Inside Ed Sheeran’s 2026 Australian Tour Plans

Ed Sheeran Confirms Return to Australia with New 2026 Tour

Ed Sheeran will return to Australia in 2026 to launch his new Loop Tour with several stadium shows. He will kick off the tour in Adelaide on March 5, 2026, celebrating a new beginning following the success of his recent record-breaking Mathematics Tour in 2023.

The Loop Tour will be the first tour to feature songs from Sheeran’s next album Play, which launches in September 2025. 

In a phone call from London during a recent press briefing, Sheeran shared how he is thrilled to begin the tour in Australia. Sheeran expects to offer the audience a different type of show with a new stage design and new versions of some of his most popular music. 

On previous tours, Sheeran ended in Australia; he purposely wanted to begin in Australia. Sheeran has proven in recent years a strong following in Australia, consistently selling out shows.

 

 

 

 

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Tech and Stage Secrets Not Yet Revealed

The precise details are shrouded in mystery, but behind the scenes, the Loop Tour's production design has been labelled as one of the most sophisticated seen in an Ed Sheeran show. Instead of the usual linear stages, this tour will feature a 360-degree revolving stage allowing Sheeran to perform from any angle for a more inviting audience experience. This design will follow systems from Ed Sheeran's previous tours, with Follow‑Me camera operators, fibre linked, to make sure he's always being seen, even from quick changes when Sheeran traverses the stage.

The video and lighting setup consists of a semi-circular "chalice", composed of curving LED screens, overhead lighting pods, and a back wall of moving visuals. The visual and lighting elements are controlled from a remote trailer space called "The Loft" to ensure tight interplay between visuals and Sheeran's live looping performance.

The video and lighting setup comprised a semi-circular structure resembling a "chalice," with curved LED screens, movable lighting pods above, and a back wall with moving video imagery. The visuals were all controlled from a production trailer called "The Loft." This arrangement allowed for close coordination between Sheeran's live looping performance and the accompanying visuals.

This technical-first path will permit the audience to seehis visuals that be in time with his live looping, not just the audio of layering his music, but also the light and video cue information that is also going through his pedal board, all in real-time. It is a step above the simple solo setup and blends a simple approach with a spectacle.

Tributes and Ticket Sale Details

The tour will also feature personal tributes to Sheeran's close friends Shane Warne, the Australian cricket legend, and music promoter Michael Gudinski, who have both passed away in the last few years. Sheeran plans to have simple but thoughtful tributes, especially during shows in Melbourne, where both men were a big part of Sheeran's history in Australia.

The tickets will go on sale in several rounds:

A Telstra Plus pre-sale begins on July 25 and will run for 48 hours.

Frontier Touring members will have access on July 28.

General ticket sales will be on July 29 and will differ in release times for each city.

Sheeran will be performing in major venues around the country including: Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. Based on the nature of his last tours, we recommend that you buy your tickets the moment they go on sale before they are all sold out.

As well as new music from Play, the show will feature reimagined library songs and a few acoustic segments where Sheeran can relate to the audience more intimately. Organisers say the 2026 tour aims to give that feeling of intimacy, with the scale of all the venues.

Sheeran's 2023 Mathematics Tour broke attendance records in Australia, and expectations are high for this new series of shows. As the album release approaches and more tour dates are confirmed, it will be interesting to see what fans expect, and are probably anxiously awaiting.

Ed Sheeran’s Enduring Bond with Australia

Ed Sheeran has a deep connection to Australia that goes way beyond chart placements and ticket sales. Every time he has set foot in Australia-- which he has done on several, substantial tours-- Australia is increasingly becoming an important piece of both his professional and personal life. In 2018, Ed sold out arenas and stadiums on the Divide Tour, reaching more than 1.1 million unique fans and finishing with the most attended tour ever in Australian history, determined by the amount of tickets.

In 2023, Ed did the same with the sold out Mathematics Tour and similarly found himself to be very well received and at the same level of popularity, continuing to have good audience attendance across multiple cities.. Ed was played by the unfortunate timing of the passing of two more great Australian personalities, recognised by him personally and alongside the Country's fans of Shane Warne and Michael Gudinski, for whom he paid tribute to while he was there doing his work before that travelling between Australia and UK was halted in the beginnings of the pandemic. Certainly Ed does have a unique relationship to Australia, although this is not just a professional relationship he conveys to us. He has emotional connection for example in Melbourne, and just Melbourne and in fact is known to refer to it and say that it is his "second home" and describes regularly staying in Melbourne for long periods while travelling there for tours.

Also Read:

2026 Ed Sheeran Loop Tour: Australia & NZ Dates Announced

Australia was also early on in Ed's career where his music caught on in the Aussie music scene and then the world over, and the connection runs so deep that is why Ed continues to come back to connect with the fans on a personal level, and for Ed, every tour has felt more than just a stop on the road, it has been a homecoming tour. Ed's next tour, called the 2026 Loop Tour, is expected to continue this pattern showing state-of-the-art stage design presentation and heartfelt performances that show the long-standing love affair with Ed and his Australian Playlists.

Image Source: Timeout.com