Just how mushy-sweet was Ed Sheeran's sold-out Xcel Energy Center concert in St. Paul on Saturday night?
As the redheaded, blue-hearted British folk-pop star sang his 2015 love song "Tenerife Sea" midway through the show — the tune with the refrain, "I'm so in love, so in love, so in love," etc. — a burst of unprompted cheering broke out toward the back of the arena. There, cellphone lights lit up a dude getting down on one knee to propose to his girl.
"I assume she said yes," Sheeran interjected from the stage without stopping the tune or missing a beat.
Clearly, this wasn't the singer's first mid-song ring reveal. It wouldn't even be the last proposal during Saturday's performance. The same thing happened again a few songs later during "Perfect," another hushed ballad screaming to become a first-dance wedding staple.
With impossibly sweet moments like those and Sheeran's undeniable aw-shucks charm, it was hard to hate the 95-minute concert. But there were many facets of the show that were less-than-perfect.
As if we weren't going to hear enough tender, touchy love songs by a soft-voiced British strummer, Sheeran recruited "You're Beautiful" hitmaker James Blunt to open his tour. With a hopelessly sleepy, mostly weepy set that found his big hit strategically thrown in the middle for a NoDoz dosage, Blunt made Sheeran look like Springsteen.
Four months into a tour behind his third record, "÷" (aka "Divide"), the St. Paul date was Sheeran's second time headlining Xcel Center in front of a packed audience and his fourth time playing there in as many years, going back to opening gigs with old pal/benefactor Taylor Swift.
He made light of his frequency early in the show when he happily reported the arena's staff gave him another custom-made hockey puck to mark the occasion: "I have them lined up at home," he said of his prior three pucks.
