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DETROIT − Growing up in England, Ed Sheeran was intrigued by Detroit, galvanized in particular by one of the city’s musical sons: Eminem.
That’s how Sheeran set the stage for fans Saturday night at Ford Field as he and his band embarked on a rendition of Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” They had just rehearsed the song that day, so “let’s see how it goes,” he said, downplaying expectations.
A capacity crowd delighted by the unexpected hometown homage soon erupted with a roar of hysteria. A hooded figure was emerging from beneath the stage, and the reality quickly became clear: Here was Eminem, making his first Detroit concert appearance in years, joining the festivities to perform his signature hit.
The two weren’t done there − after all, you can’t be onstage with Eminem in Detroit and do just one song, Sheeran said. And so began “Stan,” Eminem’s 2000 hit, with Sheeran providing the Dido singing and Eminem delivering his rapped verses as he paced the stage.
“I appreciate you, Detroit,” Eminem said as he and Sheeran soaked in the adulation after their two-song surprise. “I love you!”
The two superstar artists go back several years now, having collaborated on songs such as “River” (2017), “Remember the Name” (2019) and “Those Kinda Nights” (2020), all of them global hits. But Sheeran’s choice to spotlight a pair of Eminem classics on the latest stop of his Mathematics tour was a gesture of honor for the rapper he had long admired.
Sheeran had foreshadowed the cameo earlier in the night, noting that he had swung by for a bite at Eminem’s Mom’s Spaghetti restaurant downtown.
Eminem’s appearance was the obvious highlight in a two-hour-plus show that found Sheeran expertly executing his own prolific catalog of hits. It happened occasionally with a five-piece band but mostly in the manner that propelled Sheeran to musical aristocracy in the first place: working alone with an acoustic guitar, his voice and a foot-operated loop station that allows him to build four-minute pop symphonies in real time.
It’s a technique that allowed him to create waterfalls of vocals on “I’m a Mess” and pilot the dramatic dynamic shifts on numbers such as “Give Me Love.”
All took place on an impressive, in-the-round stage setup that included guitar pick-shaped video screens overhead and a revolving conveyer belt that kept Sheeran playing to all parts of the football stadium.
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Sheeran, as always, was a likable, down-to-earth host − earnest as he recounted the backstories of his songs and playful as he conducted tens of thousands in a mass chorus.
At 32, the ruddy-cheeked troubadour turned chart-topping star has reached a reflective phase in his career. He looked back on his early open-mic performances at half-empty London pubs, the environment that spawned songs such as “The A Team,” still as magnetically poignant Saturday as it was in 2011.
The band brought new textures to his performance, leading with a propulsive “Tides” to start the night and later evoking throwback ‘80s vibes on “Overpass Graffiti.” The dark synths and aching electric guitars on “End of Youth” lent a cinematic feel.
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Sheeran introduced the final hour of the show by promising “the real singalongs … the songs that your grandmother knows.” It was a closing stretch that paired the falsetto friskiness of “Sing” with the soft-lit “Photograph,” as “Perfect” prompted a sea of cellphone lights before the yearning loveliness of “Afterglow” wrapped the regular set.
Sheeran, who had spent the evening clad in a black tour shirt emblazoned with a simple “DETROIT,” returned for a three-song encore in a customized Detroit Lions jersey. This one bore the No. 5 on the front and name “Mathers” on the back − a final nod to his eminent guest of the night, first name Marshall.
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