There’s nothing modern about modern music

Every generation claims current music’s gone to the dogs, but the acts filling our stadiums would be right at home in Van Morrison’s era, writes Cameron Adams.

Ed Sheeran sold a remarkable 4,860,482 tickets around the world for his Divide global tour in 2018.

No act has ever done that before.

Of those, 768,497 were sold in Australia last March, 256,622 of them in Melbourne alone.

Sheeran’s Divide tour grossed over $607 million, $63 million of that from Australia.

That broke a record Dire Straits had held for 32 years when they toured their Brothers in Arms record Down Under — the biggest album in the world at the time. However, they were here for over three months, continually adding shows due to demand and had the freedom of ending their world tour here. Sheeran, on the other hand, did all of Australia (and New Zealand) in under a month, shoehorning in as many shows as physically possible. He probably could have sold out six more stadium shows if time permitted.

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Ed Sheeran performing in concert at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne this year. Picture: Ian Currie

The biggest touring artist in Australian history did it without any other musicians. Sheeran is the world’s most hi-tech busker, using a loop pedal to turn himself into a one-man band.

While people will moan about the state of modern music, if you ignore his occasional rap track, Sheeran has more in common with Van Morrison and Elton John than anyone else on the current charts. You only fill stadiums by appealing to kids and their parents. Ask Adele.

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Then there’s the older stadium acts who cross generations — go to Kiss, or Bon Jovi or even Eminem and you’ll see the music has been handed down. Along with the T-shirts. That’s one of the joys of music, it’s a bonding thing between families. Kind of like sport, except at a concert everyone is barracking for the same team.

Sheeran’s only 27. Seven years ago he was playing in front of a dozen people at Collingwood’s Bakehouse studios. And many of those early songs are still the ones he’s serenading millions with. There’s no secret — they’re simple, timeless songs. Some might argue too simple — Sheeran’s critics claim he’s too beige, that he’s what happens when kids listen to the same music as their parents. But he does have a darker streak, popping up on rap and grime records, alongside those Andrea Bocelli records.

Vance Joy playing the 2016 AFL Grand Final at the MCG. Picture: Alex Coppel.

It’s unlikely anyone is going to beat Sheeran’s live record anytime soon, but we saw a similar rapid ascension on a local level here last year. Melbourne’s Vance Joy went from playing an open mic night at the Great Britain Hotel in Richmond in 2010 to selling out Rod Laver Arena twice eight years later. In between that came two albums, a few global hits, several million streams and a heck of a lot of hard work. It’s a blueprint local artists like Amy Shark are following with good reason — in a streaming era where you don’t make money from album sales you have to tour relentlessly, get your songs on TV ads and sell a whole lot of T-shirts.

Eminem, who is now 46, will play the MCG in February. And unlike recent shows there, where the last remaining tickets have been sold off through budget sites (it’s a big venue to fill), he’s not only the first rapper to play the venue, he pretty much sold it out straight away.

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Paul Stanley and Kiss will do a farewell lap of Australia in 2019.

Bigger isn’t always better when it comes to live music. But it helps. Especially with Sheeran.

His team spend time and money making sure the sound and vision is amazing.

Sheeran’s mate Taylor Swift built a stage the size of an apartment block for her Reputation tour, which is one way of making a stadium tour feel intimate.

2019 will see some touring icons saying goodbye — Kiss and Elton John. Both will visit Australia for the final time on farewell tours. Kiss’ will be relatively short and sweet, Elton’s will be a longer affair.

Will Ed Sheeran be doing a victory lap tour in 40 years? Probably. But as the last few years have shows us rock stars are mortal too and you need to see them when you can.

Or else join the ranks of people hitting refresh watching Queen at Live Aid on You Tube. Again.

Cameron Adams is the Herald Sun’s music writer.

@cameron_adams