Ed Sheeran debuts new song in New Orleans with a surprise parade and the Soul Rebels (2025)

Ed Sheeran popped into New Orleans on Saturday to premiere a new song, “Azizam,” on the streets of the French Quarter with a little help from the Soul Rebels.

At 11 a.m., the pop star emerged from a black SUV with tinted windows parked across from Jackson Square on Decatur Street in front of Washington Artillery Park. Normally street performers entertain tourists seated on the steps of the park’s small amphitheater.

But the couple hundred Sheeran fans who had either deciphered his social media clues about a surprise event in New Orleans — or just happened to be in the right place at the right time — got a very different kind of show.

Armed with a microphone attached to a small amplifier with wheels — and bedeviled by brisk wind whipping the pink, heart-shaped helium balloon tethered to the amplifier back and forth in his face — Sheeran explained that he wasabout to play “Azizam”publicly 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,” Sheeran announced to the seated crowd.

“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. 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.

“Thanks for coming out. It’s nice to be back here."

Turning to the Soul Rebels, he said, "Shall we give it a whirl?”

With that, the Soul Rebels conjured a brassy arrangement of “Azizam.” Sheeran, in a tie-dyed T-shirt, blue-gray cargo pants and Nike sneakers, threw himself into the task at hand, undeterred by the wind and the amp’s sonic limitations.

After “Azizam,” with sheriff’s deputies blocking the street and bodyguards maintaining a space for Sheeran to sing, the procession started down Decatur past Café du Monde.

Backed by the Soul Rebels and pulling the amp like a piece of luggage, Sheeran sang “I Don’t Care” as his film crew recorded the scene. He paused to slap high-fives as fans and photographers pressed in close. He continued onward with “Don’t.”

As the procession turned onto Dumaine Street, he and the Soul Rebels reprised “Azizam.”

Halfway down the 500 block of Dumaine, he stopped to thank the fans and the Soul Rebels. "We're going to play one more song, you're going to know what it is," he declared. "Let's have a sing-song."

The Soul Rebels' drummers then counted off the intro to Sheeran's smash “Shape of You.”

When the song was over, Sheeran bro-hugged each musician before his bodyguards hustled him into the back of an Orleans Parish sheriff’s department SUV. It sped away barely 25 minutes after the star first appeared on Decatur Street.

Fan leaves with special Ed Sheeran memory

The fans who followed Sheeran on the streets could bask in this only-in-New Orleans moment. But one fan came away with an even more special memory.

Grayton Hoffman is an 11-year-old Sheeran super-fan with Down syndrome. One of his birthday parties was Sheeran-themed. Hoffman made his first communion on April 29, 2023, the same day Going to the Jazz Fest show that afternoon was Hoffman’s first communion present.

So after his mother, Cherisse Hoffman, saw a Sheeran social media post about the pop-up event, she brought her son to Decatur Street with an acoustic guitar in hand.

Before Sheeran first emerged from the SUV to start the performance at Washington Artillery Park, he spotted Hoffman with his guitar. A bodyguard fetched the guitar and passed it to Sheeran in the back seat of the SUV. Sheeran then had his bodyguard summon Cherisse to the SUV to check the spelling of Grayton's name. Sheeran autographed the guitar with, “Grayton, play this guitar!”

He then invited Grayton into the SUV's front seat to take a snapshot with him.

Sheeran himself didn't play any guitar on the streets of New Orleans on Saturday. But he nonetheless made memories for fans.