All photos by Chantelle D’mello
Thousands of screaming fans gathered at the Qatar National Convention Center last night to watch 24-year-old UK singer-songwriter and Grammy nominee Ed Sheeran perform for the first time in Qatar.
The concert kicked off with an hour-long set by upcoming British musician Ryan Keen, who has toured with Sheeran intermittently since October 2011.
Encouraged by an energetic audience, the young guitarist played covers of popular songs like “Stay” by Rihanna, and several of his own compositions.
When Sheeran took to the stage, he performed some of his most popular hits including “Sing,” “The A Team,” “Lego House” and “Thinking Out Loud.”
He also performed several covers including “Fancy” by Iggy Azalea, “No Diggity” by R&B group Blackstreet, and “Feeling Good” by legendary American singer Nina Simone.
His visit to Doha is part of a world-wide tour spanning over four continents and several Middle Eastern cities, including Muscat and Dubai, where he will perform to a crowd of some 11,000 people tomorrow tonight.
During yesterday’s concert, eager fans, mostly young adolescent girls, were seen holding banners, documenting the event on their phones, and, in some cases, vying for section upgrades.
Others gathered in groups at the makeshift security checkpoints almost four hours before gates opened, hoping to catch a glimpse of the singer, and score coveted front-line spots at the largely standing-only venue.
Reaction
Despite past confusion over the ticketing process, most fans seemed pleased with the concert, and took to social media to share their experiences of the night:
Did you go the concert? Thoughts?
Ryan performed for about 30 minutes. Ed Sheeran came on a bit after 9 and played until just after 10 and his performance is in Dubai on Thursday.
The pictures taken were time-stamped. Ryan performed shortly before 8.50 pm, and Ed Sheeran came on at 9.48pm, which is ‘shortly before 10pm,’ as mentioned.
I second Errors…the timings you have are incorrect… I was there Ed definitely started at 9
Yup! I was there as well. I’m pretty sure Ryan played for half an hour and Ed started at 9. I was constantly checking my watch everytime Ryan ends a song :p
Have taken out references to timings until we can figure this out for good!
Yeah Ryan started around 8.15 for 30 mins and then Ed came on just before 9 and played for nearly 2 hours.
But…. he’s Ginger….
Deleted for stereotyping and being racist against gingers!
Shabina.
i’m not racist against Gingers, I just want to cure them 🙂
Mr James your comment is extremely shallow. Do you really judge a person by the colour of their hair???
Maybe you are just jealous as you are probably far less talented!!!!!!!
Hands up, those who have undergone Sense of Humour Bypass Surgery…
(That’s you, Kazzy)
Whatever the case about times, the fact that he played here in Qatar is excellent. Normally if the artists/ bands are playing in Dubai these musicians don’t give Doha a casual glance, but perhaps with the amount of people that went to his concert we might see more top acts coming.
confusion about the tickets? With those organizing always confusion about everything! After seeing who organized I decided to give up
Who’s this guy?
hahaha somebody copied my instagram photo of the concert and posted it in their own instagram account! and its’ featured up there in the article! I’ll reply to her twitter post with that photo on!