Ed Sheeran gave his fans a big dose of nostalgia with this special acoustic performance featuring every song off his debut album +. The English hitmaker dropped the 12-minute medley in a video titled Acoustic Boat Sessions, which featured him with an acoustic guitar on a tiny boat moving throughout the canals of London. It’s been 13 years since Sheeran dropped the classic album back in 2011, but I know I don’t have to tell The Music Man readers that the songs still hit just as hard.
Sheeran played a section of every song from +, in the order of the original track listing. Some of the most popular segments from the video include opener “The A Team,” “This,” “Lego House,” and “Give Me Love.” The latter song also has a very sweet moment where some young ladies on the side of the canal spot Sheeran performing the medley just a few feet away and freak out at the surprise appearance of the English megastar.
Sheeran uploaded the + medley on October 23, 2024. The month before, he released The Mathematics Tour Collection, which featured hits from across his whole career, including several favorites from +, which is presumably why he chose this time to perform a throwback medley of the album. Fans were loving the live retrospective and added comments such as “There will never be another Ed Sheeran. EVER. He stands alone” and “+ is one of the greatest folk/singer-songwriter albums of all time.”
Throughout 2024, Sheeran has been steadily performing live on The Mathematics Tour, which is due to wrap up on September 8, 2025. The tour has produced some excellent live cuts, many of which Sheeran has shared on his YouTube channel. One of the highlights is Sheeran’s performance of + opener “The A Team” live in Kaunas, Lithuania, which he uploaded on September 27, 2024.
Sheeran released his debut album + on September 9, 2011. The Music Man readers may recall that the album instantly catapulted the English singer-songwriter to megastardom. + is certified nine times Platinum in his homeland and went multi-Platinum across much of the Western world, including three times Platinum in the US. Sheeran has drawn heavily from + for the setlists on his ongoing The Mathematics Tour, including classics from the album such as “Give Me Love,” “The A Team,” and “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.”