“Meeting Ed Sheeran was amazing,” a patient of Queensland Children’s Hospital said of the pop star’s surprise visit.
Ed Sheeran has gifted sick children in Brisbane with a surprise performance, attending Queensland Children’s Hospital yesterday (February 20) to run through some of his hits for the young patients.
In footage of the heartwarming impromptu gig, Sheeran can be seen traipsing the hospital halls, greeting children, and performing duets of songs from across his discography with recovering cancer patients.
Also included in his hospital setlist was the song Shivers, lifted from Sheeran’s most recent album =. Playing on the equation symbols that form the titles of the singer’s albums, Queensland Children’s Hospital wrote on Instagram that Sheeran had provided “a lesson in mathematics that our patients and families will remember forever.”
The pop star was seen playing to individual patients and their parents, as well as bigger audiences within the ward.
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Sheeran attended the hospital for two hours. Speaking of the surprise performance in an interview with Today Show, recovering cancer patient Keasine Latu said she was “so nervous” when Sheeran first appeared in the hospital. “It was the best thing I experienced [in] my entire life, meeting Ed Sheeran was amazing,” Latu said.
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Latu, who is now thankfully cancer-free, was one of the lucky fans to perform alongside the pop star, trying her hand at a duet of the song Thinkin’ Out Loud while Sheeran played the guitar. Sheeran joins a string of musicians who have paid a visit to Australian hospitals in recent times, in a showcase of the healing power of music.
In 2016, Taylor Swift spent four hours greeting patients at Lady Cliento Children’s Hospital in South Brisbane, while last month, Paul Kelly performed to Renée Geyer while she was being treated in Geelong Hospital in the days before her death.
@news.com.au Love can change the world in a moment 🎶 #edsheeran #edsheeranlive #australia #brisbane #queensland #surprise #foryoupage@Ed Sheeran ♬ perfect speed up speedxur – Speed up songs
Sheeran is in Australia for his ongoing Mathematics tour. The singer will perform in Sydney this Friday, before rounding out the Australian jaunt with additional dates in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth by March 12.
