Ed Sheeran surprised fans in New Orleans with his pop-up performance and debuting a new song.
The Perfect crooner stepped out in the city carrying a portable amp and mic, and was soon joined by The Soul Rebels brass band who recently accompanied Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl halftime show.
He then belted out his new single Azizam to an unsuspecting crowd backed by the ensemble.
According to the local news site Nola.com, the Shape of You hitmaker told the crowd that he was performing the song for the first time.
“We’re gonna do one song here we’re filming a bit of content and then we’re going to do a parade and walk down and play some songs, if you want to come with us,” Ed announced to the seated crowd, according to the outlet.
Delighting the fans with his upcoming song news he said, “I’ve got a new song coming in a couple weeks that no one’s heard. This will be the first time it’s ever been played live.”
Ed continued, “We’ll play it once now and then we’ll walk down, play some songs that you know, and I’ll play this song again.”
He also shared a video of the performance on Instagram which featured him rolling his amp down a narrow city street among a growing crowd.
“Playing some new music today on the streets of New Orleans with @thesoulrebels thanks to everyone who turned up!” he captioned the post.
Ed is expected to release his eighth studio album, entitled Play, later this year, per Billboard.
