Ed Sheeran review – Autumn Variations’ weak national elegies laid bare in singer’s first Albert Hall show | Music
Ed Sheeran speaks for England. “I find this country of mine gets a bad reputation,” sings the singer-songwriter tonight on stage at the Royal Albert Hall, “of being cold and grey.” Looking for a new England, Sheeran’s newfound national elegies put him in a lineage of songwriters that includes Ray Davies and Billy Bragg.Where performing an album in full is generally reserved for settled career-best classics or the rollout of bold new statements, Autumn Variations – performed tonight with a six-piece string section – isn’t…