Hola everyone.
How are we all doing on this beautiful Friday? I hope so far you’ve had a good week. I just started working this Monday and am kind of having a bit of a rough time getting into it. But that’s what happens when you’re used to waking up at lunchtime, with your cat cuddled up next to you. Now I have to get up at 7 and needless to say that Peaches for sure isn’t there. But oh well. I’m just proud of myself for actually working for two months, so I can go and continue celebrating live music. Which is something I did last weekend and want to tell you all about today. Get excited. Honestly.
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In short – last weekend was definitely one of the best ones of my entire life. Because I didn’t just get to spend it with a really good friend who I’m rarely able to meet up with due to me living in the UK, but because the other person I got to spend it with was Ed. My Ed. The incredibly talented guy with the red hair and the angelic voice. That Ed. And holy moly, I don’t even know where to begin. I mean, if you’ve been following my blog for a while now, you’ve probably already read that my friend and I were planning on driving to Klagenfurt together to see Ed again, before his Divide tour will come to a close. And you’ll probably also know that we had made it our mission to camp outside the whole day and then get front row (or at least very close to that). That was the plan. But oh wow, so much more happened.
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So we drove to Klagenfurt on Thursday and thankfully got to stay at my cousin’s house, which was really close to the stadium, for the whole weekend. On the next day, Friday, we drove to the stadium at about 11 am, fully prepared for anything and everything. I had bought a big picnic blanket and a huge air mattress in the shape of a pizza slice (we now refer to it as the pizza, just that), we had packed heaps of food and water, overall, we were ready for what was to come. I think I need to mention that neither of us had ever done something like that before – camped outside a concert venue, waited for hours and hours, literally packed so much stuff that it looked like we were planning on moving into the place. So, it was a first for us. But after everything that happened that night and also the next one, I can proudly say that we totally nailed it. And that we regret absolutely nothing.
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After we had gotten to the venue, we saw that the queue was far shorter than we had expected. From what I had seen last year, I thought there would be about a hundred or more people there already. I mean, yes, there were girls there who had actually spent the night outside the stadium, but besides that, it was pretty calm and chill. But it was hot. If I were to say that the sun was literally trying to burn us alive, I wouldn’t be exaggerating. It was so damn hot. Which is why we and a whole lot of other girls quickly decided that it would be best to sit down in the shadow of the stadium, which was about three meters away from the barriers for the queue, and just leave some stuff in the actual queue as a replacement for ourself. It was the smartest thing we could do. We sat down on the pizza, played Barbie Uno (yes, Barbie Uno), chatted with other girls and watched cringy reporters do cringy interviews. All was well. But unfortunately, that didn’t last for long.
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Because crowds of humans still and always will function like big crowds of cows or sheep. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but deep down we are all just panicky herd animals and if one moment made it clear, then it was the one when two girls decided to basically ignore the respectful queue system we had previously created and just walked up to the front of the queue and took the first spot without deserving it. I mean, it’s always a first-come, first-serve principle. You arrive early, you’re at the front, you’re late, you stay at the back. That’s literally the number one rule when it comes to queueing. But I guess it just wasn’t for those two girls. So, obviously, after that happened, all of us jumped to our feet like the crazy fangirls we were and are and literally sprinted to the queue. Within a minute, my friend and I were squished together in this crowd of panting, sweating girls. It was half-past one. The doors were supposed to open at four.
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You can probably guess that the hours until they finally let us into the stadium weren’t the best. At about two pm, the securities checked our bags and then kept us in a smaller area, still in the glaring sun. They had taken all our food and drinks (I still smuggled our food in, obviously) and while laying there on the hot asphalt, my head stuck between the barrier to at least have it in the shadows, and being handed water from a literal bucket, I felt like a cow waiting to be killed. Honestly. Like I said, herd animals. Needless to say, part of the securities made it their mission to embody literal jerks and laugh at girls who were close to fainting while smoking in the shadows, one meter away from us. That’s how close the place of heaven – also known as the shadow – was. One meter. And they still didn’t let us through, for over two hours. Three girls fainted. It was pure chaos.
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Thankfully, they let us into the stadium shortly after that and we could find the spot we would then later stay at for the whole rest of the day. And again, I was so glad that we had prepared so much. We literally got to our spot, I took out the pizza, put it onto the burning hot metal ground, we both sat down and then we continued our game of Uno while snacking a bit and getting weird looks from the people surrounding us. And though so far it had really been super exhausting, we were still in such a good mood. And I’m glad it stayed like this for the rest of the night.
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So, we got our spot at about half-past 4, the first support act, Zara Larsson, came on at about 7, shortly followed by James Bay at about 8. Personally, I liked both of them, although I have to add that Zara’s music is the complete opposite of what I usually listen to. Her music is what the radio stations in my home country love to play again and again and again every single day. It’s TOP 40’s music. Something I usually try to avoid (Ed is an exception). But still, I liked her show and especially her background dancers. Just, at least for me, James was so much better. I don’t listen to his music either, but I enjoyed his set so much more, simply because you could actually see how happy he was to be playing for us. He thanked us over and over again. It was really cute.
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You might ask now how we managed to not crumble after such an exhausting day and, honestly, I think it was partly because of our preparation and my smuggle of food and also simply because of the prospect of getting to see Ed this close. Unfortunately, we didn’t get a front-row spot, but we were in the 6th row at least, and it was just so damn close anyway. I remember sitting there on the pizza, glancing up to the sky and the stage actually taking up half of the space because we were so close. We were actually sitting underneath it. How crazy is that?
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Obviously, the moment Ed came up on the big screen (they always film him walking up to the stage), all the exhaustion, the slight irritation, the weariness, it was all gone. I cried as soon as he got up on stage and I actually saw how close we really were. I can still see myself turning around to my friend and us holding hands and screaming at each other because he was literally just a few meters away. After a whole year of waiting, it was finally happening. And we were both just so shocked to really be there. To have him really be there. I think I needed about half an hour until I finally realized that he was really there. Every time I looked back at my friend and then back at him, I felt this slight shock. He was really, actually there. My Ed.
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I think I don’t have to say that the concert was freaking amazing. I mean, it’s an Ed Sheeran concert, of course it’s going to blow your mind. But it was also so damn special. Not just because we were so close that I could actually see his wedding ring and watch his feet work the loop pedal and so on. No. It was so special because of Ed and his absolutely fantastic mood. Honestly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone smile this much over the course of two hours (besides maybe me in those very same two hours). And he also just kept on laughing and talking. I mean, he literally asked us how we were and then said, with the biggest grin on his face: “Everyone’s in a good mood. And it’s Friday. Yey.”. I mean, how freaking cute is he? He’s such a bear. I wish I could’ve run up to him and given him the biggest hug.
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Apart from that, a few other highlights were that during Thinking Out Loud, the strap of his electric guitar (which is a new one, as I noticed, and looks fire) loosened and it nearly slipped out of his hand, which made him make the funniest face ever and then try his best not to burst out laughing. And that he changed up the setlist a bit and played a mashup of Kiss Me (which I’ve never heard live, but always wanted to) and Give Me Love and also, believe it or not, played a bit of Wayfaring Stranger at the beginning of I See Fire. Honestly, I was in shock. Because that was the very same song he covered at his 2014 show in Vienna, during which he took down the mic and continued singing without it. I hadn’t heard him play it ever since that show. It was such a throwback moment and I’m still so thankful that he decided to play it. Also, he played I Don’t Care, which I don’t like as the studio version, but literally adore live, and he premiered Beautiful People, which was super nice as well.
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Overall, the show was definitely one of his best ones I’ve ever attended and it just made me fall in love with him so much all over again. Not that I ever stopped loving him. It just reminded me of the reasons why. He really is such a magnificent human being. One that I would love to cuddle at least once in my life, just to tell him how happy he and his music have made me. I wish I could thank him for everything.
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My friend and I went home that night probably as two of the happiest people on earth. We were still humming Ed’s songs, despite being half-deaf and me having lost my voice (as always; Ed is just so demanding). To our luck, there was no need for post-concert-depression to take over, as we knew that we would be at least hearing him again the next day. Which, just like the first day, became an even bigger adventure than what we had thought. But I’ll keep that back for now until my next post for the second part. At the end of the day, I just have to grin whenever I think of the concert. And feel immediate gratitude towards Ed and his team and my friend and also my cousin and her husband for making all of this possible. It was such a dream come true.
And this, guys, is how I spent last Friday with Ed. But, like I just said, there’s still more to come, so please stay tuned and check by again next Monday. And until then I hope you enjoyed this post and wish you a lovely weekend (I’m going to see Spiderman: Far From Home tomorrow, so saying that I’m at the edge of my seat would be an understatement). And, as always, thanks for reading. x
that lemon life 