Ed Sheeran fans from around the world queue overnight for homecoming concert
The 34-year-old is due to perform three shows at Portman Road, the home of Ipswich Town, the football club he supports and has previously sponsored, from Friday to Sunday, with fans coming from as far away as the US to see the singer.
Hayley Judge, who is from south London and was at the Suffolk venue in the early morning and claims to be the world's only female Ed Sheeran tribute act, told BBC Radio Suffolk that she was looking forward to hearing the singer's new songs which she was "loving," but added that 2011's The A Team"never gets old for me".
She said: "I used to run an open mic, and one of the guys came to the open mic one night, and he played The A Team, and I'm like, 'Oh, that's an amazing song.'
"And then that's how I started following Ed and just started learning his songs and bought a loop station, the little one that Ed used to have. I think the first loop song I ever did was Small Bump all those years ago, and it's just sort of progressed from there."
Judge has met Sheeran on three occasions, with the latest coming when she won a competition to join the singer on a pink bus which drove around London to celebrate the release of his single Azizam earlier this year.
She added: "We spent a good hour-and-a-half just going around London, really intimate gig with him playing on the top deck of the bus, and then afterwards, he came round and just spent like five minutes with everyone on the bus and just chatted.
"That's when he said, 'I've seen your cover of Azizam, how's the tribute stuff going?', and I did say to him on the bus, I said, 'One day Ed, me and you'll do a duet', and he shouted back, 'Yeah, let's do it today', but unfortunately, obviously it was a very busy day, so we didn't get to do it then."
Sheeran will be supported by Myles Smith and Tori Kelly for the 11 July show, before Busted and Dylan open on 12 July, and James Blunt and Maisie Peters complete the line-up on 13 July.
The shows come after he announced his eighth studio album Play would be released in September.
Fan Debbie, who has travelled from Indiana in the US for the concert, told BBC Radio Suffolk: "Actually, I didn't know who Ed was until 2020, because I had a hearing loss and I didn't listen to music, and with my hearing aids, Ed got me into music again, so I'm a latecomer."
Sheeran was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, but moved to Framingham Earl in Suffolk as a child and has owned a minority share in nearby football club Ipswich Town since last year, with the club being relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2024-2025 season.
He has had 14 UK number one singles and eight UK number one albums, and the singer's best known songs include The A Team Lego House, Sing, and Don't.
On Thursday, the singer in London's Heni Gallery.
Gates open for his Ipswich shows at 4.30pm, with a curfew at 10.30pm.
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Extra.ie
a day ago
- Extra.ie
Ed Sheeran fans all say the same thing as 'superfan leaks' new song
Ed Sheeran fans have said that the singer is a genius after a 'superfan' ended up 'leaking' his new song. The Lego House singer will be releasing his latest album, Play, in September, and releasing three singles ahead of the album — including the hit Azizam. While no official title has come for the fourth single, it has been 'leaked' by Ed and a well known fan of his; only Rupert Grint, who played an obsessive Ed fan in the music video for Lego House. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos) In a post to his Instagram, Ed (who may or may not be currently involved in some hostage situation) sings the pre-chorus to the song before the camera cuts to Rupert, who begins lip syncing to the chorus, with fans delighted at the reunion 14 years later. 'Omg!!!!' one person commented, while another added 'video of the year already.' Ed's team also joked on Twitter (X) that his account was 'hacked 'and that the song was 'leaked' by Rupert — saying in a 'statement' 'We've been made aware that Ed's social media accounts have been accessed by an unknown party. Unreleased music has been posted on his profiles.' Ed Sheeran. Pic:for Coachella 'We have been working hard on securing the accounts, and from looking into this further we have managed to obtain a distorted picture of the person of interest who appears to be wearing an orange hoodie [a reference to the Lego House music video].' 'Relevant officials are now aware of the breach and our findings,' the faux statement added, before joking 'However, we have made the decision to keep the song up because it's a banger.' Ed recently spoke about his Irish heritage after he caused a heavy discussion online when he said he was 'culturally Irish,' with him revealing last month that he actually holds an Irish passport. Ed recently spoke about how he felt culturally Irish in a podcast appearance — later proving himself with an Irish passport. Pic: Leah Farrell/ After saying on the Louis Theroux podcast that he feels culturally Irish, Ed has expanded on his comments — saying that he was brought up around Irish culture, and has an Irish podcast (which was recently ranked the most powerful in the world, in case you missed it!). 'My dad is Irish. My family is Irish,' Ed wrote in an Instagram comment that he later shared on his story. 'I have an Irish passport. The culture I was brought up around in is Irish. The first music I learnt was Irish. 'Just coz I was born somewhere else doesn't change my culture, I can be allowed to feel connection to a place [that] half of my family is from.'
Irish Times
6 days ago
- Irish Times
Tracing the real people in Brian Friel's ‘first great Irish play'
Brian Friel had a healthy suspicion of journalists. A reporter once described how, when asked to reflect on the success of one of his plays, he did 'a touching impersonation of an opossum playing dead at the approach of danger'. Still, in February 1963, when a journalist from the Belfast Telegraph caught up with him, Friel was frank about his work in progress. He was writing a play called The Ballad of Ballybeg but didn't know if he'd ever finish it: 'I have been working at it for six months and so far my characters aren't moving.' His ambition, he added, was to write 'the great Irish play': 'Such a play is one where the author can talk so truthfully and accurately about people in his own neighbourhood … so that these folks could be living in Omagh, Omaha or Omansk.' A few weeks later, the 34-year-old left for Minneapolis, where over several months as an 'observer' at the Guthrie Theater he honed his craft. On his return home, he and his wife Anne took their children to the Rosses of west Donegal. And there, near Kincasslagh, which comprised little more than O'Boyle's shop and Logue's hotel (in truth, a bar), the Ballad of Ballybeg became Philadelphia, Here I Come! READ MORE The play spans the night and morning before the emigration of Gar O'Donnell, a young man conflicted about both his imminent departure and his relationship with his emotionally inarticulate father, Screwballs, a county councillor and proprietor of a general store. Philadelphia opened at the Dublin Theatre Festival to a rapturous reception in September 1964. It moved to Broadway in 1966, where it ran for 324 performances and won several Tony Awards, including that for Best Play. Friel had written his first 'great Irish play'. Screwballs Main Street, Glenties, Co Donegal. Photograph: Finbarr O'Reilly/The New York Times Philadelphia was the first play Friel set in 'Ballybeg'. Among the others are Translations (1980) and his best-loved work, Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), whose run at Dublin's 3Olympia finishes this weekend. And because of the symmetry between Lughnasa's characters and the lives of his mother's people in Glenties, there is a tendency to assume 'Ballybeg' represents that southwest Donegal town. But then, as Friel intimated to the Belfast Telegraph, Ballybeg is Anywhere. Well, it is Anywhere – and it is not. In Philadelphia, for instance, the stage directions for the shopkeeper-cum-county councillor's entrance are as follows: 'SB appears at the shop door. He is in his late 60s. Wears a hat, a good dark suit, collar and tie, black apron. SB O'DONNELL is a responsible, respectable citizen.' In notes on characters in an early draft, Friel remarks of Screwballs: 'Aged in his 60s. Hat. Daniel E O'Boyle.' It is a clear reference to Daniel E O'Boyle (1873–1958), the proprietor of the general store in Kincasslagh, who was a county councillor from 1925 through 1950, and who, just like Screwballs, had a younger wife. The Master Daniel E O'Boyle with his wife Annie O'Rawe, the daughter of a Falls Road publican, and their son Ted. Photograph: Courtesy of Breandán Mac Suibhne Daniel E O'Boyle died in 1958. However, at least one other character in Philadelphia was based on somebody who was alive in the 1960s: Master Boyle, who drops into Screwball's to say goodbye to Gar. And to rant about the priest trying to get him fired: 'Enter MASTER BOYLE from the scullery. He is around 60, white-haired, handsome, defiant. He is shabbily dressed; his eyes, head, hands, arms are constantly moving – he sits for a moment and rises again – he puts his hands in his pockets and takes them out again – his eyes roam around the room but see nothing.' Boyle has a gift for Gar, a volume of his poems: 'I had them printed privately last month.' Public Gar appears genuinely touched. But Private Gar, his alter ego, who has been sneering at Master Boyle, is dismissive: 'He's nothing but a drunken aul schoolmaster – a conceited, arrogant washout.' Master Boyle may seem a stock character. Indeed, in 1966 Friel himself said: 'All my characters are the stock ones of Irish plays … I use the stock people and then have to make something of them.' Still, young fellows who rocketed from the west of Ireland to college in bright cities sometimes burned up on re-entry. And if the drunken schoolmaster with frustrated ambitions was a stock character in Irish literature, he was a familiar figure in many small towns. In an early draft Friel named the person who was in his mind's eye when conjuring Master Boyle: 'The local teacher Dominick Kelly, brilliant, mad, touting his book of privately printed poems; years ago he urged Gar to 'clear out' and now that Gar is escaping the teacher turns mean through jealousy.' Dominic Ó Ceallaigh or O'Kelly (1900–70) was once considered 'brilliant' and he was what people in the 1960s called 'mad'. The son of schoolmaster, he trained for the priesthood, studying in Rome in 1915–18, but abandoned the idea after completing a degree in Philosophy. Returning to Ireland, he joined the IRA. A severe beating from Black and Tans left him deaf in one ear. After the Civil War, in which he took the anti-Treaty side, he taught in various schools in Dublin, including stints in Belvedere and Blackrock, before becoming principal of Finglas National School and then, in 1930, principal in Rush. In 1933, he left Rush to become principal of Dungloe National School, settling in Kincasslagh, where his wife Úna, herself a teacher, was appointed to a position in the local school. Úna O'Kelly (née Turner) was a native of Gortalowry, CoTyrone, where she had been taught by Friel's aunt, Kate MacLoone. [ Anne Friel on her late husband playwright Brian: 'I was crazy about him. He was everything' Opens in new window ] O'Kelly was active in Fianna Fáil, attending ardfheiseanna as a constituency delegate. Indeed, he was master of ceremonies in 1937 at a Fianna Fáil Aeraíocht, cultural festival, on Narin Strand when eight-year-old Brian Friel was among the performers. And then things came undone. On the morning of July 17th 1939, O'Kelly left Kincasslagh on the mail car to go to his school in Dungloe – it was the holidays – and when he arrived home at 4.45pm he clearly had drink taken. He took his dinner, and then at 6.00pm said was going to get the paper at Daniel E O'Boyle's, a stone's throw from the house. After 15 minutes there, he crossed the road to Logue's. On arrival home at 10.00pm, 'very drunk', he picked a row with his wife when he was unable to tune the wireless. Then he viciously attacked her, punching and kicking her unconscious. A priest was called to administer the last rites to her. According to court records, O'Kelly called him a 'baldy-headed bastard' and ordered him out of the house. Arrested in Belcruit on July 24th, O'Kelly was removed to Sligo Gaol and brought to court three days later, charged with inflicting grievous bodily harm on his wife and indecently assaulting one of the maids, a young girl. A trial date was set for mid-October and O'Kelly remanded in custody. Catherine Walsh (as Madge), Shane O'Regan (Gar Public), Alex Murphy (Gar Private) and Seamus O'Rourke (Screwballs/SB O'Donnell) in a 2021 production of 'Philadelphia' at Cork Opera House. Photograph: Michael Mac Sweeney/Provision However, on August 17th he was released on bail to Letterkenny Asylum. In October, a doctor testified in court that he was unfit to plead: 'He was suffering from a certain amount of depression and confusion, and a certain amount of loss of memory.' Press reports at the time show the judge ruled O'Kelly was 'not of sound mind' and returned him to the asylum. There he remained until February 1941, when a jury deemed him sane. He now pleaded guilty to three charges relating to the assault on his wife; the indecent assault charge had been dropped. The judge sentenced him to three months in Sligo Gaol. Úna O'Kelly, meanwhile, moved with their children to Ramelton, north Donegal, where her brother Seán was an established solicitor, and resumed her teaching career. By 1943, Dominic O'Kelly was back teaching, at the Prior School, a Protestant secondary school, in Lifford. He taught there until 1948, when he returned to primary teaching in CoSligo as principal of St John's Well and then, in 1950, of Geevagh, a three-teacher school, moving a few years later to Claremorris, Co Mayo. After a car hit him in 1959, he retired early to Downings, north Donegal. O'Kelly knew no shame. Since his release from prison, he had been a regular contributor of verse to the regional press, especially the Derry Journal . In 1960 he published, like Master Boyle, a collection of his poetry, Sky, Sea, Sod. It was available from the printer, the Donegal Democrat, and from himself for 10 shillings and sixpence. His short introduction alludes to his 'undermined career' and there is a marked note of grievance in several poems, notably the 30-verse 'Death by Despair (How a Man Might Die in a Mental Hospital)', which includes his self-pitying account of his attack on his wife. [ 'Glenties is the stage': Brian Friel's Donegal Opens in new window ] Dominic O'Kelly died in 1970. An obituary in the Derry Journal lamented the passing of a man of 'giant intellect', a 'most lovable and entertaining character', and a 'poet of outstanding genius'. Preceding it on the very same page was an interview with Friel on plans to make a film of Philadelphia. Friel alone likely got the irony. Other characters Translations: Brenda Scallon and Liam Neeson in the original production of Brian Friel's play in the Guildhall, Derry, in 1980. Photograph: Rod Tuach The solicitor who represented O'Kelly in 1939–41 was Pa O'Donnell (1907–70) of Burtonport, a UCD-educated lawyer, who was subsequently a Fine Gael TD (1949–70) and minister for local government (1954–57). Although not mentioned by name in Friel's drafts, might O'Donnell have been the model for the UCD-educated Senator Doogan in Philadelphia? Perhaps. Certainly, other Rosses notables inspired characters in Friel's 'Ballybeg' plays. In a draft of Translations, for instance, Friel describes the Ballybeg hedge-schoolmaster as 'a kind of dissipated Eunan O'Donnell'. Eunan O'Donnell (1923–99), who had an MA in Classics, had established a fee-paying secondary school in Dungloe in 1956. And when free education was introduced, and it was decreed that Dungloe was to have a vocational school, with an emphasis on the trades, not a secondary school, with an emphasis on academic subjects, he left to teach in Gonzaga in Dublin. In the play, Hugh O'Donnell, the Greek- and Latin-speaking hedge-schoolmaster is uncomfortable with the incoming national schools. He remembers, how, in 1798, he and Jimmy Jack, a 60-year-old who knew the classics and not much else, had marched, with the Aeneid in their pockets, before getting drunk in Phelan's pub in Glenties. There, overcome by the desiderium nostrorum (the need for our own), they resolved to march home. 'And that was the longest 23 miles back I ever made.' Glenties, before the road was straightened in recent years, was 23 miles from Kincasslagh. So Ballybeg isn't Glenties any more, Toto, it is Kincasslagh? No, Dorothy: Ballybeg is Anywhere, but populated in Philadelphia and Translations with characters modelled on people in the Rosses where Brian Friel holidayed from the 1950s. Breandán Mac Suibhne is a historian at the University of Galway. He is writing a book on the individuals on whom the characters in Dancing at Lughnasa are based. A new 35th anniversary production of Dancing at Lughnasa opens on August 1st at St Columba's Comprehensive School in Glenties, near the house in which was play was set.
The Irish Sun
13-07-2025
- The Irish Sun
Inside Ed Sheeran's epic homecoming gigs with hit-packed set & fireworks as he reveals plan for party after tour
I'M deep in the bowels of Portman Road stadium playing keepy-uppy when I clock someone walking into the room. The corridors were already abuzz with tour managers and crew, so if it wasn't for the repeated hugs a very familiar flame-haired man was getting, I wouldn't have noticed him. 9 Ed Sheeran played a series of hometown gigs at Portman Road stadium Credit: Supplied 9 Ed in his Ipswich kit as a youngster Credit: X/@edsheeran 9 Ed and Sun man Jack Credit: Supplied With zero fanfare, one of the most successful British artists of all time walks over to me, hand outstretched. 'I'm Ed,' he smiles — as if Ed Sheeran needs any introduction. Despite never losing eye contact as we chat, in his hands he's signing a stack of Polaroid pictures — shuffling on to the next one like a world-class magician. 'I have thousands of these to do, I do them everywhere,' he laughs. The Polaroids will eventually make their way into special limited-edition copies of his upcoming eighth album Play. read more on ed sheeran It's been three years since Ed last did shows in the UK and this weekend feels special. We meet on Friday evening before the first of his three sell-out By today, Ed will have played to 90,000 fans. After I tell him I can't believe he's not exhausted from touring the globe non- stop for four years, Ed nods: 'I'm knackered. Most read in Bizarre 'The tour ends in September. I'm going to have a big party to celebrate the end of the tour. It's been four years.' At least for this weekend Ed got to wake up in his own bed in his ' Ed Sheeran teams up with school pals AND 00s rock legend for epic performance 'All three nights I'm at home — even Sunday,' Ed says, clearly relieved to be back for a burst of normality. But a boozy Sunday was off the cards after he took his final bow last night. Ed tells me: 'When I did Wembley in 2022, we went out the night before. 'But now I can't, I have kids. We are up at 6am no matter where I am. After I'm politely asked if we are ready for our photograph — Ed isn't officially doing interviews — The A Team singer interjects, keen to talk about me and where I'm from. Explaining I'm from a little village in A lifelong Ipswich fan, Ed asks if I support Derby County. Unable to bluff my way through, I admit football isn't really my bag. Instead I find common ground by telling him we were both in Germany last week, him on his mammoth Mathematics world tour and me for Cologne Pride. He asks how it was and after telling him about my three days of non-stop partying, I get back to business. 9 Ed stands in front of the Ipswich Town crest before his gig Credit: Supplied 9 It's been three years since Ed last did shows in the UK Credit: Bav Media It's hard to play down the significance of the gigs for both Ed and Ipswich. Fans have flown in from all over the world and have been camping outside the stadium since 4am in baking heat. While the local Burger King is offering an Ed combo special for £10.99. By the time he takes to the stage at 8.15pm, the atmosphere is electric. Ed kicks things off with new track Sapphire followed by 2021 No1 Shivers and his 2011 track The A Team. Within the first 15 minutes, multiple pyrotechnics and fireworks pop off around us. Beaming, Ed tells the crowd: 'It's good to be back. "I have been looking forward to this so, so much. 'SPECIAL WEEKEND' 'All the times I've come to this stadium and imagined playing it. 'It looks amazing.' Ed continues: 'Over the last 15 years I've only really played one other big show in Ipswich. 'We played a park to signal the end of Divide and it's really cool to play here and signal the beginning of Play. 'Everything you hear tonight is live. 'There is no backing track whatsoever — it's all made by me.' As I join the thousands watching Ed, it's impossible not to be in awe of both his ability to deliver a five-star performance with just his guitar and a loop pedal — and the sheer volume of hits he has in his back catalogue. Opening up about 'Writing songs is not only my hobby, it's my life. 'All I want to do is write songs and play shows. 'These became such big news stories. 'And the reason is that it's kind of an open secret in the music industry that this happens behind the scenes. 'Both of those cases came to me a year before and said we are going to make this really public and say you stole this song unless you give us some money. 'But I was like, 'I haven't done anything wrong'. 'Both times the reason it went so big was because I said 'no' — but reputationally for a few years people thought I was a thief.' On Friday night Ed surprised fans by bringing out Westlife for a rendition of their 1999 classic Flying Without Wings. Ed may have 43 Top 10 singles, including 14 No1s, and sold more than 200million records worldwide, but he hasn't lost touch with where he's from. He continues: 'I never underestimate the amount of effort it takes to get to a gig. 'Some people fly here, they get trains. 9 By the end of the weekend Ed will have played to 90,000 fans Credit: Supplied 9 Ed has sold more than 200million records worldwide Credit: Bav Media 'People taking time out of their daily schedule. 'They get babysitters. 'Even just the act of getting tickets in the first place. 'It's effort to come to one of these shows and I am so grateful. 'It's such a special weekend for me to be with my family and friends and I'm so grateful we could share it together. 'Thank you for making so much effort.' I think the thanks are to you Ed, for the music which has soundtracked our lives for the past 15 years. Oh, and if you see my cap, I accidentally left it in your dressing room. Consider it yours. CHART CHAMP'S £10M BONUS ED'S homecoming weekend could boost the local economy by around £10million – thanks to fans splashing the cash on hotels, meals out and drinks. Tickets for all three shows sold out within an hour earlier this year. 9 A boat in the Ipswich marina with a 'Welcome home Ed' banner Credit: Supplied A boat in the marina was emblazoned with a 'Welcome home Ed' banner and Ipswich town centre was packed all day – with guitar shop owner John Fender, who previously served Ed in his store, telling the BBC his shop has never been busier. John said: 'He used to come in and buy music books when he was growing up, then in October 2022 he popped in and bought a guitar and amp from us before his surprise gig in the Cornhill. 'Everyone's buzzing. 'We've had some people in today from Germany, from America. 'People are travelling from all around to Ipswich. 'I think it's brilliant for the town and the area.' Bizbit THROUGHOUT the weekend Ed was supported by some big names on stage. Bizarre can reveal that rather than simply leaving it up to record label execs to fill the bill, he hand-picked each act, including his good pal Myles Smith, Tori Kelly, Busted, Dylan, James Blunt and Maisie Peters. HE'S FLYING HIGH ED'S fans got a special treat after he was joined on stage by Westlife, left, to kick off his three-night run. Revealing why he invited the lads over from Ireland, he said via Instagram: 'The reason I wrote Shape Of You was that I wanted to go in the studio with one of the men that was behind Flying Without Wings – producer Steve Mac. 9 Ed performing with Westlife Credit: Bav Media "It's one of my favourite songs of all time. 'I used to pretend I was in Westlife when I was, like, nine years old. 'But tonight I got to actually be a member, playing with Steve and Beoga on stage for the homecoming shows at Ipswich Town. 'Just pure magic. 'Thank you for flying over, lads. 'I will never forget that moment x.' Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.
