Ed Sheeran Cancels New Zealand Show, Blames 'Ongoing Uncertainties'

Pop superstar Ed Sheeran has cancelled a show on his upcoming  +-=÷x  tour in Wellington, New Zealand due to what the tour promoters are calling "on-going uncertainties affecting a number of different variables with global touring".

The cancelled date was set to take place at Sky Stadium in Wellington on February 1. Sheeran will still play the sold-out date at the same stadium the following night.

The official statement from promoters Frontier Touring states “Frontier Touring regret to advise that due to ongoing uncertainties affecting a number of different variables with global touring, the first show of the New Zealand leg of Ed Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour scheduled for February 1 at Sky Stadium is no longer going to be able to go ahead as planned". 

Frontier Touring has also confirmed that tickets will be refunded. Those who purchased them with credit or debit cards will be refunded in full by Ticketek. Patrons should allow up to 30 working days for the refund to appear in their account, with refunds being processed within 7 days. Some ticket holders have been offered the chance to purchase tickets from a limited pool of reserve tickets to the show on February 2.

Sheeran fans are reportedly disappointed by the cancellation, one ticket-holder opined via the NZ Herald  that it "it seems a bit ridiculous when you look at the international situation and actually it's becoming easier to move around the globe", while several voiced their dissatisfaction online.

Ticketing agent Ticketek made a statement of their own via their website, revealing "the decision is not one that has been made lightly, we are very much looking forward to presenting this tour and do not foresee any problems with the remaining dates."

+ - = ÷ x Tour’ (aka The Mathematics Tour) will see Sheeran play a run of huge Aussie stadium shows early next year. The UK megastar’s return follows a record-breaking run in 2018 and the tour will visit Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth across February and March of 2023. The shows, which will see Sheeran perform tracks from all his albums in the round, will include “cutting-edge production, the likes of which have never been seen before in Australia”.

His latest album debuted at #1 in Australia and features Visiting Hours, a tribute to his close friend, the late Michael Gudinski, founder of Frontier Touring and Mushroom Group, who helped break Sheeran in Australia. 

In 2018, Sheeran’s Divide Tour became the highest-selling in the county’s history, with the singer moving 1,006,387 tickets across Australia and New Zealand.