Watch Ed Sheeran play surprise set at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend in Liverpool

24 May, 2025

Ed Sheeran played a surprise set at BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend this weekend – check out footage below.

The ‘Shape Of You’ singer took to the New Music Stage at 1pm on Saturday (May 24) on the second day of the festival, which is being held in Liverpool’s Sefton Park.

Rumours had been circulating around the site that a major artist would be making a special guest appearance at the festival and the news was confirmed at lunchtime on Saturday by Radio 1. The tent stage quickly filled to capacity, with organisers having to pause access to the area shortly before 1pm.

Sheeran played an 11-track set that included many of his major hits, as well as ‘Azizam’ and ‘Old Phone’ from his upcoming ‘Play’, which is due out in September. Check out a range of clips from the set here:

Ed Sheeran played: 

‘Castle On The Hill’ 
‘Shivers’ 
‘The A Team’ 
‘Don’t’ 
‘Old Phone’ 
‘Photograph’ 
‘Perfect’ 
‘Bloodstream’ 
‘Azizam’ 
‘Shape Of You’ 
‘Bad Habits’ 

Radio 1’s Big Weekend opened on Friday (May 23), with Tom Grennan, Biffy Clyro, Confidence Man, Nia Archives and The Wombats among those on the bill. Sam Fender is set to headline on Saturday, while Mumford & Sons will close out the festival on Sunday, alongside sets from HAIM, Wet Leg and Self Esteen.

Sheeran’s guest appearance is just the latest of his surprise shows lately – he took to the streets of Sheffield for a pop-up performance last week (May 18), and played a similar show at London’s King’s Cross last month.

He has also been taking a pop-up English pub ‘The Old Phone’ on the road with him in recent months, bringing it to his hometown namesake of Ipswich, Massachusetts and eventually Coachella.

The performances are part of the campaign around ‘Play’, which a press release has said intends to “bring people together”, with Sheeran aiming to “connect on a more intimate level with his supporters”. It is due out on September 12 and you can pre-order it here.

Sheeran has said that ‘Play’ was made as a “direct response” to the “darkest period” of his life. “Coming out of all of that I just wanted to create joy and technicolour, and explore cultures in the countries I was touring. I made this record all over the world, finished it in Goa, India, and had some of the most fun, explorative creative days of my life.”

As for live shows, Sheeran is due to play a run of European shows from May to September 2025, as well as a trio of shows at Ipswich Town’s Portman Road, before finishing up the year with performances in Bhutan, India, Qatar and Bahrain. Visit here for tickets.

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