Ed Sheeran at MetLife review: Singer-songwriter gets voices to rise and bodies to sway

After the week we had, New Jerseyans needed a good date night out.

Ed Sheeran delivered.

The British singer-songwriter put on an engaging two-hour show of ballads, pop rockers and a little hip-hop, too, for the nearly 80,000 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford.

If you attended the show with someone who wasn’t your sweetie, chances are they were when you left.

“At this point are the songs your grandmother will know,” Sheeran said while introducing “Thinking Out Loud.” “If you don’t know the words you’re at the wrong concert.”

Voices rose, bodies swayed and inhibitions lessened.

Sheeran has that effect on people. It’s an interesting talent as he was in constant motion for much of the show on his in-the-round stage at the 50 yard line. There were six leaning towers and six guitar pick-shaped video screens circling the bare stage, which had a movable track on the perimeter. Sheeran was on the track it for most of the night.

He played solo for the majority of the evening, depending on effect pedals and loop sequences to make an impressive sound.

“I’m going to be doing that for most of the night,“ Sheeran said.

He was right. It’s a sight to behold, Sheeran banging and pounding on his acoustic guitar, wailing into his mic, and deftly tapping his effects pedals to make his impromptu pop symphonies.

He’s not the best singer, and he seems to drum his guitar better than strum it, but he has that spark. His talent almost seemed to recede when he played with his five-price band. They sounded like any other group with the Grammy winner.

Wearing a black shirt that said “East Rutherford” on it, Sheeran switched to a Jets jersey for the encore. It was No. 5, named “Subtract” for his latest album. He delivered quite a rap while wearing it for his “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.”

We’ll say it was a touchdown.

Aaron Rodgers, the new Jets quarterback would agree. He called it an "incredible show" on his Instagram story after the show.

Sheeran comes back for another concert Sunday, June 11, at MetLife.

More: Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium song setlist: What was performed in East Rutherford

Sheeran did not mention the air quality emergency New Jersey and the surrounding region experienced earlier this week. It was moderate to good in the state hours before Saturday's show, according to the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. The state's air quality began improving late Thursday morning after reaching hazardous conditions Wednesday, June 7, from an unprecedented amount of smoke that descended on the region from Canadian forest fires.

Sheeran, who made the improbable jump from busking in London subways more than a decade ago to become one of music's biggest stars, struck a somber tome on his latest album, “Subtract,” released last month. The album partly deals with the death of a close friend and the cancer diagnosis of his wife, Cherry Seaborn.

Sheeran's travails were depicted in the recently released Disney+ docuseries “Ed Sheeran: The Sum of It All.”

More: Ed Sheeran at MetLife Stadium is on as scheduled. Here's everything you need to know

In May, the singer-songwriter won a copyright infringement lawsuit against him that charged his hit, “Thinking Out Loud,” infringed on the Marvin Gaye classic “Let's Get It On.”

“I'm obviously very happy with the outcome of the case. And it looks like I'm not having to retire from my day job after all,” said Sheeran to reporters outside the courthouse. “But at the same time, I'm unbelievably frustrated that baseless claims like this are allowed to go to court at all.”

The Mathematics Tour, aka the +-=÷x Tour, began April 2022 in Dublin, and it's currently on its third leg. Up next after MetLife is June 17 and 18 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

Ed Sheeran setlist at MetLife on June 10

Tides

Blow

I'm a Mess

Shivers

The A Team

Castle on the Hill

Don't/No Diggity

Eyes Closed

Give Me Love

Boat

Own It/PERU/South of the Border/I Don't Care

Beautiful People (with Khalid)

Curtains

End of Youth

Overpass Graffiti

Collide

Galway Girl

Thinking Out Loud

Love Yourself

Sing

Photograph

Perfect

Bloodstream

Afterglow

You Need Me, I Don't Need You

Shape of You

Bad Habits

Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Ed Sheeran at MetLife: Complete review of concert, setlist