Ed Sheeran has spent years performing to millions across the globe, but now he hopes the future of his live shows looks a little different and a lot closer to home.
Even after earning more than £1.16 billion in ticket sales from his last two massive world tours, he says constant travel is not something he wants to continue while his family grows.
The singer said his priority has shifted to being there for his wife Cherry and their daughters, Lyra and Jupiter, who will both be starting school soon.
He recently made a list of what really matters to him.
“I wrote down a list the other day of things that matter to me, and one is my family, one is songwriting, one is doing shows,” he explained.
He added that keeping these three at the center of his life means that “you can cut out the noise around it, however that noise may turn out.”
That thinking has led him to a big idea, to create a venue right near his Suffolk home where he could carry out a long-term stay.
It would allow him to continue performing live without spending months away.
“I explored the idea of building a venue in my hometown and doing a residency there,” he said.
“It takes away the travel and being away from my family. I’ve built a studio nearby that I can use. I feel like that’s the model you can adopt.”
It’s easy to see why he’s ready to slow down the pace of the global tour.
His latest Mathematics Tour included 188 shows on five continents, entertaining 8.8 million fans between April 2022 and September this year.
That run alone brought in £655.8 million, after his Divide Tour from 2017 to 2019 earned £581.3 million.
Still, Sheeran isn’t saying goodbye to the road just yet.
Fans worldwide can expect at least one more major tour attached to his latest album, Play.
On Prices Chat podcast, he admitted, “I’ve got one more big tour in me before I settle down for the school year. That’s the model I think I’m going to adopt. I feel like my life is going to be pretty messy. I commit to a lot of things and I end up doing quite a bit.”
For now, Sheeran is clearly focused on finding a balance, enough music for the fans and enough time at home for the moments that matter most.
