Fact #151904
When:
Short story:
Ed Sheeran plays a free promotional gig at The Barfly, Camden, London, England, UK. The gig has a capacity of 200 but over 1000 fans turn up, so Sheeran plays his set three times, then goes outside to continue playing for fans who had been unable to get in.
Full article:
Jon Ollier (agent, CAA) : The biggest thing for us around this time on a business level was when we were trying to break Ed on radio, because certain people within the media were not getting it at all, so we sat down with the label and discussed how we could turn people’s heads, how we could get them on board.
What we came up with was that night at The Barfly in Camden. It wasn’t a new idea, we decided to do a show, small capacity venue, half the audience would be invited media, and half fans. We did one single Tweet to say we were doing it on a first-come first-served basis, and when we arrived on the night there was 2,000 kids waiting outside.
They queued for hours. I remember standing there with Stuart Camp, concerned for the safety of people, all kinds of things going through our minds. We had to decide quickly that we should try to do a show for all of them, so Ed did the show three times, but there were still people waiting, so he went outside and played for them too.
It became clear to us that day that this was a movement. It was happening, so we had to find ways to show people that.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black for Audience magazine, May 2017)
Ed Sheeran : It was a nice moment. Really humbling. It makes a change from playing shows where only two people turn up but those shows are important too. You still have to play well. 'Cos they have to walk away from it thinking, that was all right, I’d like to go and see him again.
(Source : interview with Neil McCormick, The Telegraph, Aug 3, 2011)
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What we came up with was that night at The Barfly in Camden. It wasn’t a new idea, we decided to do a show, small capacity venue, half the audience would be invited media, and half fans. We did one single Tweet to say we were doing it on a first-come first-served basis, and when we arrived on the night there was 2,000 kids waiting outside.
They queued for hours. I remember standing there with Stuart Camp, concerned for the safety of people, all kinds of things going through our minds. We had to decide quickly that we should try to do a show for all of them, so Ed did the show three times, but there were still people waiting, so he went outside and played for them too.
It became clear to us that day that this was a movement. It was happening, so we had to find ways to show people that.
(Source : interview with Johnny Black for Audience magazine, May 2017)
Ed Sheeran : It was a nice moment. Really humbling. It makes a change from playing shows where only two people turn up but those shows are important too. You still have to play well. 'Cos they have to walk away from it thinking, that was all right, I’d like to go and see him again.
(Source : interview with Neil McCormick, The Telegraph, Aug 3, 2011)