Ed Sheeran Announces North American Arena Tour And Combatting Bots, Too

Multiple GRAMMY Award-winning global superstar Ed Sheeran has announced details for his North American arena tour.  Dates begins June 29th at Kansas City, Mo’s Sprint Center and then continue through early October.

Pre-sales for all North American dates on the tour – powered by Ticketmaster Verified Fan, an innovative new tech product from Ticketmaster built to help artists combat bots and get tickets into the hands of real fans who intend to go to the event – are set to begin Monday, March 13th at 10 AM and run through Thursday, March 16th at 10 PM (all times local); supplies are limited. All remaining tickets will then be released to the general public on Friday, March 17th at 10 AM (local) except the July 19th date at Montreal, QC’s Bell Centre, on sale at 12 Noon (local).

The tour celebrates Sheeran’s landmark third studio album, “÷.” The album – pronounced “divide” – includes the universal hit singles, “Shape of You” and “Castle On The Hill,” both of which made incredible chart entries after their simultaneous January release.

Ed Sheeran’s “Shape Of You” remains at number one on the All Format chart for the fourth week in Canada and sets a new one week spin record with just under 4,200 spins. It surpasses the record set in July by Justin Timberlake’s “Can’t Stop The Feeling.” The song holds at No. 1 for the fourth week at CHR and the third week at Hot AC and jumps to No. 1 on the Mainstream AC list. It is his fourth chart-topper at the format. “Shape Of You” remains at number one on the Billboard Canadian Hot 100 for the eighth straight week, holding at the top of the Streaming, Digital Songs and Hot 100 Airplay charts. “Shape of You” has been certified 4x platinum in Canada, while “Castle on the Hill” has earned platinum status.

The song’s official companion video – directed by MTV Video Music Award winner Jason Koenig– is further achieving record-shattering numbers of its own, with individual views in excess of 300 million at Sheeran’s official YouTube alone.

“÷” has fast proven an even greater phenomenon than Sheeran’s 4x Music Canada Platinum certified second album, 2014’s “x.” Released March 3rd, the album immediately rocketed to #1 on iTunes charts in 96 countries around the world, including the United States and the United Kingdom. “÷” has also achieved historic levels of steaming success including the best-ever one day streams for a single artist (68,695,172), best one day streams for an individual album (56,727,861), and best first day streams for an individual album (56,727,861), the latter two statistics almost doubling the previous record-holder’s success. In addition, “Shape of You,” the album’s stellar first single, earned the best one day streams for a single track with a remarkable 10,123.630 streams – besting Sheeran’s own record set earlier this year upon the single’s initial release.

“÷” also stormed streaming worldwide charts, with all 16 of the album’s tracks forming the actual top 16 on Spotify’s “Top 50” in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The complete tracklisting also instantly entered Spotify’s “Global Top 50” chart, as well as the “Top 50” in 13 international markets including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, and Switzerland.

Sheeran is celebrating the announcement of the tour this morning with a live appearance in New York City’s Rockefeller Center as part of NBC’s TODAY “Citi Concert Series.” The performance continues a long series of high profile media appearances supporting “÷,” including NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night LiveThe Ellen DeGeneres ShowCBS This Morning, and both the 59 Annual GRAMMY® Awards and the 2017 iHeartRadio Music Awards.

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR DATES

June 29 || Kansas City, MO || Sprint Center
June 30 || Des Moines, IA || Wells Fargo Arena
July 1 || St. Paul, MN || Xcel Energy Center
July 7 || Toronto, ON || Air Canada Centre
July 9 || Buffalo, NY || KeyBank Center
July 11 || Philadelphia, PA || Wells Fargo Center
July 14 || Uncasville, CT || Mohegan Sun Arena
July 15 || Uncasville, CT || Mohegan Sun Arena
July 18 || Quebec City, QC || Videotron Centre
July 19 || Montreal, QC || Bell Centre
July 22 || Winnipeg, MB || MTS Centre
July 23 || Saskatoon, SK || SaskTel Centre
July 25 || Edmonton, AB || Rogers Place
July 28 || Vancouver, BC || Rogers Arena
July 29 || Tacoma, WA || Tacoma Dome
July 30 || Portland, OR || Mode Center
August 1 || Sacramento, CA || Golden 1 Center
August 2 || Oakland, CA || Oracle Arena
August 4 || Las Vegas, NV || T-Mobile Arena
August 5 || Glendale, AZ || Gila River Arena
August 6 || San Diego, CA || Valley View Casino Center
August 10 || Los Angeles, CA || Staples Center
August 15 || Denver, CO || Pepsi Center
August 17 || Tulsa, OK || BOK Center
August 18 || Dallas, TX || American Airlines Center
August 19 || Houston, TX || Toyota Center
August 22 || San Antonio, TX || AT&T Center
August 25 || Duluth, GA || Infinite Energy Center
August 29 || Tampa, FL || Amalie Arena
August 30 || Miami, FL || American Airlines Arena
August 31 || Orlando, FL || Amway Center
September 2 || Raleigh, NC || PNC Arena
September 3 || Charlotte, NC || Spectrum Center
September 5 || Charleston, SC || North Charleston Center
September 7 || Louisville, KY || KFC YUM! Center
September 8 || Indianapolis, IN || Bankers Life Fieldhouse
September 9 || Cleveland, OH || Quicken Loans Arena
September 12 || Omaha, NE || CenturyLink Center
September 15 || Chicago, IL || Allstate Arena
September 17 || St. Louis, MO || Scottrade Center
September 19 || Washington, DC || Verizon Center
September 22 || Boston, MA || TD Garden
September 26 || Pittsburgh, PA || PPG Paints Arena
September 27 || Detroit, MI || Little Caesars Arena
September 29 || Brooklyn, NY || Barclays Center
September 30 || Brooklyn, NY || Barclays Center
October 3 || Columbus, OH || Nationwide Arena
October 6 || Nashville, TN || Bridgestone Arena