Ed Sheeran reveals his 2018 tour support act

Ed Sheeran reveals more of what we can expect from his 2018 tour.

Anticipation is rising in Ireland as we draw ever closer to Ed Sheeran’s stint of gigs across the Emerald Isle. Set to play nine dates in total in Cork, Belfast, Galway and Dublin, Sheeran has announced that he will be joined by his friend Jamie Lawson for the Irish leg of his 2018 tour.

The British singer Lawson previously supported Sheeran in 2015 so Irish fans are sure to be familiar with him, as will any crossover One Direction fans, for whom he was also an official support act.

In 2016, Lawson took home the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for Best Song (Musically and Lyrically) for his breakout song “Wasn’t Expecting That” and has clearly counted Sheeran among his fans for quite a time as he was the first signee to Sheeran's Gingerbread Man Records imprint.

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Sheeran’s Irish tour will kick off in Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Cork, on May 4, playing three dates before heading to Belfast and Galway. He’ll finish up with three dates in Phoenix Park, Dublin, ending on May 19.

Sheeran’s paternal grandparents are Irish and the singer has always embraced his Irish roots and really is there any point in him denying them? With that flock of red hair, there could never be any doubting where the award-winning minstrel’s family came from.  

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Frequently visiting Ireland for family events, and famously staying with his grandmother Anne in Wexford before his sold-out shows in Croke Park, Dublin, in July 2016, he’s also said to have spent some time busking in Galway.

Such is Sheeran’s love for his grandparents homeland that he even recorded an Irish-language version of his hit “Thinking Out Loud,” adding to the brownie points he won among Irish speakers for his tattoo reading, “nuair is gá dom fháil bhaile, is tú mo réalt eolais” (“when I need to get home, you’re my guiding light”).

Are you going to see Ed Sheeran during this tour? Have you seen him perform before?