Ed Sheeran is set to return to the UK with a trio of stadium shows at Ipswich’s Portman Road this July, in support of his forthcoming album Play.

They mark Sheeran’s first headline shows in his native UK since 2023, and will include debut performances of his eighth studio album, due out in September.

The roughly 30,000-capacity shows will also feature a slate of special guests. Myles Smith and Tori Kelly will join on Friday, 11 July; Busted and Dylan on 12 July; and James Blunt and Maisie Peters on 13 July.

“I started doing shows in Ipswich as a young teenager, in pubs and bars, then moved to London to ‘make it’ because that’s what you did back then,” Sheeran wrote online. “Then things took off for me and I toured the world, but never ended up playing Ipswich really, for whatever reason, but mostly because I lived there and thought if I’m gonna do it, it has to be special.

“I play all around the world, in such amazing stadiums, but nothing means as much as this one here. This really is a true homecoming, and is three nights only.”

Last year lifelong-fan Sheeran acquired a minority stake in Ipswich Town FC, his hometown football team and Portman Road’s primary residents. He has also been the club’s official shirt sponsor since 2021 and wrapped up his record-breaking ÷ (Divide) Tour with a local show at Ipswich’s Chantry Park (45,000) back in 2019.

Organisers say £1 from every ticket sold has been earmarked for the newly launched Live Trust, a new funding initiative from UK trade body LIVE that will offer financial support to the grassroots sector. Earlier this week, LIVE announced the trust had already garnered over £500,000 (€587k) in pledges — “a welcome milestone,” said Jon Collins, CEO of LIVE.

“Wherever Ed wants to go, we’ll go and deliver it for him”

Sheeran’s homecoming shows will land in the midst of the ongoing +–=÷× (Mathematics) Tour, which returns to Europe later this month. The second European leg of the tour was met with incredible demand during onsale last year, with over 600,000 tickets sold in an hour.

Kicking off at Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium (70,460) for two nights from 30-31 May, Sheeran will play across European stadiums, including three nights at Hamburg’s Volksparkstadion (55,000), two nights at Wrocław’s Tarczyński Arena (45,100), four nights at Copenhagen’s Øresundsparken (40,000), before closing the four-year global trek with three nights at Düsseldorf’s Merkur Spiel-Arena (66,500) in September.

The Mathematics tour, which began in Dublin in March 2022, has seen the Grammy Award-winning Brit play across Europe, Oceania, Asia, the Middle East, and South America. Earlier this year, he made history as the first-ever international artist to perform in Bhutan. AEG’s SVP of international touring, Simon Jones, spoke with IQ earlier this year about his string of monumental Asian shows, which also included a six-city run across India.

“Wherever Ed wants to go, however unique and ambitious it may sound, we’ll go and deliver it for him, as his partner,” he said. “This feat had never been done before by an international artist, of this scale, with an artist of this magnitude.”

Sheeran is represented by One Fiinix Live’s Jon Ollier. Presale for the Ipswich shows begins Wednesday, 7 May, with general sale following on Friday, 9 May.

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Moby has announced his first European tour in over 10 years to celebrate the 25th anniversary of his fifth album Play – one of the best-selling electronic albums – of all time.

Released in 1999, the seminal album contains songs such as “Porcelain”, “Natural Blues” and “Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?” and has sold over 12 million copies worldwide.

The anniversary tour will take place this September, kicking off with a performance at The O2 in London before visiting European cities including Antwerp, Berlin, Düsseldorf and Paris.

“It’s been over 10 years since I’ve toured but someone reminded me that 2024 is the 25th anniversary of the release of ‘Play’, so it seemed like it might not be the worst idea to do a short European tour to commemorate and celebrate,” said Moby.

“What makes the tour most exciting for me is that I won’t be paid anything; 100% of my profits will go to European animal rights organisations”

“The show will feature well-known songs from Play, but also a bunch of audience favourites, like ‘Extreme Ways’, ‘We Are All Made Of Stars’, ‘When It’s Cold I’d Like to Die’, and even some old rave bangers like ‘Feeling So Real’ and ‘Go’.”

The American DJ and musician added: “What makes the tour most exciting for me is that I won’t be paid anything; 100% of my profits will go to European animal rights organisations.”

Moby has also announced that his new collaborative album Always Centred At Night – featuring the late Benjamin Zephaniah, Serpentwithfeet and Gaidaa among others – will be released on 14 June.

Moby’s 2024 UK and European tour dates are:

SEPTEMBER
19 – The O2, London, England
21 – Sportpaleis, Antwerp, Belgium
22 – Velodrome, Berlin, Germany
23 – Mitsubishi Electric Hall, Düsseldorf, Germany
24 – Le Zenith, Paris, France

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