After Party with Ed Sheeran

Saturday September 13th started out like any normal day. Woke up, had breakfast and headed out the door to hang out with friends. Later that night Ben and I had plans to go to the Ed Sheeran concert with my sister Meredith and her husband Justin. As 7pm rolled around we were as excited as can be because not only were we going to the Ed Sheeran concert, we were going to the concert for FREE! Thanks to a mutual friend of Ben's, we were able to text Ed and get comp tickets to the show, so of course the seats were, well...amazing...and free. 

This may have been one of the best concerts I have ever been too. Y'all, Ed is a truly talented musician. If you ever have the chance to see him live, do not pass up on that opportunity. I would go to the concert again tomorrow and actually pay for it! I cannot stop talking about how good the show was!

 ANYWAY...During his last song Ben texted Ed saying "That was an incredible show. Thanks so much for the tickets! Are y'all going out? I owe you a drink or two!" to which after the encore he responded saying "Come back stage for a drink then we are going out!"

 Of course we had a mini freak out session, because lets be honest.. its not everyday a celebrity invites you to have a drink with him. He sends Ben a contact to get us backstage, Mark (the contact) came and met us at the curtain and took us back to the "Friends & Family" room and told us to "Make yourself at home." So there we are, back stage, hanging out waiting for Ed Sheeran. About 15 minutes later Ed walks in and greets everyone. He makes his way over to us and introduces himself, we make the connection that we are who he had been texting all week about the comp tickets. After chatting a bit longer we get a picture with him because well.. why not!

We hang around a while longer, chilling, jamming out to some music, and hanging out with everyone...a few crew people come in and close down the bar, so of course we think, "okay, parties over, we'll go home." Thats when Mark comes in a gets everyone and take us to a 15 passenger van and SUV. He tells everyone to "Get in the van, its time to go" We stop him and ask him where we are going? he responds "To a karaoke bar, now get in the van!" we then ask him, "are we invited?" he responds again, "Yes, I counted you in the head count..now get in the van!" So in doing what we were told...we get in the van! Y'all I kid you not, this is the kind of stuff you see in the movies, the celebrities walk through hallways underneath venues, get into cars, drive through tunnels and upon making it to the streets we are met with crowds of screaming girls with signs that chase the car down the street. This doesn't even seem real and yet, it was just the beginning of the night!

We pull into "Santas Pub" in Nashville a few moments later and all jump out of the van. We realize this is a 21 & up place, so I (only being 19) won't be able to get in...as we approach the building Ed Is talking to the bouncer and says "All of these people are with me" and just like that we walk straight into the building and are taken to the back room without being carded. People start to realize who he is and start freaking out. After mingling in the back room for a bit Ed heads out to the stage to sing some karaoke, and so we join. He and a few of his friends sing "No Diggity", "I Want It That Way" and "Hit Me Baby One More Time."

 By this point the place is slammed! People who were there were texting there friends who were then showing up. Ed walks off stage and heads to the back room, Ben and I get lost in the chaos of all the drunk, excited people and lose Meredith and Justin and where Ed headed. Thats when Bens phone lights up with a text from Ed saying, "Where are you man? I'm on the back porch." Immediately we head back there to find him, a close childhood friend of his and two of the singers from the opening act smoking.. they offer us a cig so of course I take one.. because its not everyday you get to smoke a cigarette with Ed on a back porch of a pub. After finishing smoking, the singers from the opening act decided to head back to the hotel so Ed walks them to the car. Once the three of them leave its just Ben and I and Brad, Eds childhood friend. We spend the next 20 minutes or so chatting with him, getting to know him. At this point we meet back up with Meredith and Justin and all 5 of us are chilling on the back porch. We decide we should probably call it a night because it was almost 2am.

As were walking out the front to get in our Lyft, Ben receives a call from Ed asking where we are? He tells him were still at Santa's... He told us he had left there and is at a place on broadway called "The Spot." Before he hung up the phone he said "Come to the spot now, I'll have someone come get you. I'll see you soon. Love ya Brother!" and then the call was disconnected. WAIT WAIT WAIT... Ed calls Ben, asks us to come to yet another after party, tells him he loves him and calls him brother? Yes. I wish I was making this up, but y'all this is nothing but the truth. We got in our Lyft and had him take us to Broadway. In the meantime Ed send Ben the contact info for someone at "The Spot" that we are suppose to call to come get us in. We give her a call and she tells us to text her when we arrive. So once we arrive we do as we were told and text her. She said she was on her way down to get us. By this point the van Ed had sent back to "Santas Pub" to pick us up had arrived and everyone we left there were now with us again. The contact comes out, finds us and everyone else and just like the movies (yet again) takes us in. Passing the line of people waiting to get in, the bouncer and cop standing at the door. We head up a couple flights of stair and are taken into a cigar club where we find Ed and a bunch of other people hanging and having a good time. There is a room off to the side with a pool table, chairs and a balcony over looking Broadway. We hang in there for a little bit talking to each other and watching the pool game. Thats when Justin points out that the guy playing pool is an actor..it takes us a while to figure out who, but with the help of Katlin Miller we figure out its Tim Robbins! (Shawshank Redemption anyone?)

 By now its about 3am and realize we have to be up in a couple hours for church so we decide to call it a night. We exchange numbers with Brad and head over to say bye to Ed. We wait around for a little bit to say goodbye but he seems preoccupied with some girl so we decide not to. As we walk past him I reach over, touch his arm and thank him for a wonderful night. He grabs my hand and kisses it and says "It was my pleasure. Im glad you could come." and with that we head back to our car wonder what in the world had just happened.

So, to sum the night up we:
-Texted Ed and got comp tickets to his show.
-Got invited backstage for a drink.
-Went to a Karaoke bar & sang/smoked with Ed.
-Went to another after party at a private Cigar Club.
-Watched Tim Robbins play pool.
-and  I got kissed on the hand.

The next day we texted Ed thanking him again, to which he responded "He was glad we could come." and that he would let us know next time he was in town.
It was a night for the books. We won't ever forget the time we were treated like celebrities and became bros with Ed Sheeran. It was a night we never Expected.