He stopped by St. Louis’ Pageant Theatre for a concert on February 3, 2013.

Sheeran had two openers, Irish singer by the name of Foy Vance, and Rizzle Kicks, a rapping pair from England. Despite the fact that everyone in the crowd had been waiting for hours for Sheeran to take the stage, we paid the amazing openers their due respect.

Finally, Sheeran took the stage. He opened with ‘Give Me Love’, one of his slower songs, but it warranted a response from the audience so loud I could feel it in my chest.

Something I didn’t expect I’d have to do that night was back-up sing, but Sheeran was all for getting us completely involved. He told us when he first took the stage that we were “no longer a crowd, but St. Louis’ Gospel Choir!” and proceeded to divide us down the middle of the room and give us singing warm-ups.

Every warm-up we did led to the intro of one of his songs, at which time the singing would switch to cheering and then nearly-perfect silence as his voice filled the small venue.

Sheeran had two microphones on stage. One, he could sing into and play back the sound, so he could layer beats as we watched to create the backup for his next song. He could control the playback with pedals at his feet, and over the course of the song he’d add singing, beatboxing, and guitar chords to the playback.

Sheeran doesn’t fit the current stereotypes of male popstars. Despite that, he seems more real than the rest of the boys on the radio. His orange-red hair, tattoo sleeve, and honest lyrics help portray life as a young person looking to succeed much more than anyone in a snapback hat and low-waisted jeans.

He told us between songs at one point, “I find if you put a couple thousand people in a room together, all they want to do is smile and be happy.” His outlook on life is inspiring, and can be heard in his interviews and his lyrics.

Over a thousand fans, three hours of music, and one 21-year old English guy.

Would I go again? You don’t even have to ask.