Best of 2025: The Formula Behind Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour

When Ed Sheeran began formulating his retrospective Mathematics Tour, the world around him was at a standstill. When it launched in April 2022 at Dublin’s Croke Park, it heralded the revival of the touring industry as one of the first major tours back out. And when it finishes in September at Düsseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena, it will have sold over 8m tickets across more than 140 headline shows in 42 countries. What Sheeran and his band of collaborators have achieved over this four-year global jaunt has been nothing short of extraordinary.

Coming off the record-shattering Divide Tour, Sheeran and his longtime manager Stuart Camp sat down to discuss what the future looked like. After a hearty round of drinks, the artist revealed plans to take time off touring as his wife Cherry was pregnant. “Weeks later, we went into lockdown,” Camp says.

The concept of an in-the-round show then began to take shape, with the brief from Sheeran simple: “It needed to be absolutely iconic. He wanted it to be something that looks and feels like something nobody else has ever done before,” recalls production director Chris Marsh, who’s worked with Sheeran since 2010.

So the team got to work, wheeling and dealing over video calls and email chains as the world around them shut down. Creative designer Mark Cunniffe had been dreaming of the day of an in-the-round show since Sheeran’s first stadium performance at London’s Wembley Stadium in 2015, and what he concocted fit the bill.

“I wanted an unencumbered view of the artist for 360 degrees, which physically hadn’t been done before. I knew it was possible with cable net, but I didn’t know if we could actually tour it. Once we’d done all of our due diligence, we took it to the artist. I said, ‘It’s going to be expensive, but we can do it. We can do this.’ And [he] loved it,” Cunniffe explains.

So, while in the midst of the global shutdown, Sheeran and Camp had to put up the money, to the tune of $25m, for a totally bespoke production, the likes of which had never been achieved before. Though faced with wild uncertainty, Camp affirms it was a project worth pursuing: “If it’s the last show we do, and we only do one, at least they’ll say it was fabulous.”

“He was looking at millions of pounds worth of investment to get this thing built, when we never knew if we were going to get to tour it”

It was all for the fans, confirms Jon Ollier, Sheeran’s worldwide agent (ex-US/Canada), who’s been with him since 2008. “Ed wanted to take the biggest, most spectacular show he could out on the road. He just wanted to give back to the fans. He was looking at millions and millions of pounds worth of investment to get this thing built, all while in the pandemic, when we never knew if we were going to get to tour it,” says the One Fiinix Live founder and CEO.

Going Solo
The well-oiled machine is kept on its toes by the star of the show. Though accompanied by a band for the first time in his career, a jeans-and-t-shirt-sporting Sheeran is the only person on stage as the band plays at the base of the masts.

“He doesn’t need all of that other stuff; whereas, a lot of artists rely on it,” says production manager Helen Himmons. “It’s kind of his USP, isn’t it? It’s him and his looper; that’s what people come to see. You don’t want him to hide behind all the other stuff.”

And though the show’s been running for years, it’s rarely the same show twice. What began as a 90-minute set has grown into a nearly three-hour headline slot. “Every operator is on the button at all times. Ed could change anything at any second, and he does change things, including the setlist and the way he performs songs. You can’t press play and wait until the end of the song. Every bit of it is hand-operated,” Marsh says.

And it seems one of the world’s biggest touring artists is only getting better.

“Ed’s performance ability has always been incredible, but he has just excelled from having to use that stage. It is so big, there’s nowhere to hide, and you have to constantly be moving. The energy comes at you from 360 degrees,” Ollier says.

“Every single eye of every manager, agent, and artist was on the tour to see how it went”

Calculated Success
Mathematics became a milestone when it launched in Dublin as the first post-Covid concerts to go ahead at full capacity in Ireland. “There were a lot of nerves, because it was the first time everyone had come back together. But getting it up and running, it was the most incredible moment to see this production just leap into action,” Ollier says.

But whilst night one saw the tour take off with flying colours, the second night marked the appearance of a bump in the road.

“Just before he went on, something failed. We didn’t know what it was at the time, but the revolve that he spins on stopped working and wouldn’t start again. As Ed is walking up the stairs to applause, about to start his first song, someone suggested that if we take the brakes off, we could do it manually. So we ended up with a dozen people [turning] the revolve [from beneath the stage],” Marsh says, laughing at the memory.

Himmons quickly rallied the crew: “We did it in shifts. So it’d be half an hour, then I’d have the group in the crew room call them in. One of our guys did actually ratchet strap himself to the thing so he could reach it [as he wasn’t tall enough]. It was brilliant. I think it was the fastest it’s ever gone round. It was a crisis, and everybody pulled together. The sense of achievement afterwards was just fantastic,” she shares.

After the run across Ireland, came Sheeran’s native UK, where the in-the-round show – which allows for more ticket sales – translated to record-breaking capacities at seemingly every stop on the tour leg.

“Every single eye of every manager, agent, and artist was on the tour to see how it went. And obviously, it was just incredible. It was the best sales we’d ever had in the UK,” says Daniel Ealam, Communion ONE’s MD, who’s been co-promoting Sheeran alongside Kilimanjaro Live’s Steve Tilley since the Wembley 2015 shows.

“Ed was big enough to say, ‘If you want to be in my business, this is how it has to be'”

With Covid fears and regulations looming – “Everyone’s wearing a bloody hazmat suit, and you can’t go anywhere, but we still managed to put a stadium show on,” Camp shares – the stakes were heightened for Sheeran’s entire crew.

“You couldn’t get insurance for Covid on a tour like that,” Ealam explains. “If we lost one of those stadium shows, we wouldn’t have been insured, which obviously has a big impact on all of our businesses.

“But then you go into Wembley Stadium, and you’ve got like 90,000 people in there, it’s just the best feeling in the world to promote and to go and see that and feel like you’re back,” he adds.
Alongside launching this historic run, Sheeran and company also set out to keep tickets in the fans’ hands. “We wrote a bunch of principles around ticketing, and we delivered them to the ticket vendors and to the venues, and said, ‘This is how we intend to do it, and this is what we expect.’ And everybody stepped up,” Steve Tilley says.

“The mission was to deliver a fully mobile ticket. It was all intended to sort of get rid of paper tickets and to try and make it as hard as possible for tickets to be touted.” Things like face-value resale and refreshing barcodes were implemented, and “because we had the power of Ed Sheeran, we had the ability to force things through where other artists may have had more pushback. Ed was big enough to say, ‘If you want to be in my business, this is how it has to be,’” Tilley explains.

Multiplying Demand
The first of three European legs followed, with blowout results in every market.

In France, he’s sold over 430,000 tickets across six shows – two each in Paris, Marseille, and Lille. “Demand has never slowed down,” says Salomon Hazot of AEG Presents France. “Every Ed Sheeran tour, even at stadium level, is a sell-out. It’s incredible to see such consistent enthusiasm. With the Mathematics tour, it’s the same story: six shows in France, and all sold out.”

“He knew the environment that the record had to be realised in”

In Austria, he sold 130,000 tickets for two shows at the Ernst Happel Stadium but could have easily shifted more, according to promoter Ewald Tatar of Barracuda Music. “There is no doubt that Ed could have sold additional dates in 2022,” he says. He returned to the country as a headliner for FM4 Frequency Festival in 2024, which “gave [him] the opportunity to connect with a broader and more diverse crowd, including fans who might not typically attend a solo stadium concert,” he adds.

Not that there’s any shortage of Sheeran fans (“Sheerios”), around the globe. The following year the tour picked up in Australia and New Zealand. Ahead of his sixth studio album, Subtract, which came out in May 2023, he launched the Subtract Tour with a brief arena and theatre jaunt around the UK/EU during a break from Mathematics. From here, Mathematics headed to North America, taking the Subtract Tour with it.

“He knew the environment that the record had to be realised in,” says Ash Mowry, his US/CA co-agent and VP of Wasserman Music. The stadium shows were preceded by an intimate theatre show in that week’s city throughout his North American run, with Mowry describing it as “a truly magical experience.”

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that anyone around him marvels at his work ethic. “He is the hardest working person I have ever been around,” says Marty Diamond, his US/CA co-agent and EVP/managing executive of Wasserman Music. “He is completely non-stop. And that’s hard to do, not just as a performer but as a creator and a humanitarian, too. When you have an artist who works as hard as him, it’s really easy to get everyone else to work as hard as him. He’s just an unstoppable force,” he adds

After traversing North America for the rest of 2023, with the help of AEG subsidiary Messina Touring Group, Sheeran debuted in Bahrain in 2024, playing a 10,000-capacity amphitheatre in Sakhir. Lance Tobin, VP of booking at Al Dana Amphitheatre, described it as a “game-changer” for both the venue and the country.

“His passion and enthusiasm to take the shows to these places means we get to go along and enjoy the ride”

“Most of the venues that are on a tour are stadiums or these massive venues, and we’re just a 10,000-capacity amphitheatre. It was a massive look for us. And Ed’s the type of guy who really digs in in terms of helping promo: he was online on his socials, talking about Al-Dana and about Bahrain. It was really the biggest look that the country had up to this point,” says Tobin.

Mathematics saw Sheeran return to perform at Al-Dana again in April 2025 over the run, selling a total of 20,000 tickets for both visits combined.

Divide & Conquer
Few markets were left unturned for Sheeran, who continued on an expansive Middle East and Asian tour before hopping on the North American and European festival circuit during summer 2024 at the likes of Rock in Rio Lisboa, Hurricane & Southside festivals, and Pinkpop. This stint was followed by more headline dates across Europe, including a two-night run in Lithuania to open the brand-new Darius and Girėnas Stadium.

AEG and FKP Scorpio joined with L Tips Agency to deliver the shows in the multi-purpose venue, selling 83,000 tickets to a 90% Lithuanian audience. The Latvia-based L Tips team overcame the language barrier to deliver their first-ever stadium shows, a core memory for marketing manager Līva Toniņa.

“When the stage was built and the audience was already in, and we stood around with the core team and all of us, there was this feeling of, ‘Wow, we did this.’ It’s so big visually, and it all went smoothly,” she says.

The year finished with Sheeran’s only South American date on this run, a headline slot at Brazil’s Rock in Rio. A proper LatAm tour wasn’t feasible during this run because of the surging costs of touring around things like energy and freight, according to Ollier.

“What we did together in India has definitely paved the way for major international artists to go and do an interior tour”

But 2025 promised unique opportunities for the crew. The year began with a historic show in Bhutan, followed by an interior India tour, six shows in China, and more across the Middle East.

“With Ed especially, you get to go to territories you normally wouldn’t,” says Himmons. “His passion and enthusiasm to take the shows to these places means we get to go along and enjoy the ride and get experiences we wouldn’t get elsewhere. Even though the show might be the same, because we’re always in different places culturally, the experience is very different.”

In January, Sheeran became the first-ever international artist to perform in the Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan with a 25,000-capacity show at Changlimithang Stadium in front of a primarily domestic audience. “To see the faces of people in the audience who have never seen a concert before, from ages six to 80, was incredible, and it was really impactful for everyone working on the show,” says AEG Presents’ SVP of international touring, Simon Jones, who has promoted Sheeran in over 40 markets in their 15-year history, and partners with Adam Wilkes on the artist’s tours in Asia.

He then embarked on a six-city run across India, returning to the country after a one-off show at Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi Race Course in 2024 left him wanting more. His biggest-ever run in the country, co-promoted by AEG and BookMyShow, saw him sell over 120,000 tickets across Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bengaluru, Shillong, and Delhi.

For parts of the tour, including the India run, venue and freight constraints led to the development of an alternative production with more localised equipment – “We went to some very remote places. It really was an exercise in taking the show to the people,” Jones says. And despite challenges, like issues with equipment in Shillong that nearly derailed the show, he says the venture is a strong signal for things to come.

“What we did together in India has definitely paved the way for major international artists to go and do an interior tour of India. To do what we did on that scale has proven that the concept can work. In ten years, India will be a completely different place and probably the biggest music market in the world. I’m pretty convinced of that,” adds Jones.

“Even though it’s outstanding numbers, he doesn’t really overplay”

Alongside touring, Sheeran took time to collaborate with Indian artists for his forthcoming album, Play, out just days after the tour wraps in September. The Persian-music-tinged lead single, Azizam, dropped in April and was a hit during his festival headline set at the inaugural edition of OFFLIMITS Music Festival in Abu Dhabi.

Sia Farr, the CEO of Theory Eleven Entertainment, who organises the festival, hails Sheeran’s top slot at the first-of-its-kind UAE festival, which sold 33,000 tickets to a largely domestic audience. He asserts that the Sheeran team’s willingness to take a chance on a first-year festival helped put it on the map.

“Ed’s management team have been extremely exceptional, one of the best we’ve ever dealt with, in terms of accommodation and wanting to get the best, and they believed in what we were trying to achieve,” Farr says. “The idea [behind OFFLIMITS] was to create something that showcases strong Middle Eastern substance, while also incorporating international qualities for it to be able to grow globally. We’ve gotten a lot of interest from international markets, which hadn’t been the case before.”

Sum It Up
Following the tour’s second run through Asia and the Middle East, Sheeran landed back in Europe this summer for the final leg. And with such fervent demand around the world, audiences were overjoyed at the prospect of having him back in their markets.

In Poland, he has sold 370,000 tickets across six shows (two in Warsaw in 2022, two in Gdańsk in 2024, and another two to come in Wrocław this August). Unlike other stadium tours in the market that may bring in an international audience, Sheeran’s shows captured a 95% Polish audience. “Poland loves Ed Sheeran,” says Filip Potocki, the CEO of FKP Scorpio Poland. He adds that the market is fast developing, despite neighbouring the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War.

“Poland is very close to the war, and people are scared. But I’m happy that international stars are playing shows in Poland, because I think the demand is there.”

“Two or three days after the tour ends, he’s releasing his next record”

Over in Copenhagen, Sheeran will return for four more Øresundsparken shows in August after selling 160,000 tickets there three years ago. “Every time he’s been in our market, he just beats his own record – it’s quite astonishing to witness. For a market with a population of only 6m, he’s now going to play for 180,000 people across four more shows,” says Xenia Grigat, senior promoter at smash!bang!pow! “Even though it’s outstanding numbers, he doesn’t really overplay,” she adds.

One of the most remarkable markets for Sheeran is Germany, where he’s already sold over 1m tickets during 17 Mathematics shows across Gelsenkirchen, Munich, Frankfurt, Hamburg, Stuttgart, and Düsseldorf. “He’s always saying, ‘It’s difficult to get the German crowd on your side. It takes them some time until they love you, but once they do, they love you forever.’ And he’s absolutely right,” says Inga Esseling, FKP Scorpio’s director of touring.

She reveals that a pinch-me moment for the overwhelmingly German crowd was when Sheeran brought out one of their own. “We had a great moment in Stuttgart when the special guest, Zartmann, an upcoming German singer-songwriter, came out. There was a magical moment when he came out on stage, and they did a song together. The audience was going crazy,” she says.

FKP Scorpio is a key architect behind Mathematics, having promoted or co-promoted a total of 64 shows across the tour’s tenure. The firm recently celebrated Sheeran selling over 5m tickets since they started working together in 2011, and will be the honorary host of Mathematics’ finale in Düsseldorf in September.

While party plans aren’t fully fleshed out, Esseling says there’s a lot to celebrate: “Two or three days after the tour ends, he’s releasing his next record, so it’s another thing to celebrate. It’s crazy that he’s already putting out his next one.”

Sheer Loyalty
Before Mathematics wraps in the autumn, Sheeran played three nights at Portman Road Stadium in his native Suffolk in July to preview the next chapter: Play. The shows were his only UK headline stadium shows after his opening run back in 2022. “I don’t think many people can announce three stadium shows with eight weeks’ notice and sell them out in a day. The fact that we’ve sold 90,000 tickets in a city that has 140,000 people is incredible,” Ealam says.

“Mathematics was impossible on paper at its conception and went on to be the most spectacular production”

Every ticket sold contributed £1 to the LIVE Trust, a new funding initiative from UK trade body LIVE. This initiative aims to provide financial support to the grassroots sector, the same one
that gave Sheeran his foundation. Many of those around him have remained by his side since that time, some 15 years ago.

“The same five or six people who were in the back of a van throughout 2010 are still here. There’s just about another 150 of them on top. Everyone’s kind of grown with him,” Camp says.

Mathematics is easily the jewel in the crown of a glittering career – but it’s far from the end.

“It’s astonishing to me what he has achieved,” says Diamond, who signed Sheeran early on after seeing him at a club in Guildford. “You don’t achieve the success that he has achieved without hard work, passion for what you do, and respect and appreciation for the people who do the work with you and for you. There’s a lot of love around him. I feel honoured that I get to work for him.”

“[Throughout] the Mathematics tour, the one constant that has been plain to see is really the infectious reaction of people around the world, no matter what background they’re from,” Jones remarks. “It is just incredible to see how far his music can travel. We went to every corner of many different parts of the world, and it was just seeing that infectious reaction every night that makes it all worth it. And that’s why Ed continues to do it.”

But for those behind the scenes, the wrap will be a welcome reprieve.

“I think it’s the pinnacle of a lot of careers, and we’re immensely proud of it. But I’m also ready to say goodbye to it,” Marsh says. Yet with a new album on the horizon and an enduring passion for performing live, Sheeran won’t be away from the road long as he readies to hit the stadium circuit Down Under early next year with the newly announced Loop Tour.

Summing up, Mathematics is an iconic encapsulation of the albums that made Sheeran a legend, and whatever comes next will only further that legacy.

“Mathematics was impossible on paper at its conception and went on to be the most spectacular production that’s been on the road for the last five years,” enthuses Ollier. “A huge amount of credit has to go to the people behind it. It just wouldn’t be possible with any other team.”

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