Ed Sheeran bans big stadiums from new tour

Ed Sheeran will not play any big stadium shows this year.

The ‘Castle on the Hill’ hitmaker – who has just made his musical comeback following a year-long hiatus – has decided that he wants to ease himself back into things gently and has only included arenas and smaller venues on his forthcoming tour because he wants to make sure his set is "good" before he scales it out to venues the size of Wembley Stadium.

Speaking on ‘Capital XTRA In The Morning With Jez Welham’ on Tuesday (01.10.17), he said: "This time, I didn’t want to go straight into stadiums. I wanted to get the tour good first. We’re doing smaller shows … It’s mad to say an arena is a small show cause it’s not, but it was a conscious decision not to book a load of Wembleys this year."

Although he’s already decided he wants to perform at smaller venues this year, the 25-year-old singer is yet to release any other details regarding the tour but it’s believed he will get things going by headlining at Glastonbury at the end of June.

A source said recently: "It’s going to be a huge moment for the festival having him up there marking his comeback in front of a giant crowd. Ed’s always said headlining Glastonbury has been a big ambition of his. Topping his three sold-out Wembley Stadium shows last year will be tough, but this is as big as it gets."

It’s also thought the flame-haired hunk has agreed to perform one of his new songs ‘Castle on the Hill’ or ‘Shape of You’, which he dropped last week as part of his spotlight comeback, at the BRIT Awards in London on February 22.

An insider explained earlier this month: "Ed is one of the greatest sing/songwriters of our generation. His performance will be a highlight of the night."

Ed announced he was planning to take 12 months away from the gritty music industry last year in order to spend time with his family and friends and go travelling.