.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
But for the most part, it's just him.

Speaker 5 (03:55):
Which when I think about that, when I think about
forty thousand people staring at me and my face up
on a ten story digital screen.

Speaker 4 (04:03):
That gives me a panic attacks. That's not even one
who can do that, you know.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
So how polished did it feel? Given this is the
first show of many? You know, if he was a
bit further through the tour, I guess, you know, he'd
be kind of into more of a rhythm with everything.
What was your sense?

Speaker 5 (04:21):
He admitted he had nerves for the first time, and
I think he said over ten years, and it did
show a little bit. I did think the first sort
of forty five minutes, you know, the sun was still setting,
so it was quite bright, and so the stage wasn't
in full effect. He made everyone pull out their phones,
but that didn't kind of work because it.

Speaker 4 (04:39):
Was still quite light. Yeah, so you could sort of
see it a little bit. And then he admitted too
that the bridge timings weren't quite working as he wanted
them to.

Speaker 5 (04:48):
He wanted to be I think playing one of the
songs up on the bridge and it hadn't come out,
so he'd been stuck out on the podium. So there
were a few little moments like that. I think the
nerves actually showed more on how much time he spent
talking to the crowd. Almost every song was followed by
a story and anecdote something yeah, yeah, and.

Speaker 4 (05:08):
It kind of killed the momentum.

Speaker 5 (05:10):
I would love to see him just pick up that
momentum a little bit and bring people along with him
a little more.

Speaker 4 (05:15):
And by the end he did it. I think he realized.
And I think you will see some changes.

Speaker 5 (05:18):
If this was the third show or fifth show or
tenth show of the tour, I think all of that
will have been ironed out.

Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah right, it sounds like an epic kind of spectacle, though,
you know that. I mean that that screen alone is
just ridiculous.

Speaker 4 (05:33):
The screen and the pyro. He had more pyro than
I have ever seen.

Speaker 5 (05:37):
And I saw Metallica and they had plumes of flames
going up behind the stage.

Speaker 2 (05:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (05:42):
At one point I thought someone need to call the
fire department. The stage looked like it was on fire.

Speaker 5 (05:47):
And even I'd share enough towards he went bright red
and he's like, that was probably too hot.

Speaker 4 (05:52):
Yeah, there's a lot of pyro involved. Yeah, yeah, you
wouldn't want to be too close to it.

Speaker 3 (05:58):
A fantastic all right, Well, I'm envious of those who
are heading along this evening or over the next few days.
Thank you very much, Chris. Glad to hear your voice,
Glad that you enjoy it last night, and hopefully this
is only one of many dozens of shows you'll be
attending this year. Seems to usually be the case. And
of course you can find more of Chris's stuff on
his sub stack. That's boiler room. I think there are
two shows in christje at the Apollo Projects Stadium, what

(06:22):
next Saturday and Sunday. He's got aucland tonight and then
Wellington on Wednesday at Sky Stadium each year, and that
is what probably Chris as well, actually knowing Chris right now,
it's seven minutes to twelve on Newstalk's EDB.

Speaker 1 (06:34):
For more from Saturday Morning with Jack Tame, Listen live
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