Luke ThomasEd Sheeran has broken a touring record Down Under. His stadium tour of Australia and New Zealand has expanded to 18 shows, surpassing the record for the most stadium dates for a single Australasian tour.
That record was previously held by AC/DC’s Black Ice tour, which hit 14 stadiums in 2010.
Due to popular demand, today Ed added new shows for Perth, Melbourne, Sydney and Dunedin. The tour was previously expanded from seven to 14 shows.
“I’ve always loved coming to Australia and New Zealand,” Ed says in a statement obtained by Billboard. “So many amazing musicians have toured there and I am humbled to have broken these records.”
Next, Ed could be on track to break the all-time sales record for an Australasian tour set by Dire Straits in 1986 when an estimated 900,000 people attended the band’s shows. Ed has already sold more than 710,000 tickets. Tickets for the new shows go on sale June 1.
Meanwhile, Ed has helped pen Rita Ora’s new track, “Your Song.” The single is about “feeling on top of the world,” according to Rita. She says she and Ed, who have known each other for years, “definitely click creatively.”
“Your Song” is the first single from Rita’s Atlantic Records debut album; she signed a deal with Atlantic last June, after releasing her 2012 debut album, Ora, via Roc Nation/Columbia. Still no name or release date for her Atlantic album, though.
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