35,000 Wellingtonians dance in the rain as Ed Sheeran declares his love for the capital
Wednesday, 21 January 2026
When Ed Sheeran told 35,000 Wellingtonians to jump on Wednesday night, they jumped.
Under an overcast sky that delivered a steady drizzle, the British megastar turned the capital into a soaked, smiling mass of strangers dancing together in the rain.
“Some of the best shows of my life are when it rains,” Sheeran told the crowd early on. “If you get soaking wet, we’ll have fun together - I’ll get soaking wet with you.”
And fun the Sky Stadium crowd certainly did have.
Read More:
The good, the bad, and the hungry: How is Wellington hospo faring?
How we keep our position as the arts, culture and events capital
The Loop Tour stop in the capital stretched close to three hours, a slick, high-energy production built around Sheeran largely alone on stage, armed with his guitar, loop pedal and a colossal screen that brought even the furthest seats right into the action.
Flames, fireworks and fluorescent celestial visuals illuminated the rain speckled stage as the hits kept coming.
What were your thoughts on the concert? Leave a comment below
From young girls in tulle tutus clutching glowing wristbands, to businessmen fresh from work still in suits, the crowd was almost comically mixed - something Sheeran himself appeared to be cognisant of as he paused to thank parents who braved the late night to bring their children along.
Earlier in the night, black Loop Tour t-shirts flashing hot pink logos dominated the footpaths as a mass swarmed towards the stadium.
By showtime, ponchos had become picnic blankets, jackets were ditched, and the weather was simply part of the experience.
Sheeran, who kicked off his New Zealand tour in Auckland earlier this week, saved some of his warmest words for Wellington - and they came thick and fast.
“This is one of my favourite places in the universe,” he said, drawing roars from the crowd. “It’s a city that feels like a town. Great coffee, great people.”
Yet, Sheeran’s affection for Wellington felt less like stage banter and more like a genuine homecoming.
At one point, Sheeran even joked that if life had turned out differently, he could easily have ended up calling Wellington home, noting how similar it felt to his hometown of Ipswich.
The affection appeared mutual, each compliment met with deafening approval.
Dressed down in baggy jeans and a brown t-shirt - quietly Kiwi in its own way - he told the midweek crowd they had “more energy” and were “cooler than Auckland”.
He made a note to remind fans he wrote I See Fire here in 2013, calling it “genuinely one of my favourite things I’ve ever done” - a rare moment where two of his loves, movies and music, collided.
It was a relationship, he said, that keeps drawing him back: “There’s a symbiotic thing between me and Wellington. I always come back whenever I’m here.”
But the night also carried quieter moments of reflection. Sheeran marked the fourth anniversary of the death of his close friend, Jamal Edwards, pausing to acknowledge how much those early years and friendships meant to his career, now more than 20 years in the making.
True to form, the show wasn’t without its live-music imperfections - a dodgy earpiece early on, a loop pedal slip later that drew a grin and an expletive-laced admission: “This is how you know it’s live.”
The stripped-back format left nowhere to hide - and that’s where the warmth of the show lived. It was a big production that still felt disarmingly intimate.
As fireworks lit up the Wellington skyline and the final notes rang out, there was a sense the night was bigger than a single concert.
Pubs and restaurants across the city were buzzing, transport ran late, and for a brief moment the capital felt like the centre of the touring universe.
With an expected crowd of more than 35,000 - with more than 30% travelling from out of town - Sheeran’s stop in Wellington was music to the ears of a hospitality sector that’s felt the pinch over recent years.
Heidi Morton, Events and Experiences General Manager at WellingtonNZ, previously told The Post similar-scale events had historically delivered between $3m and $5m in economic uplift for the capital.
As Sheeran finished: “Jumping around in the rain with strangers is one of my favourite things to do.” And on Wednesday night, Wellington happily obliged.
The only question left hanging in the damp air is whether Sheeran might pop up at San Fran tonight alongside acclaimed Irish band Beoga, his collaborators on Galway Girl and Nancy Mulligan.