Ed Sheeran Performs At Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital In Surprise Gig

Ed Sheeran performed at Melbourne's Royal Children’s Hospital yesterday in a surprise one-off gig. 

“Some days, working in a kids’ hospital is really difficult. Today is not one of those days. Thank you Ed Sheeran,” Sarah McNab, Director of General Medicine at the Royal Children’s Hospital, tweeted. 

Dr Eric Levi also wrote, “In a few mere minutes, gifted musicians like Ed Sheeran changes the tone of the hospital for everyone. Bring your gifts and share it wide.”

His performance at the hospital occurred just hours after it was revealed that this week’s Sheeran shows at the MCG have broken ticket sale records for single concerts.

For Friday’s show at the MCG, Sheeran has sold a mind-boggling number of over 107,000 tickets. His Thursday show, also at the G, has sold over 100,000 tickets, with both gigs breaking records. Final tickets are available for the Thursday, 2 March concert.

As The Age reports, Sheeran’s ticket sales at the G have beaten “Eminem’s 2019 concert at the MCG with 80,708 fans, Sound Relief at the MCG in 2009 with 80,518, and Billy Joel’s concert at the MCG last year with 76,339 fans.”

“Ed loves to break a record, and he’s smashed this one,” Matt Gudinski, CEO of Mushroom Group, said yesterday. “It’s phenomenal that more than 200,000 people will see this amazing show at our iconic MCG. Melbourne is set for two incredibly special nights with one of the greatest performers ever.”

The Thursday Ed Sheeran show is selling final tickets, with the Adelaide and Perth legs also selling fast. You can purchase tickets here.

Last month, Sheeran brought sheer delight to students at the Manurewa Intermediate School in Auckland after showing up for a surprise performance and a chat with the kids on a day off from his Australia/New Zealand tour.

In an interview with 1News, Deputy Principal Ross Devereux said that aside from him and school leadership, the rest of the staff and students had no idea what was coming. Devereux also noted that the school often finishes Friday afternoons with singing in the hall, so despite changing that to Wednesday, it felt like an ordinary day that kept up the surprise.

He recalled telling the students, "Put your hands together for Ed Sheeran," and an "electric" reaction from 900 students as the Shape Of You singer stepped into the room.

"I’m on a day off in Auckland, and I thought I’d give some kids a surprise with a free gig," Ed Sheeran revealed on Instagram, before flipping the camera to the students at Manurewa and Kōwhai Intermediate schools. 

Sheeran played the hits, from Perfect to Bad Habits to Thinking Out Loud, the latter performed with a teacher. Sheeran also said that the day surprising schoolkids was "one of my favourite days in a long time – I’ve enjoyed it so much."