Ed Sheeran will perform his upcoming Autumn Variations album in full at a pair of gigs at London’s Royal Albert Hall on Nov. 18-19. The singer tweeted a poster for the event on Friday morning (Sept. 8), which dubs the gigs the “Last Days of Autumn,” along with a hand-drawn image of an acorn.
Autumn Variations will drop on Sept. 29 through Sheeran’s Gingerbread Man Records as the follow-up to his latest maths-series album, – (Subtract); both collections were produced by The National’s Aaron Dessner. The album will hit one week after the North American leg of Ed’s Mathematics World Tour wraps at Sofi Stadium in Los Angeles on September 23.
In a response to fan questions, Sheeran assured Sheerios that if they’ve already pre-ordered the album from the official store they will be automatically eligible for the show pre-sale. Pre-sale access codes and instructions will be emailed to eligible fans beginning at 5 p.m. BST on Sept. 13; click here for full information on ticketing options.
The Royal Albert Hall’s tweet about the show noted that it will be Sheeran’s final UK performance of the year and that the singer will be accompanied by a live band and a full string section.
“Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded,” Sheeran explained in a note announcing the album. “When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time. There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.”
Autumn Variations is Sheeran’s second album this year, following on the heels of Subtract, which debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums in May. The album also launched at No. 1 on the Top Album Sales chart, with Sheeran’s largest sales week since 2017.
See the event poster below.
