Ed Sheeran Announces Rare Intimate Gigs for New Album Tour, Includes Two UK Dates

Ed Sheeran has announced an ‘intimate’ European arena tour for his new album Play, with just two UK dates.

The four-time Grammy Award winner, 34, has announced a run of arena shows for December 2025 ahead of the release of his new album Play.  

The tour will see Ed play show in France, Germany and Ireland – but his British fans will be disappointed to see just two dates on UK soil, in Manchester and Coventry.

The upcoming arena dates are a rare opportunity to see Ed in more intimate venues ahead of his sell-out Loop stadium tour, which kicks off in Australia in January 2026.

But there is a catch, as in order to access the pre-sale for the arena dates fans must pre-order his album Play before 7pm on September 7. 

Sharing the tour dates on Instagram, Ed wrote: ‘Coming to play some shows in Europe. These shows will be more intimate than a stadium show, obvz, but still will be incredible. 

‘I love playing these venues so much. If you wanna come, pre-order Play for the chance to access pre-sale tickets.

‘For UK shows pre-order on @amazonmusicuk before 7pm BST on 7th Sept. For EU shows pre-order on my official store before 3pm BST on 8th Sept x.’

The pre-sale goes live at 10am on September 9, while the general sale will land 48 hours late on September 11. 

It comes after Ed revealed that there are ‘professional singers that mime’.

Appearing in a new YouTube video with the Beta Squad, Ed had to use his musical knowledge to guess who was a professional singer out of six people. 

Throughout the video the Shape of You singer opens up about various aspects of the industry, making subtle digs at some of his fellow professionals. 

At one point in the video, one of the potential singers suggests miming when her voice needs resting. 

He said: ‘I don’t know if a professional singer would admit to miming.’

A member of the Beta Squad asked him: ‘I thought a lot of professional artists do that though?’ 

To which Ed replied: ‘They don’t admit to it though. I can’t get away with it because it’s me with a loop pedal and a guitar. 

‘I would never cancel a show for my voice. I’d always push through, even if it was like slightly raspy. Because there are professional singers that mime, but they would never admit to it.’

In 2017, Ed famously defended himself after his Glastonbury headline set after some fans accused him of using a backing track.  

He penned on X, formerly Twitter, at the time: ‘Never thought I’d have to explain it, but everything I do in my live show is live, it’s a loop station, not a backing track. Please google x.’

Not letting the backlash ruin his ‘dream’ moment up on the Pyramid Stage, with Ed adding in a second tweet: ‘Anyway, great night, great atmosphere, family, friends, fun. Love you all.’

Ed recently teased new music with one video showing Rupert Grint returning as Ed Sheeran’s stalker for an upcoming ‘utterly bonkers’ music video. 

The actor, 36, appeared in Ed’s 2011 music Video Lego House, which reached number five on the UK Singles Chart.

In the video, Rupert’s character was seen being taken into custody after breaking into the singer’s tour bus and attempting to impersonate him onstage.

Now it looks like he’s back once again, as Ed shared a teaser for his new single ‘A Little More’ on Instagram on Monday.

The teaser showed Rupert reprising his role and appearing to walk free from prison as flashbacks from the original 2011 video played.