The things you do for Ed

The things you do for Ed

By Lina Le

It was 8am, and fans of Ed Sheeran were already lining up at Etihad Stadium, where the singer was due to perform at 8pm the same night.

Some at the start of the queue had been here since 5am the morning before, and slept on the spot with camping gear.

“I left home at 6am yesterday. We have to get here early so we can get the front row when the door opens,” said Eilidh Murray, an 18-year-old student.

Eilidh and her 19-year-old friend Erin Gough bought their tickets in May 2017, and spent two days waiting at the gate with all their bedding and snacks brought from home.

And they were not the only ones. When Erin arrived at the stadium at around 5am on Thursday, March 8, she noticed other girls waiting with tickets for the Sunday show, but they were asked to leave because they were far too early.

Ed Sheeran clearly attracts a young crowd. Some of the waiting girls were as young as 16, taking a day off from school so they could be in the queue.

“Our parents are very supportive,” said one of the girls.

At Gate 1, Jess Aylett and her three other friends, the oldest being 26, were at the front of the queue with their tent and sleeping bags on the floor. They even had a toaster for sandwiches and a kettle for coffee. They showered in the gym nearby, where they got a free trial membership.

“We flew from Adelaide yesterday morning at 10am, went straight out here from the plane and we’ve been here since,” Jolene Whibley, one of the friends, said.

The four of them met online through their mutual love for Ed Sheeran and decided to follow the tour together.

“We have been going to every single concert in his Australian tour. We’ve got tickets for all four shows in Melbourne,” Jolene said.

“We’ve been planning and saving for this. We took a whole month off work and school. It’s worth it,” Jess said of their journey.

Speaking about Ed Sheeran’s music, the fans were very sentimental.

“I love the way his music makes me feel, the way it makes all of us feel. It’s genius,” Caity Gough, a fan from Wandong, said.

The series of four-day concerts in Melbourne on March 9, 10, 11 and 12 is part of Sheeran’s third world concert tour – the Divide Tour with the first show held in Italy last year.

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