{ "id": "epxcn4n5pk", "slug": "tour-epxcn4n5pk", "title": "+–=÷× Tour", "updated": "2026-10-25", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.music", "label": "Music", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music" }, { "id": "culture.music.institutions", "label": "Music institutions and events", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.institutions" }, { "id": "culture.music.institutions.concert-tours", "label": "Concert tours and residencies", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.institutions.concert-tours" }, { "id": "culture.music.institutions.concert-tours.concert-tours-by-pop-artists", "label": "Concert tours by pop artists", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.institutions.concert-tours.concert-tours-by-pop-artists" }, { "id": "culture.music.institutions.concert-tours.concert-tours-by-pop-artists.pop-concert-tours", "label": "Pop concert tours", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.music.institutions.concert-tours.concert-tours-by-pop-artists.pop-concert-tours" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.music.institutions.concert-tours", "label": "Western Europe · 2021 and later: Concert tours and residencies", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.music.institutions.concert-tours", "path": [ { "id": "geo.weu", "label": "Western Europe", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021", "label": "Western Europe · 2021 and later", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.music", "label": "Music", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.music" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.music.institutions", "label": "Music institutions and events", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.music.institutions" }, { "id": "geo.weu.t2021.culture.music.institutions.concert-tours", "label": "Concert tours and residencies", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.weu.t2021.culture.music.institutions.concert-tours" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The +–=÷× Tour, known as the Mathematics Tour, is a stadium world tour by Ed Sheeran supporting his albums named after mathematical symbols, running from April 2022 to September 2025.", "snippet": "The +–=÷× Tour, known as the Mathematics Tour, is a stadium world tour by Ed Sheeran supporting his albums named after mathematical symbols, running from April 2022 to September 2025.", "node": "culture.music.institutions.concert-tours.concert-tours-by-pop-artists.pop-concert-tours", "markdown": "# +–=÷× Tour\n\nThe **+–=÷× Tour**, known as the Mathematics Tour, is a stadium world tour by the English singer-songwriter [Ed Sheeran](https://www.edgepedia.org/ed-sheeran) that ran from April 2022 to September 2025 in support of his series of albums named after mathematical symbols: + (Plus), × (Multiply), ÷ (Divide), = (Equals), and − (Subtract). Built around an in-the-round 360-degree stage and a touring cable-net roof, it closed after more than 160 concerts and ranks among the highest-grossing and longest tours ever staged.[1](https://news.pollstar.com/2025/09/08/ed-sheeran-closes-record-breaking-mathematics-tour-with-three-nights-in-germany/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Run | Opened April 23, 2022 in Dublin, Ireland; closed September 5–7, 2025 at Merkur Spiel-Arena, Düsseldorf, Germany, after more than 160 concerts[1](https://news.pollstar.com/2025/09/08/ed-sheeran-closes-record-breaking-mathematics-tour-with-three-nights-in-germany/) |\n| Reported box office | $875,748,898 from 8,823,952 tickets across 188 reported shows (average price $99.25)[2](https://touringdata.org/2022/04/28/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) |\n| Scale | Over 8 million tickets across 140 headline shows in 42 countries[3](https://www.iqmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GSR-Preview.pdf) |\n| Stage structure | Six 30-meter steel masts angled 15 degrees from vertical, supporting a cable net carrying about 55 tonnes of lighting, PA, and video above an open 360-degree stage[4](https://www.bcsa.org.uk/company/stage-one-creative-services-limited/ed-sheeran-%C3%B7x-tour/) |\n| Central screen | Circular transparent LED halo roughly 21 meters in diameter and about 45 tonnes, suspended above the revolving stage[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) |\n| Sound system | 212 Meyer Sound Panther line-array elements in 14 hangs across two concentric rings; 314 speaker cabinets in total[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) • [6](https://www.audiotechnology.com/features/do-the-math-ed-sheeran-live) |\n| Automation | A central automated revolve and 14 scissor lifts built into the stage by TAIT[7](https://www.taittowers.com/work/ed-sheeran-mathematics-stadium-tour) • [5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) |\n\n## Background\n\nSheeran's previous Divide Tour (2017–2019) had played to 8.9 million people and grossed $776.2 million, at the time the highest-grossing concert tour of all time, and the question of how to follow it shaped the new production.[8](https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/tours/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour-sound) The Mathematics Tour was designed during the uncertainty of the pandemic, which set unusually demanding production parameters for a tour that eventually became the artist's biggest and most ambitious outing.[3](https://www.iqmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GSR-Preview.pdf)\n\n**The creative problem.** Creative and production designer Mark Cunniffe had imagined an in-the-round stadium show for Sheeran since the artist's first [Wembley Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/wembley-stadium) performance in 2015. He disliked the supporting posts that conventional temporary roofs require, because columns occupy sightlines, and for a performer who fills the stage alone, with no dance company or band, the audience's attention concentrates on one person. Before the concept was presented to Sheeran and his management, Cunniffe took it to technical designer Jeremy Lloyd of Wonder Works and structural engineer Rasti Bartek of Cundall to establish whether a touring cable-net solution was actually achievable; engineering feasibility entered the process before the design was approved.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n\n## Stage structure\n\nThe production's defining element is a cable-net roof suspended from six masts rather than from columns at the stage edge. Each mast stands 30 meters tall, is angled 15 degrees from vertical, and is built from 7.5 tonnes of truss; together the masts hold more than 55 tonnes of lighting, PA, and LED equipment above thousands of spectators.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) • [4](https://www.bcsa.org.uk/company/stage-one-creative-services-limited/ed-sheeran-%C3%B7x-tour/) Stage One, a steelwork firm, built three identical sets with submillimetre precision, calling the design the first of its kind, a temporary, demountable, self-supporting cable structure taken on tour; this feat later earned a commendation at the steel construction awards affiliated with IStructE.[4](https://www.bcsa.org.uk/company/stage-one-creative-services-limited/ed-sheeran-%C3%B7x-tour/) • [5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n\nPrecision mattered structurally: if the truss towers bent or deflected even slightly, the cables would slacken and the suspended equipment could be damaged. A hydraulic buttress system built into each mast and base let the crew fine-tune each mast's angle, and the cable net was tensioned with a series of winches. Each stadium build and strike took roughly three to four days.[4](https://www.bcsa.org.uk/company/stage-one-creative-services-limited/ed-sheeran-%C3%B7x-tour/) • [5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) Three identical sets allowed build, transport, and dismantling to overlap across the touring schedule rather than forcing one structure to travel sequentially between dates.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n\n## Video, lighting, and sound\n\nThe main visual surface is a circular LED halo suspended above the revolving stage, reported at roughly 21 meters in diameter and about 45 tonnes. It uses transparent LED technology so that the screen can carry large-scale imagery without becoming a solid visual wall; six double-sided guitar-pick-shaped displays, about 6 meters wide and 8 meters tall, hang from the surrounding masts.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n\n**Lighting with no roof to hide in.** With no conventional roof and no backstage side, everything can potentially be seen. Cunniffe specified a rig built around IP65 weather-resistant Ayrton fixtures: 138 Domino LT units, 48 Perseo Profile fixtures, and 22 Cobra laser-source fixtures, the first tour to use the Cobra. The masts themselves served as key light, backlight, and side fill simultaneously, and six Domino LT units doubled as followspots tracked through Ayrton's Follow-Me system so that no crew members were visible on or over the stage.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n\nThe sound system was new for the tour's Dublin debut: 212 Meyer Sound Panther large-format line-array loudspeakers, the Panther system's global premiere, arranged in 14 hangs across two concentric rings suspended from the masts, supplemented by flown 1100-LFC subwoofer arrays; the full complement came to 314 speaker cabinets.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) • [6](https://www.audiotechnology.com/features/do-the-math-ed-sheeran-live) The tour was the first anywhere to run a Milan protocol AVB network fully digitally from the front-of-house desk to individual loudspeaker cabinets. Weight drove the choice: the previous LEO-based rig used on the Divide Tour weighed about 120 kilograms per cabinet, too heavy for the cable-net structure, and the conversation between the audio supplier [Major Tom](https://www.edgepedia.org/major-tom) and Meyer Sound led directly to Panther's development.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n\n## Automation and the performer's position\n\nMoving Sheeran to the middle of the stadium raised the question of where his \"front\" should be. To address this, TAIT built an automated turntable into the middle of the stage, pairing it with 14 [scissor lifts](https://www.edgepedia.org/scissor-lift) that could elevate to create a raised staircase there; the rig was run via the TAIT Navigator system by automation operator Kirsten Eddy, positioned under the stage. The machinery moved the artist continuously toward every section of the crowd, solving an audience-relationship problem rather than simply adding spectacle.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) • [7](https://www.taittowers.com/work/ed-sheeran-mathematics-stadium-tour)\n\n**Deliberate emptiness.** For a production containing this much engineering, the stage carries remarkably little visual clutter: no scenic castle, no physical set pieces, no traditional band risers at the center. The machinery is pushed outward, upward, or underneath. This tour marked the first time that Sheeran performed with a complete band, and every musician had a small personal \"arrow stage\" positioned at the foot of a mast, protected by a tiny roof because the open design offered no cover above.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n\n## Setlist and performance format\n\nSheeran performed largely alone with an acoustic guitar and loop station, building songs live in front of the audience, sometimes joined by the backing band.[5](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) • [8](https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/tours/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour-sound) The setlist at the 2025 Madrid shows ran to 30 songs, designed as a journey through his career from + (Plus) to his recent releases, and the show ran about two hours and fifteen minutes; the repertoire varied somewhat from show to show.[9](https://los40.com/2025/05/30/ed-sheeran-en-madrid-setlist-de-la-gira-the-mathematics-tour/)\n\n## Box office and records\n\nSheeran sold 3,047,694 tickets for the tour in 2022, leading Pollstar's year-end ranking by ticket sales.[10](https://news.pollstar.com/2022/12/12/sheeran-on-track-to-repeat-the-extraordinary-ed-loves-a-record/) [Individual](https://www.edgepedia.org/individual) stadium attendance reached extraordinary levels: his two March 2023 dates at the [Melbourne Cricket Ground](https://www.edgepedia.org/melbourne-cricket-ground) played to more than 215,000 people in total, and he drew about 109,500 per night there, a figure that still held the venue's single-night attendance record as of mid-2024.[6](https://www.audiotechnology.com/features/do-the-math-ed-sheeran-live) • [11](https://time.com/6900208/taylor-swift-eras-tour-anniversary-stats/)\n\nThe tour closed with three nights at Merkur Spiel-Arena in [Düsseldorf](https://www.edgepedia.org/dusseldorf) on September 5–7, 2025, each before 65,000 fans, some 195,000 in total. Promoter [FKP Scorpio](https://www.edgepedia.org/fkp-scorpio), which handled 65 shows on the tour attended by 3.5 million fans, reported that its 22 European concerts in the summer of 2025 alone drew more than 1.137 million fans and grossed more than €100 million ($117 million).[1](https://news.pollstar.com/2025/09/08/ed-sheeran-closes-record-breaking-mathematics-tour-with-three-nights-in-germany/)\n\n**By the reported numbers.** Box-office aggregators put the tour's totals at $875,748,898 in revenue and 8,823,952 tickets across 188 reported shows, distributed across Europe ($517,119,388 from 117 shows), North America ($170,659,238 from 25 shows), Asia ($102,429,441 from 31 shows), and Oceania ($85,540,831 from 15 shows).[2](https://touringdata.org/2022/04/28/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/) Reporting published elsewhere describes the campaign as more than 8 million tickets across 140 headline shows in 42 countries, a difference attributable to which dates count as reported headline shows.[3](https://www.iqmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GSR-Preview.pdf)\n\n## Aftermath\n\nSheeran's next album *[Play](https://www.edgepedia.org/play-ed-sheeran-album)*, released in September 2025, was recorded throughout the Mathematics World Tour and finished in Goa, India, and the tour's closing was followed by a new series of albums and the [Loop Tour](https://www.edgepedia.org/loop-tour).[12](https://apnews.com/article/756b87d85d968410b3837c753ec81aa6)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Ed Sheeran Closes Record-Breaking 'Mathematics Tour' With Three Nights In Germany, Pollstar News](https://news.pollstar.com/2025/09/08/ed-sheeran-closes-record-breaking-mathematics-tour-with-three-nights-in-germany/)\n2. [Mathematics Tour (2022) – Touring Data](https://touringdata.org/2022/04/28/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n3. [Global Stadium Report 2025, IQ Magazine (PDF)](https://www.iqmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/GSR-Preview.pdf)\n4. [Ed Sheeran +-=÷x Tour, British Constructional Steelwork Association (Stage One case study)](https://www.bcsa.org.uk/company/stage-one-creative-services-limited/ed-sheeran-%C3%B7x-tour/)\n5. [Ed Sheeran — Mathematics Tour: How Do You Make One Man Feel Close to 80,000 People?, IMMERSIVE LAB](https://immersivelabkorea.com/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour/)\n6. [Do the Math: Ed Sheeran Live, AudioTechnology](https://www.audiotechnology.com/features/do-the-math-ed-sheeran-live)\n7. [Ed Sheeran Mathematics Stadium Tour, TAIT](https://www.taittowers.com/work/ed-sheeran-mathematics-stadium-tour)\n8. [Ed Sheeran's Mathematics Tour Finds A Sound Solution, Part 1, Mixonline](https://www.mixonline.com/live-sound/tours/ed-sheeran-mathematics-tour-sound)\n9. [Ed Sheeran, en Madrid: Setlist de la gira The Mathematics Tour, LOS40](https://los40.com/2025/05/30/ed-sheeran-en-madrid-setlist-de-la-gira-the-mathematics-tour/)\n10. [Ed Sheeran Sells 2022's Most Tickets, 3+ Million, Pollstar News](https://news.pollstar.com/2022/12/12/sheeran-on-track-to-repeat-the-extraordinary-ed-loves-a-record/)\n11. [As Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Hits One Year, Let's Take a Look at Its Staggering Numbers, TIME](https://time.com/6900208/taylor-swift-eras-tour-anniversary-stats/)\n12. [Music Review: Ed Sheeran returns to his roots on 'Play,' a cross-cultural playground, AP News](https://apnews.com/article/756b87d85d968410b3837c753ec81aa6)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Music institutions and events › Concert tours and residencies › Concert tours by pop artists › Pop concert tours*\n\n*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-epxcn4n5pk", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-epxcn4n5pk.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"+–=÷× Tour\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-epxcn4n5pk. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[+–=÷× Tour](https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-epxcn4n5pk)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-epxcn4n5pk](https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-epxcn4n5pk). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"+–=÷× Tour\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/tour-epxcn4n5pk. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The +–=÷× Tour, known as the Mathematics Tour, is a stadium world tour by Ed Sheeran supporting his albums named after mathematical symbols, running from April 2022 to September 2025." }