The concert.

The dude seriously records the sound of his Rice Krispies in the morning and then freestyles to it.

At the beginning of his tour for "+" he did a concert in Birmingham and at the beginning asked the crowd to part and then set up a table in the middle of the floor and just stood on it with his guitar and performed the whole thing acoustically without a microphone. in the middle of the crowd. would that not be the coolest thing of your whole life???

Some videos. If you watch one of them, please let it be the second one. Or the third.

A great interview:



A great studio session:


And another great studio session:


I watched these sorts of things. live.

It was the best concert I've ever been to. Let's recap the other concerts I have seen: NSYNC, BSB, One Direction, Neil Diamond, Beach Boys, Goo Goo Dolls....and I don't remember what else. I loved the Backstreet Boys concert. It rocked. It was a dream come true.

But Ed was just a different story. He wrote these amazing songs and then he performed them, on his own, with no band, and I was just standing there, smashed in the crowd, with my fists clenched and my mouth open. The whole time.

Lauren and I got there a little over an hour early and found my friend Candace in line. We were so lucky to have her. She was towards the beginning of the massive line and we got excellent placement in the crowd once they opened the doors.

We did not stay in that excellent place. I have never experienced such pushing. People started pushing towards the front the moment the place started to fill up. It was a little insane. And I started to lose it a little bit. I don't think I've ever been so mean in my life. But when you are in this sort of situation, you have to hold your ground, dang it! If you let everyone in front you that tries to push forward, you will end up at the very back of the crowd, which would be no bueno!! One girl was like, "can I get between you guys?" Because she and her girls were trying to find their friends up at the front. I said no. She was like, "but I need to find our friends." And I flat out said, "they have literally saved a bubble of space up their for you? Because there is no room." She was like, "WHAAA?" And I said, "you can go up there if you want, but you'll have to find a different way."

I took a picture to commemorate the small air bubble in front of me for a couple minutes. And that girl's hair, btw, was OUT OF CONTROL and in my face LOTS.

After a while Lauren and I started to feel like we are getting too old for this.

Lauren, Candace, me.

But we had our matching shirts on and we were just SO EXCITED to see Ed.


There were two opening acts. The first one was boring-ish and the only thing I could think was that opening acts are the worst idea in the history of mankind. But then the second one was good. Both openers were British, which was cool, but then they spoke so fast that we couldn't understand them when they said their names. It was difficult. But we figured out that the second was called Rizzle Kicks. They were UK rapper dudes. Zac Taylor would have loved them. And they grooved. I was excited.

And then Ed appeared. He opened with "Give Me Love" and I about died.

Ed in blue.

And then the set list included "Drunk," "U.N.I.," "Grade 8," "Small Bump," "Kiss Me" (again, I die.), "Lego House," "Wayfaring Stranger" (not an Ed original, btw), "Gold Rush," "You Need Me, I Don't Need You" (which went on for like 10 minutes), a traditional Irish piece (I wish he would have closed with this), and finally, "The a Team."

oh hello there Ed.

He kept telling everyone to sing instead of scream and he would give us harmonies. And then for the slower, sweeter songs, he just told everyone to be silent--almost like it was reverent. It was really cool. And he would sing and play and loop his stuff like in those videos.

They should pay me for taking a picture this good.

Ed waving good bye

When it ended Lauren and I were speechless. We wandered back to the car, and while we were waiting in the parking lot for literally 1 hour before we could pull out, we listened to the whole album again. And it was like magic.

Oh, and Saltair was pretty cool. I'll have to go out there again because it was SO FOGGY that I swear I couldn't even see the whole building, nor the surrounding areas (namely, the lake).

So if you ever get the chance. Buy tickets to see Ed.

at the end... :(

the shiny gold thing??? That's about the only part of the building we could see.

waiting in the car, very sleepy.

And also. "The a Team" is nominated for Song of the Year at this year's Grammys. And Ed's performing. So watch it.

And a last note: Someone asked in an interview what he has spent his money on since becoming rich and famous. He was like, "well, someone gave me a Ralph Lauren sweat shirt that I really liked... so I bought 7 more in different colors." Who does that???

I am officially the coolest person you know.

I am now the owner of a READER'S CARD AT THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS!!!! Do you understand the significance of this??? It's the fulfillment of a life-long goal! I now have access to EVERY BOOK IN THE COUNTRY!!!! I can't check anything out, of course, only members of congress have that privilege, but I can read them!! YAY ME!!!
Do you see my picture on that card?? And my name???!!! Life is complete.

So, I had all day to do whatever I wanted because everyone else started their internships today, but I don't start until May 12th. So, I went shopping in Georgetown, then went to get my card! I just walked right in to the front desk and said, "I would like a reader's card, please." The lady said, "Well, are you doing research?" So I said, "Why yes. I am an intern here for the summer, and I have to do a research project." But honestly, what I wanted to say was, HECK YES I'm doing research! I can read these books and learn everything. I'm doing research for my WHOLE LIFE!" So, the lady sent me to the other building of the library, I filled out the papers, and they took my picture and printed out my card. I left fulfilled and victorious. Best thing ever!

Then, I went down the Mall past the Capitol building and to the National Gallery of Art. I only went in the East building, and I looked at a whole bunch of really cool medieval and 19th century French Art. It was super cool. I was getting pretty tired and really hot by this time, so I just went to the Smithsonian castle and looked around. Pretty sweet. But what I really love about Washington, though, is that there are really cool statues and memorials all around! I love it. Until tomorrow. :)