Ed Sheeran hints at a break as LOOP Tour hits Toronto’s Rogers Centre

Grammy winner played three shows at ballpark on latest stadium tour

Published Aug 23, 2026  •  5 minute read

Ed Sheeran performs during his LOOP tour. Photo by Mark Surridge for Ed Sheeran

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Over the course of three nights playing in Toronto, Ed Sheeran repeatedly told the tens of thousands of fans filling Rogers Centre this week how much he loved Canada.

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But towards the end of his third and final show Saturday night, Sheeran, 35, said that the next time we see him in town it might be as a tourist and not a performer.

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“This is my last tour of North America for awhile,” he revealed during one of his many lengthy monologues. “I’m going to take some time off. I’ve been doing shows non-stop since I was 17 years old … I’m going to take my foot off the gas a little bit … I’ll see you again in a non-musical capacity, I’m sure. It’s a great place to travel to.”

At one point, he donned a powder-blue Blue Jays jersey in a nod to the stadium’s regular tenants. Sheeran is a noted sports fan — earlier in the day, he watched his hometown Ipswich Town F.C. return to the English Premier League at a local bar. So maybe we’ll see him taking in a baseball game at some point at the stadium where he’s now played on four different tours.

After his smash-hit single The A Team, from his debut album +, catapulted him to stardom in 2011, Sheeran went from playing theatres to arenas. Along with other artists that exploded in the 2010s, like fellow pop star Taylor Swift (for whom he opened at Rogers Centre in 2013), Sheeran is now also one of the few musicians who can consistently fill stadiums.

With a vast catalogue of hits to his name, Sheeran ran through songs from eight studio albums during his three-hour performance, including radio-friendly wedding staples like Perfect and Photograph.

He also surprised his Toronto audience by playing three spontaneous fan requests: Firefly, which he hadn’t performed live in 15 years, Repeat It and Magical.

The Fray’s Isaac Slade also popped up for a cover of How to Save a Life.

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So Sheeran fans in other parts of Canada, take note. If you want to see him before he disappears, you’ll need to book a plane ticket. The North American leg of his LOOP Tour, in support of his most recent album, Play, wraps Nov. 7 in Tampa and Toronto was his only Canadian stop.

‘I love it here’

After a show last weekend in Minneapolis, Sheeran travelled in an RV across Canada to make it to Toronto.

“I love it here. Your food is great, by the way. You’ve got banging food,” he said. “I enjoyed road tripping through Canada and seeing the beauty of the national parks and the bears. We don’t have them in England … Canadians are awesome. Canadians are cool.”

Throughout the night, the four-time Grammy winner spoke about his many times visiting the city since playing his first show here 16 years ago. That gig was the first time the affable singer-songwriter performed outside of his native England.

“This was pre-me being successful,” he said. “I remember loving it. I got to go to Niagara Falls.”

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Elsewhere, he revealed that he wrote tracks for 2019’s No.6 Collaborations Project in Toronto. But he was quick to point out that he’s written songs all over the country, namechecking Regina and Vancouver as other locales that have inspired his musicality.

Sheeran also recalled playing the now-defunct Much Music Video Awards and made a plea for the show’s return.

“Bring back the Much Music Awards,” he quipped. “Bring ’em back. We miss them.”

Ed Sheeran performs during his LOOP Tour. Photo by Mark Surridge for Ed Sheeran

Sheeran brought intimacy to downtown stadium

Unlike his last stop in the city during his Mathematics Tour in 2023, Sheeran performed the majority of his three-hour show solo with five-piece Irish folk band Beoga hopping onstage to back him up on a handful of tracks, including crowd favourites Galway Girl and Celestial, which have turned into energetic staples of his live shows.

As Sheeran explained to newcomers, his concert was being performed with an acoustic guitar, keyboard and a loop box that enabled him to play live without any backing tracks.

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“It’s made live on the spot,” he explained as he showed off his gadgetry. “It won’t be the same at the next gig.”

With a massive video screen looming behind him, Sheeran expertly moved between the main stage and a circular B-stage in the middle of the ballpark via an extended bridge that retracted back and forth throughout the night. Pyro, lasers and video footage — especially during Bad Habits, the night’s closing number — made the show a true stadium experience.

Standing in front of the 40,000-plus as if he was in their living room, Sheeran spoke about his early rise and his steadfast determination to make a career as an artist.

With the roof closed on a rainy night, his amiable storytelling made up for some of the echoey sound that plagued a few of the songs, including Azizam and Sheeran’s opening number, You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.

Fans learned how early disappointments led to him writing songs for other artists. Even after The A Team was a smash, Sheeran wondered if he’d be a one-hit wonder, so he continued to pen songs for artists like Justin Bieber and BTS, who were also playing to 50,000 fans Saturday night at Toronto’s Rogers Stadium.

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Ed Sheeran performs during his LOOP Tour. Photo by Mark Surridge for Ed Sheeran

It was the backup plan, Sheeran conceded, but he still does it to this day, telling the crowd that he likes to “write things with people outside my comfort zone.”

In addition to singing a rendition of Love Yourself, which he wrote for Bieber’s Purpose LP, Sheeran performed their 2019 collab I Don’t Care and recounted how he showed up at the singer’s house with a green screen and some gimmicky costumes for an impromptu video shoot.

As fans tucked into every available spot in the sprawling stadium, including the standing areas, Sheeran wanted every person to feel a part of the show.

During Camera, he urged everyone to use their cellphone to turn the stands into a sea of shimmering lights. Celestial turned into a cardio session as he encouraged the crowd to jump up and down.

He declared the night would be a success if by Sunday morning attendees were hoarse from singing and screaming.

“Are you having a good time?” Sheeran asked near the end, before answering his own question. “Of course you are. It’s Toronto on a Saturday night.”

RATING: ***1/2 out of four

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