Ed Sheeran at SXSW

Ed Sheeran at MTV Woodie Awards, SXSW. Photo by Amanda

I never intended to see Ed Sheeran at SXSW and then I saw him twice purely by accident (Accidental Music pun intended). I'd heard his name and knew Perez Hilton liked him (I pay attention to artists Perez likes. I'm not ashamed), but had never bothered to find out why. And then this pale red-headed boy who looks like Ron Weasley came out on stage and started singing sweet songs with great syncopated rhythms on his guitar and he sounded like Jason Mraz and I decided I kind of liked this Ed Sheeran fella. Armed only with his acoustic guitar and pedals for looping, Sheeran filled the stage with sound, interacted with the audience and put on a great show.

And then he sang a fourteen minute version of "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" at Stubbs, using the crowd as his 'gospel choir' for back up harmonies, and I realized he might be one of the most badass artists I'd seen at the festival.