Ed Sheeran felt the need to defend himself after Sunday night’s performance.
When you’re one of the headline acts at a festival as big as Glastonbury and when your performance is being watched by millions on TV as well as thousands in the flesh, you’re not going to keep everyone happy.
So it went for Ed Sheeran, who brought the famous festival to a close on Sunday night.
There were plenty who were impressed with what Ed had to offer, but amongst those who weren’t was a section of viewers who seemed disappointed that the affable singer-songwriter was performing with a backing track.
A serious question: does Ed Sheeran have an invisible backing band or does he play to a backing track? #theguitarkeepsplayingwhenhestops
— Paul Douglas (@paulyd1107) June 25, 2017
Why doesn't Ed sheeran ever perform with a band… his songs on the record obviously have drums etc ..
Instead of backing track— joey (@joeynic) June 25, 2017
Mystified by Ed Sheeran's live performance. He seems to record something, loop it, and then perform to a backing track? Not impressed…
— Paul (@Run_Dolly_Run) June 25, 2017
Ed, of course, wasn’t using a backing track to accentuate his performance but was instead using a loop station, a method often used by musicians (and regularly employed by Sheeran) to add additional layers of sound to their performance.
Here’s a look at Ed himself using a loop station in a more intimate setting on ‘Shape of You’…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4Y-ZnNGxVI
Clip via MusicUpdates
Ed took to Twitter this morning to defend himself against accusations that he used a backing track (a quick Twitter search of ‘Ed Sheeran backing track’ will explain why he felt the need to do so), urging the critics to “please Google” the use of a loop station and lamenting having to explain himself in the first place.
https://twitter.com/edsheeran/status/879264520300109825
https://twitter.com/edsheeran/status/879264934365995008
It must have been frustrating for Ed to encounter such criticism after the highs of closing out a festival as big as Glastonbury; a shot of Manuka honey from his thoroughly ordinary backstage rider might have been the most soothing way to deal with it.
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