Ed Sheeran Rocks Century Link Stadium Catering to Seahawks Fans

Rock on, it was loud.

Ed Sheeran’s Saturday night show at Seattle’s Century Link lived up to the NFL stadium’s reputation for deafening sound even without the presence of the Seahawks football team and its rabid fans.

I couldn’t find any official decibel recordings, but my ears were still ringing Monday morning.

Instead of folks clad in the Seahawks blue and green, the CLink – as locals refer to the massive stadium – was filled with fans of all ages of the redhead pop super star for his first appearance at an NFL stadium.

The diversity of the crowd wasn’t missed by the 27-year-old English singer/songwriter whose only other on-stage performer is the parade of guitars he changes out between nearly every song.

“There’s one thing I truly love about doing these concerts,” Sheeran said with unmistakable British flair, “and that is the fact that families are here. People of all ages come to enjoy the music.”

Well, yes, but Sheeran does admit there are two types of folks attending his concerts that despite his best efforts are the guys for whom the experience isn’t on their bucket list.

Those are the “boyfriends” forced by dating etiquette to attend as the “girlfriend’s” dutiful man. And of course, there are the “Super Dads” trying desperately to be “cool and blend in” while escorting their daughters and their friends to the concert.

“I appreciate you guys,” Sheeran said. “You give up your Saturday night to do something great for someone you love.”

Smart marketing on the part of a pop icon whose face proudly sports a scar as a result of a 4 a.m. drunken faux knighting by Princess Beatrice a few years earlier as he belts out provocative lyrics from several songs that do extol the seedy virtues of excessive drinking, partying, scoring grams and waking up on the right side of the wrong bed.

Young fans – especially pre-teen and teen girls all gushing as if they were their mothers watching the Beatles back in the 1960s – adore him.

It’s how I ended up there Saturday night.

Nearly a year ago, my then 14-year-old niece and I cooked up the plan to attend the Ed Sheeran concert in Seattle.

His song, “Shape of You,” was all over the airwaves last fall and yes, as a mom, I cringed just slightly thinking of my young and innocent niece being able to accurately sing along to the words of the song stating, “last night you were in my room and now my bedsheets smell like you,” but I also wanted to be a cool “auntie.” So, I enlisted her mother, my mother and a high school friend who remembers me singing the words to the tune,“Like a Virgin,” from Madonna at a time in my life when I hadn’t been kissed less alone the other and we went to Seattle for a “family event.”

My brother qualified for “Super Dad” even though he and my nephew went nowhere near the venue: he drove more than two hours to bring the girls to the event. That works.

At the concert, we heard several of those “Super Dads” hooting and hollering behind us in our spot in the cheap seats. One good thing about those seats at the CLink: You are under the limited roof should rain begin to fall – which is always a threat in Seattle.

If it weren’t for lyrics being posted online, I along with my mother, my high school friend and my niece’s mother most likely wouldn’t have known the words for the concert itself. It was only afterwards a couple days later that I looked some of it up.

CLink is indeed loud, but the acoustics aren’t that great.

That’s okay. Most likely it was better that as the auntie who spearheaded this event I didn’t know lines such as, “I wanna be drunk when I wake up,” and, “go mad for a couple of grams.”

I am not anti-alcohol – but good grief, we certainly do not need to encourage underage drinking and drug usage.

Okay, down from that soapbox I go.

My niece – now 15 – was belting out the words to “Galway Girl” and while I thoroughly enjoyed the youthful exuberance and just how tickled she was to be at an Ed Sheeran concert, hearing her voice quote the notion of falling in love with an English man made me hope it was going to be several more years before she was finishing Doritos and another bottle of wine. (Check the lyrics online if you don’t know them)

Anyway.

Sheeran is indeed a musical genius.

He is well on his way to being included as one of the industry’s best guitarists – dare this 80s girl place him with the likes of Eric Clapton, Carlos Santana, Eddie Van Halen and Stevie Ray Vaughn. It was a treat to close my eyes and simply listen to his chording, strumming and everything else he did to those guitars.

His use of color and light were indeed spellbinding. YouTube already has several recordings of the concert that certainly don’t do the live experience justice, but will give you a fairly accurate idea of what Saturday night was like.

The fact he was playing the CLink also wasn’t lost on Sheeran. He mentioned twice that he was told on his way to the stage that he was indeed playing the loudest stadium in nation.

He also didn’t forget it was the home of the Seahawks.

He donned a Seahawks jersey sporting #18 and his last name on the back for his encore which began with, “Shape of You,” and ended with his 2011 hit, “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You” - his wordy kiss-off to other artists that don’t write their own music but criticize his unique style.

The Seahawks move played well to a crowd that also wore plenty of football jerseys. My friend theorized that perhaps those folks wearing #3 in honor of Russell Wilson or #12 in honor of the fans either forgot they weren’t actually attending a football game. I figured that donning a Seahawks jersey is just a conditioned response to the idea of going to the CLink.

Sheeran ends this tour in Atlanta on Nov. 10. I get why he might put on a Falcons jersey, but I will then be forced to throw up.

Learn more about Sheeran’s 2018 North American tour online at: www.edsheeran.com/tour.

Reach Amy Armstrong via email at: authoramyarmstrong@gmail.com.