I know Ed Sheeran detests music journalism, and probably thinks he needs another review like he needs another cut in the face, but here goes:

The jumbotron preamble involved an animated equals sign covered in butterflies, which played on loop for a few minutes while the audience settled in. The sun had just set and indigo twilight illuminated the cloudless sky. I’ve spotted a plethora of planes flying right over our heads so either we’re on a busy flight path or there are a lot of curious pilots leaving Logan.

Out strolled Ed Sheeran, the mega pop star who set a Gillette stadium record last year by himself with 71,723 tickets sold. For Boston Calling, Sheeran showed he wasn’t above playing a festival headliner spot at Harvard Athletic Complex. How does one go from playing where the Patriots play to the Harvard Crimson in one year? Lucky break for Boston I guess – and like Sheeran’s ability to record live instrumentals in sync, we had good timing on our side as well. So he was in the neighborhood and thought he’d stop by, I suppose. Throughout the set, Sheeran excitedly mentioned his one-off 10th anniversary show in New York earlier this week, for which he had to relearn a number of songs off his blockbuster second album, X, some of which he’d never even performed live. 

As soon as Sheeran entered the stage, the crowd snapped to attention. Acoustic loop, thunderous thumping on the guitar body for a kick drum effect, and then delivered the vocals to “Castle on the Hill.” I’m not using extreme adjectives for effect, the thump on the guitar sounded titanic, and I almost felt bad for the neighbors – especially since Ed’s set ran over the allotted time. I don’t think Sheeran’s used to playing short sets within a festival’s tight time frame. 

The whole day suddenly felt like it was actually just 25 opening acts for an Ed Sheeran concert, as the football field full of fans sang along rapturously and swayed on the astroturf, unlike anything I’d seen all Friday long. A powder keg of energy, the four time Grammy Award winner ripped through hit-after-hit while donning his casual red flannel and green Nike high tops. Many of the performers on Friday were comfortable in the slow-mid tempo range, so Sheeran’s quick hitting pop strumming was a welcome high.

He liberally shared backstory on a number of tunes. He wrote “I’m a mess” in the shower, “The A Team” was unpopular until it wasn’t – and then became his first hit.  “Eyes Closed” was written in the span of a month between a friend’s sudden death and their funeral. He commented on how when he was at the Celtic’s second playoff win on Thursday, he remembered how Irish the city Boston is, so he wanted to share that he himself is a product of two Irish parents. He then sang us an acapella folk song called “The Parting Glass.” 

As I mentioned before, he played his full time – and then some. With two songs to go, he said he’d already gone over by five minutes and then launched into his loudest tune yet, “Shape of You.” LOL. He closed out with “Bad Habits,” the audio was instantly gone, the lights quickly turned off, and we shuffled out.