Sziget Day 1 – Sheeran woos fans while Angie wins hearts

Many Ed Sheeran fans came to Sziget last night with little festival experience. It could be that they were expecting arena-like comfort instead of a crush at the front of the main stage and people falling over themselves for drinks at slow-moving outlets.

Advised to get there early – hours early – fans fell into a panic as concert time approached and the K Bridge, which connects the entrance to the island Sziget is named after, was said to be moving.

Of course, there was no need to worry – you could tell as soon as Sheeran walked on stage, a few minutes ahead of his official start time, a single guitar in hand.

As he started up with Castle on the Hill, many thought he would do a couple of solo numbers then have a band join him – not a bit of it.

Tens of thousands, mostly teenage girls, were eating from the palm of his hand, pretty much from the very first moment of the show to the last, with nothing but him, his guitar and a couple of gadgets to entertain them.

The talent of this smiling, extremely enthusiastic, non-macho young man was undeniable: he was on stage alone, addressing his audience directly, gratefully and lovingly. Blessed with a delightful pop sensitivity, his voice floated in the air. Even if this wasn’t your kind of music – and yes, he did play Galway Girl – it was enough just to look around to see that the production works to a tee. To see so many people, happy, in one place, is no small virtue in this day and age.

Ed Sheeran is the kind of guy who remains almost invisible in the crowd until one of his buddies produces an acoustic guitar. Sat around the campfire, Ed might ask, shyly, if anyone would mind if he sang a couple of tunes. A smile, a chord or two and everyone’s humming. That’s where the magic is, and that’s how our Ed wins over every woman's heart, from the age of eight to 80. Yes, Sheeran is a master of simple emotions, shamelessly basic tenets.

All around the world – and Sziget forms part of the highest-grossing tour in the history of the music business, surpassing U2, and it hasn’t even finished yet – girls with Sheeran on their playlist know that this little ginger troubadour expresses love like no other.

Ed Sheeran stepping on stage with a single guitar brings that experience directly to every single member of the crowd. The girls close their eyes and sing along as if Ed is in their room, a room where no-one – parents, friends, outside world – is allowed but Ed. Ed Sheeran is theirs. Is, was and will be.

Mention must also be made of two rare musical moments before the main show, delivered by Michael Kiwanuka and Angie McMahon.

UK singer-songwriter Kiwanuka led a very powerful band to generate some mighty Afro-soul-funk-blues on the Main Stage in the late afternoon/early evening. It was good just to be there for that hour and a half, to take in the emotions of this unmatched talent, the humble bearded son of Ugandan refugees, and his band.

Aussie Angie McMahon, on the Petőfi Rádió-Telekom Volt Stage, was like embracing music itself, a long, very intimate moment where you feel yourself welling up because you feel so good about where you are and when. It would be the same today, simple as that. You dissolve into the evening, into the moment, into life and into love and, most of all, you are glad that this worn-out, emptied and neglected word ‘love’ still has a place in this world because of people like Angie McMahon. And, in fact, like Michael Kiwanuka. And, to be sure, Ed Sheeran.