Ed Sheeran — Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
The Loop Tour — February 21, 2026
By the time Ed Sheeran took to the stage at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium for the second of three sold-out Loop Tour dates, the equation was already clear: one man, a guitar, a loop pedal — and 50,000 people hanging off every word. This was Sheeran’s fourth time headlining the venue, and familiarity has only sharpened his instinct for how to work a Queensland crowd.
He opened with “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You,” beginning on the B-stage — a circular satellite connected to the main platform by a long bridge that sliced through the crowd like a runway. It was a savvy move. Sheeran has always thrived on proximity over pomp, and much of the night found him stationed at that B-stage, holding the stadium in the palm of his hand as if it were a pub in Ipswich rather than a sporting colossus in Milton.
From there, he pivoted into “Sapphire” and a rousing “Castle on the Hill,” the latter detonating early as a communal sing-along. “The A Team” provided the first hush of the evening, thousands of phone lights swaying in unison. Sheeran’s banter — self-deprecating, quick, deeply English — stitched the set together. He spoke about Brisbane’s humidity, about how many times he’s played the venue, about the peculiar joy of watching a stadium crowd attempt complex harmonies. There’s an art to making scale feel intimate; Sheeran has mastered it.
The Loop Tour’s staging is built for movement, and Sheeran used it like choreography. “Shivers” and “Don’t” pulsed with percussive urgency before he returned to the B-stage for a fan-voted segment: “Boat,” “Lego House,” and “Sing.” The latter saw the crowd take over Pharrell’s elastic hooks, Sheeran grinning as if slightly stunned by the volume.
Mid-set, he welcomed Irish folk band Beoga to the main stage. If Sheeran’s pop instincts are global, his Celtic heart still beats close to the surface. “Galway Girl” and “Nancy Mulligan” transformed Suncorp into a giant ceilidh, fiddles skittering across the humid night air. The collaboration bled into “I Don’t Care,” “Heaven,” “Camera,” and “Celestial,” the arrangements swelling with live instrumentation that gave even the slickest pop moments a rustic edge.
There was one hiccup: during “I Don’t Care” — his juggernaut duet with Justin Bieber — the video screens briefly malfunctioned. For a beat, the slick visuals blinked out. Sheeran laughed it off. The crowd barely noticed; in a show built around loops and live layering, the spectacle is secondary to the craft.
Back on the B-stage, Sheeran delivered a medley mash-up — “Eastside,” “2002,” “Cold Water,” “Little Things,” “Love Yourself” — a reminder of his pen’s reach across the pop ecosystem. “Thinking Out Loud” and “Perfect” were met with full-throated devotion. When he closed “I See Fire” back on the main stage, it felt almost ceremonial — a bridge between the troubadour he was and the arena monarch he has become.
The final stretch hit like a victory lap. “Symmetry,” “Bloodstream,” and “Afterglow” surged with muscular intensity before the encore detonated into “Shape of You,” “Azizam,” and “Bad Habits.” Confetti cannons erupted; the bridge glowed; the Loop graphics spiralled overhead. Yet even amid the fireworks, Sheeran remained what he’s always been: a songwriter first, a showman second.
What makes this tour compelling isn’t reinvention but refinement. Sheeran doesn’t need dancers or pyro-heavy theatrics to command a stadium. He builds songs from scratch in front of you — beat by beat, harmony by harmony — until you realise 50,000 people are singing something that began as a solitary guitar line.
On a humid Brisbane night, in a stadium he now knows like a second home, Ed Sheeran proved that scale doesn’t have to dilute sincerity. If anything, it magnifies it. Four shows at Suncorp and counting — and he still makes it feel like he’s playing just for you.
Words: Mitchell Peters
Photo: Rachel Bray