Concert Reflections and Audience Connection

The,

the last week of my life has been one of the worst weeks of my life.

Today has been one of the weirdest days of my life.

Tonight has been, honestly, the best show of my life. The best show.

Let's go!

We love you, Ed!

I, uh, I really,

I really didn't know whether this tour would be carrying on.

I really didn't know whether I'd be even getting on, on stage again, whether I even

wanted to be an artist at all. Uh, I, you know, in these

situations you really find out who your friends are.

Um, and it's-

We love you, man

... it, it's been a, it's been a weird week.

I just feel like it, it happened very

quickly. And, you know, the whole time, ev- I have

so many people

telling me to cancel this tour.

No!

And so many people-

No, no, no, no, no

... pulling, pulling out of my life, uh, that I've known for years and years and

years. People just, just kind of backing away.

And in the back of my mind, I saw the ticket sales for this

gig and, uh, you know, I didn't see

cancellations. I saw people buying tickets for this gig

and-

And in, you know, I'm there, and everyone's telling

me

to cancel, and I'm feeling all of my

friends and family and people I know abandon me,

and I look at the end of the week, and I see 50,000 people who haven't

abandoned me.

And pe- you know, people, people will say what they want,

but I am, I, I'm doing this for you. I, I love you.

I love this. I love the unity.

We love you, man.

I love the feeling that this music brings.

I love bringing people together from all backgrounds, all races, all

religions, all political ideas. Lots of people here

have differing opinions, and we've had a great night.

And you are standing next to people and dancing with people you may disagree

with.

But you probably understand them better by being

one, you know, being one and, and love.

And I have, uh, I have had

so many opinions on, on, on this, but, you know, the r- the,

the, the root of it is, is love. And if

this tour ends, like, love doesn't win.

Love doesn't win, you know? You, it's-- I can't let you guys

down. I can't. And that's why I'm here tonight on my own

for you

guys. I wanna thank you

guys.

I know, I know how much effort it takes

for you guys to get here. You know, this is, it's not just a ticket that you

buy. It's, it's hotels, it's flights, it's

buses, it's babysitters. It's, uh, restaurants

that you booked in town before you've come here.

It's, it's people staying with you that you're going to the gig.

It's you've got your grandmother coming to stay. It's a hell of a lot of effort.

There's a hell of a lot of stories here, a hell of a lot of families, a hell of a

lot of love, and I can't just bury

my head and go, "Oh, that doesn't matter anymore," you know?

I feel, um, the, the, you know, this,

this wasn't, this wasn't the easy option tonight.

I didn't know what was gonna happen.

I heard all sorts of things were gonna happen.

I didn't know whether, uh, uh, I'd be safe or you'd be safe,

or things would be thrown at me, people would boo.

I, uh, and I've walked it. I've felt so much love

and, uh, from you guys, and I'm, I'm so

grateful.

You know, the, the, the world is a scary place right now.

America is a scary place right now.

This gives hope. This gives hope. Thank you so much,

Philadelphia. Thank you so much.

I hope you all have had, had fun. Um,

the, the one thing that I would like to apologize for

is the first bit of the show where it wasn't about music, and I had to

talk, and I understand that people have children here,

and I understand that

families didn't buy a ticket to hear that first bit of the show.

But that was something I felt like I needed to say.

I felt there was a lot of questions that I need to answer.

So to all the parents there who brought their kids here tonight, thank you so much

for, for bringing them, and I do apologize for the first bit of

the show.

My shows are, are, are about this. They're about unity.

They're about love. They're about family.

They're about people, as I said, people coming together

that don't know each other,

that have different beliefs, and you, you know,

you're jumping around like maniacs

with each other and, and, and, and having fun.

And I will never stop doing this. I will never stop doing this.

I love doing this so much, Philadelphia. Thank you.