Ed Sheeran builds enormous stage to entertain 160,000 fans as he finishes Divide Tour in hometown Ipswich

23 August 2019, 16:52 | Updated: 23 August 2019, 16:54

By Naomi Bartram

@naomibartram

Ed Sheeran is putting on a gig for 160k fans in his hometown of Ipswich right next to neighbouring houses.

As Ed Sheeran comes to the end of his epic Divide World Tour, the popstar is returning home to Suffolk this weekend for his homecoming concerts.

The 28-year-old has played to 8.5 million fans across 255 dates in 43 countries since 2017.

But he’ll finish off where it all began for him, with four nights in Ipswich's Chantry Park.

And to accommodate the whopping 160,000 people set to watch Ed, a gigantic stage has been set up which has been built VERY close to the neighbouring houses.

New footage shows the festival-like venue will only be separated from nearby homes by a thin line of trees.

Which means that some lucky residents will get to listen to an Ed Sheeran concert over the Bank Holiday weekend, without having to pay the £82.50 entry fee.

Read More: Ed Sheeran exhibition shows rise from busker to superstar in never-before-seen photos

Unfortunately, if the locals aren’t a fan of Ed’s music, they might want to think about going away between 23-26th August as they’ll be sure to hear the likes of Shape Of You and Castle On The Hill blasting into their living rooms.

This comes after Ed’s dad John set up an exhibition ‘Ed Sheeran: Made In Suffolk’ in nearby Wolsey Theatre.

Read More: Ed Sheeran 'suffers with anxiety EVERY DAY' and only trusts four friends and his wife

The display will give fans a glimpse into never-before-seen photos of the star from his time at school right through his rise to international stardom, as well as a collection of his personal items.

Items include a copy of the first ever songs he wrote, as well as a school award which hailed him 'most likely to be famous'.

If you haven’t quite got your fill of Ed Sheeran, a pop-up store in his honour also opened yesterday, with fans queuing up for hours to get their hands on exclusive merchandise.

Ed's Divide is the most-attended tour of all time after kicking off in Turin, Italy way back on 16th March 2017.

In 2018 alone, he sold 4.9 million tickets, grossing $432.4 million (£353 million) and that’s only a small number of the shows he’s done on the Divide Tour overall.