Singer Ed Sheeran will play seven dates in Ireland across four counties next year as part of his recently announced stadium tour.
The Galway Girl singer will kick off the tourin 2018 at the recently redeveloped Parc Uí Chaoimh in Cork with two dates, followed by a show at Belfast's Boucher Playing Fields.
He'll then play two nights at Galway's Pearse Stadium, before wrapping up the Irish leg in Phoenix Park in Dublin.
Tickets for the gigs go on sale on Saturday, July 8th at 9am.
Excited to announce @edsheeran's Nationwide Ireland stadium tour calling at Cork, Belfast, Galway & Dublin in May 2018 #EdIrishTour âž— pic.twitter.com/6TPoMKjo3v
— Aiken Promotions (@aikenpromotions) June 28, 2017
Demand will be high, considering his last Irish dates - two nights at the 3Arena in April - sold out in under five minutes.
The singer also teased that he will be announcing further dates for the tour shortly.
That's not the end of the stadium tour, watch this space x
— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) June 28, 2017
Tackling touts
In a statement released this morning, Ed's team wrote:
"Ed and his team have a strict stance against anyone using secondary ticketing websites for profit. On this tour, any tickets that are resold will not be valid – this means no profit to touts and no one getting ripped off.
"On all the stadium dates you will be required to bring your tickets, booking confirmation and credit card, plus a valid form of ID or you will not be granted entry to the show."
The debate around ticket touting resurfaced earlier this year after tickets for U2 and Ed Sheeran sold out, with tickets resurfacing online for multiples of the face value price.
In an exclusive interview with Newstalk's Technology Correspondent Jess Kelly, Managing Director of Ticketmaster Keith English said it can be challengin to anticipate the demand for tickets for events like Sheeran's.
"Ed Sheeran is a great example. He played two shows in the Three Arena, the last time he was here he played two shows in Croke Park. The supply will never cater for that demand. That's the nature of live events.
"It can be very hard to anticipate before a show goes on sale what the demand will be. There's always going to be a case with those high profile artist, regardless of how you manage the ticket process, where people are left disappointed."
