Ed Sheeran performs for celebrity crowd in Amagansett
Ed Sheeran performs live for SiriusXM at the Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett. Credit: Getty Images for SiriusXM / Kevin Mazur
Four-time Grammy Award winner Ed Sheeran performed a private concert before a star-studded audience at Stephen Talkhouse in Amagansett Monday, which is set to air on SiriusXM's Ed Sheeran Channel Wednesday at 3, 6 and 9 p.m., and repeat throughout the week on SiriusXM Hits 1. The show was the grand prize for the winner of a contest by the satellite-radio network last month.
Luminaries attending the tented outdoor show included Bridgehampton supermodel Christie Brinkley and her model daughter, Sailor Brinkley-Cook; Hicksville-born music legend Billy Joel, who has homes in Sag Harbor and Centre Island, and his wife, Alexis Joel; Massapequa-raised comedy icon Jerry Seinfeld and his cookbook-author wife, Jessica Seinfeld; and Roosevelt- and Rockville Centre-raised radio mogul Howard Stern and his wife, animal advocate Beth Stern.
Among other guests were music stars Jon Bon Jovi, John Mayer and Paul McCartney, with his fashion-designer daughter, Stella McCartney; actors Michael J. Fox, Anjelica Huston, Gwyneth Paltrow and her son, Moses, and Brooke Shields and her producer-screenwriter husband, Chris Henchy; Bravo executive and talk-show host Andy Cohen; former talk-show host James Corden; New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft; Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy and his Internet-personality girlfriend, Silvana Mojica; and Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav.
For the hourlong set that began at 7 p.m., English singer-songwriter Sheeran, 32, played songs from his latest album, “-” (aka “subtract”), including the single “Eyes Closed,” as well as others including “Bad Habits,” “Castle on the Hill,” “Don’t” and “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.”
On Instagram Stories, where posts cycle out after 24 hours, Brinkley-Cook posted a cellphone-video snippet of Sheeran introducing his song “The A Team." “I can still remember playing it to empty bars, so I love being able to come to a bar and play this” to a full audience, he told the crowd, adding, “If you know the words, please sing it.”
Portnoy on Instagram Stories posted a clip of Sheeran performing “Thinking Out Loud.” The venue itself, on its regular Instagram account, uploaded a long clip of the star doing “Shape of You” as the audience, out of frame, sings along. “Thank you @siriusxm & [Ed Sheeran] for an incredible evening!” the post reads.
The recently opened Main Street outpost of Brooklyn’s Fini Pizza supplied slices to the guests. SiriusXM provided commemorative sweatshirts.
Sheeran had done a similar small show on Long Island on July 5, 2014, with an impromptu concert at The Paramount in Huntington. The star was in the area following his appearance a day earlier on the NBC morning show “Today,” and became enchanted by The Paramount while subsequently rehearsing there for a radio show.
"I'm sat at The Paramount venue in Huntington, I've decided I wanna play a gig tonight," Sheeran wrote in a since-deleted tweet that day, adding that while he had never played a last-minute concert before, "It's such a lovely venue I couldn't resist."
