Gabrielle Aplin was sweet if unsurprising with her acoustic songs. She became concerned with the crowd control, as over-eager Ed Sheeran fans were rushing the barrier, a concern later voiced by the stage manager, yelling 'move back!' like a tetchy schoolteacher. Passenger succeeded in rallying the crowd to sing along. Though there was questionable irony to his earnest wide-eyed song about pet peeves wherein he expressed distaste for X-Factor, despite opening for an artist who writes songs for X-Factor alumni.

Ed Sheeran is just a man with a guitar, but what he can do with that instrument transformed what could have been a modest acoustic gig into multi-sensory, stadium-filling entertainment. The heartbreaking Give Me Love quickly became a whirling orchestra of looped guitar melodies, vocal ticks and blinding lights. His often sad songs swelled into exhilarating anthems, from Drunk to Grade 8. Much is owed to the clever trickery of loops, best utilised on his hushed cover of Jamie Woon's take on Wayfaring Stranger, leaving the audience stunned silent. Sheeran has a touch of the burgeoning rock star to him, as he cajoled his fans quiet so he could go mic-less, or sing without a thousand voices joining him as his self-proclaimed 'Sydney Gospel Choir'. His adorable naïve charm was never more evident than when singing Wake Me Up to a stuffed koala thrown on stage.

The show could have easily ended on You Need Me, I Don't Need You, which turned into an epic near-ten minute experiment in audience-made harmonies, curious raps and pre-recorded beatboxing. Yet it was on the strains of The A Team (a song that seems even more like an anomaly in Sheeran's discography after tonight) that the flashing lights finally stood still and a humbled Sheeran left a room overcome with good spirits.