Ed Sheeran reunites with Nizlopi on arena tour

Twenty years after topping the charts with their million-selling hit JCB Song, the band that inspired a teenage Ed Sheeran is to open shows for him.

Sheeran credits Nizlopi with teaching him “basically every aspect of my live set” and has asked them to support his upcoming European arena tour.

“Ed was our intern, our work experience kid, he was our biggest fan,” recalls Luke Concannon of Nizlopi.

“And now he’s the most successful British live musician of all time.”

The friends had been chatting about the upcoming release on vinyl of the band’s debut album, Half These Songs Are About You, and JCB Song.

“He asked if we were doing any gigs around it… and I said yep, but he was in New York,” the singer explained.

“I said, well, you know, we could bring the music to you and open some shows for you, and he was like, ‘really? Would you?’

“And we were like, yeah, if you push us we’ll come on an arena tour with you,” the singer joked.

They will play sold-out dates in Paris, Munich, Coventry, Manchester and Dublin.

A 14-year-old Sheeran became a “superfan” of the band, originally from Leamington Spa, after seeing them play at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire, explained Concannon.

“He was writing to us a lot asking if he could come and do work experience, and eventually we were like yeah, you can come on tour basically as a guitar tech.”

Choosing Nizlopi track Flooded Quarry as the one he would save during his Desert Island Discs appearance in 2017, Sheeran said he was “always front row at the gigs, and after a while they just started noticing me.”

“Basically everything from my live set – the way I control my voice, the way I control the audience, the way I play the guitar even and use beatbox and stuff – this comes from this band,” he said.

Sheeran eventually went on to open shows for Nizlopi, “and now it’s come full circle,” added Concannon.

December marks the 20th anniversary of the folk duo comprising Concannon and bandmate John Parker having an “improbable” number one.

JCB Song is about five-year-old Luke and his digger-driving dad “Bruce Lee” in response to bullying.

It became a favourite at live shows, but on first release only sold a total of 600 copies, he explained.

But a poignant shareable video, released before YouTube and Facebook was popular, reversed the song’s fortunes.

“When we re-released it at Christmas all the doors were opening, because so many people had been sharing it,” he said.

“And from a totally independent band with no major record label, all run from one room in my parents’ house, it sold 600,000 copies that Christmas.”

He and Parker have continued producing music, with Concannon’s solo album, Midnight Bloom, recently released.

He said the band was “ecstatic” to be asked to play with Sheeran.

“Nizlopi has got a lot to give,” he said.

“Neither of us have ever stopped being dedicated artists, and so to get the chance to share it is just, amazing.

“I’ve put blood, sweat, and tears into my record and I’m excited to be able to share those songs too.”