Ed Sheeran show: On or off?

MANILA, Philippines — Is Ed Sheeran pushing through with his return concert in the Philippines — or not?

Media reports said that the 26-year-old British pop star had met a cycling accident last weekend, prompting him to nix multiple tour dates in Asia.

In an Instagram post dated Oct. 17, Sheeran said he would be “unable to perform live concerts for the immediate future” due to fractures in his right wrist and left elbow. The post was accompanied with a photo of the guitar-wielding hitmaker’s bandaged arms.

“Sadly, this means that the following shows will not be able to go ahead as planned: Taipei, Osaka, Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong. I’m waiting to see how the healing progresses before we have to decide on shows beyond that. Please stay tuned for more details. PS — Ed isn’t typing this as he has both arms casted/bandaged,” the post further read.

Manila wasn’t mentioned among the cancelled dates of his ongoing tour in support of his third album ÷ (read as Divide). Concert promoter Ovation Productions boss Renen de Guia confirmed that Sheeran’s management has been in touch with them although “they’re not assuring anything; they’re saying exactly what the (Instagram) post is saying.”

He noted that the scrapped dates stopped on Nov. 5 “and we are on the seventh (Nov. 7). We’ll be the first but there’s a catch here. They’ll have to play by ear. In other words, it’s not conclusive. As the date approaches, he’ll determine if he’s actually fit to perform.”

One thing is for sure, De Guia added, “Manila is so important for Ed Sheeran. He really liked his first performance here and he talks about it whenever he gets interviewed in other countries... He really wants the Philippines to happen. Whether he can physically do it, that we have to find out.”

Sheeran first performed, to a sold-out crowd, in Manila in March 2015 to promote his then second album x (Multiply). In a videotaped radio interview for Seacrest Studios in the US, he referred to Manila as the coolest place he has been to. He said, “My favorite place to tour was Manila in the Philippines. I didn’t know this until I got there that Manny Pacquiao the boxer — he’s like adored there because obviously, he’s a very, very good boxer — put one of my songs on a playlist. When I got there, I never felt pandemonium like that. Everywhere we’d go, there would be like 4,000 kids chasing our car, and the show itself was, you know, just amazing.”

His planned second visit sold out within two days the tickets became available for sale in April. Sheeran, who is famous for his one-man shows, will perform at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Concert Grounds, unlike before when he held it at the MOA Arena.

De Guia said, “There were trolls complaining that they will not support it because it’s outdoor and they want it indoor at the MOA Arena. They do not understand that it was Ed Sheeran who requested for the outdoor venue. We also explained to him before (how an indoor venue would be best) but he said, ‘No, I like outdoor.’ He wants to go outdoor, he just wants to see the multitude.”

Some 20,000 concertgoers are expected to attend Sheeran’s concert. De Guia said that there’s a market for so much more but they’ve decided to limit the crowd to 25,000. “We’re opening a few more sections but (they’re) basically just for sponsors and VIPs. There could be very, very few (seats available) because it’s good as sold-out. You don’t even count the additional tickets we’ll be putting out.”

Aside from the Philippines, Sheeran has seven more tour dates in Asia and the UAE in November, all sold-out save for the show in Thailand, according to his official website. In a media release, his music label Atlantic Records said that his current album Divide has been certified 2x-platinum by the RIAA for sales equivalents greater than two million. The lead single Shape of You has not only topped Billboard’s Hot 100 for 12 weeks, but has also smashed the record for most number of weeks in the chart’s 59-year history. All these make Sheeran one of the biggest music acts today.

In a 2015 interview with The STAR, Sheeran shared that he had been trying to make it in the music business since he was in his teens, with some of his struggles expressed through his songs.

However, Sheeran said that success came only when he stopped trying to be successful. “Don’t chase the fame and the fortune and the adoration. The only thing you chase after is your love for music. The moment you stop trying to be successful and chase music because you love it, everything will happen.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be Taylor Swift or Coldplay, but you’ll enjoy your life more because you’re making your music. I stopped wanting to be famous, I stopped wanting to get signed and all that. I was like, f**k that, I was going to make music I want to make. As soon as I did that, everyone was getting interested. I think you just do it for yourself and not for anyone else.”