Ed Sheeran plays to sold-out crowd

Singer's concert in Singapore is first after bike accident in London

Ed Sheeran's show saw him belting out songs like Perfect, Photograph and smash hit Shape Of You. During the 90-minute set, the crowd, ranging from pre-teens with their parents to middle-aged men, sang along whenever the singer prompted them.
Ed Sheeran's show saw him belting out songs like Perfect, Photograph and smash hit Shape Of You. During the 90-minute set, the crowd, ranging from pre-teens with their parents to middle-aged men, sang along whenever the singer prompted them. ST PHOTOS: ARIFFIN JAMAR
Ed Sheeran's show saw him belting out songs like Perfect, Photograph and smash hit Shape Of You. During the 90-minute set, the crowd, ranging from pre-teens with their parents to middle-aged men, sang along whenever the singer prompted them.
Ed Sheeran's show saw him belting out songs like Perfect, Photograph and smash hit Shape Of You. During the 90-minute set, the crowd, ranging from pre-teens with their parents to middle-aged men, sang along whenever the singer prompted them. ST PHOTOS: ARIFFIN JAMAR

Despite a wince of pain now and then, British singer Ed Sheeran pulled off a triumphant return to the stage in Singapore last night - his first show after a bicycle accident in London left him with a broken wrist, elbow and rib.

His shows in Taipei, Seoul, Hong Kong and Jakarta were cancelled as he was put out of action for six weeks by his doctors - making the Republic the first of the Asia stops for his Divide tour.

Sheeran, 26, played to a sold-out crowd of 10,000 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium with his cast off and sans wrist guard, tapping material off his third album Divide.

The 90-minute set saw the singer, with his looper pedal, belting out songs like Perfect, Photograph and smash hit Shape Of You.

The diverse crowd, ranging from pre-teens with their parents to middle-aged men, dutifully sang along as loudly as they could whenever the singer prompted them.

Sheeran returns to the stage tonight for his second of two sold-out shows.

SPH Brightcove Video
British singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran performs his latest hit Castle on the Hill at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
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"I feel good, I feel nervous but it'll be fun," he told the press ahead of the first show yesterday. "I haven't used these muscles in six weeks - I'll be fine but I think it'll ache."

He added: "I was quite sad about missing the beginning of the tour because this is my favourite part of the world, but I'm looking forward to getting back and playing - it has been a bit of a boring six weeks."

He admitted that this show, being his first since the injury, is not as rehearsed. "I don't really like knowing; I would rather just go out and have adrenaline, rather than playing and being (worried that) it is gonna hurt," he said.

After Singapore, he will be heading to Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Mumbai and Dubai. The singer, who recently released his music video for the song Perfect - starring actress Zoey Deutch - said that he plans to release a video for Happier next.

"That's the last single I want to put out and then be done with this album, I think. And then I'll start working on the next one," he said.

His first three albums had mathematical symbols, + (released in 2011), × (2014) and ÷ (2017), for names, but when asked if his next album would be "-", he said "maybe".

Sheeran has plenty else planned.

"There are lots of things that I want to do - I want to do another collaboration EP, a film soundtrack, an acoustic record. There are lots of stuff and I don't know what the next thing is going to be."

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Sunday Times on November 12, 2017, with the headline Ed Sheeran plays to sold-out crowd. Subscribe