From Dublin to the ‘Hollywood Sign’: The fairytale rise of Ed Sheeran’s opening act Aaron Rowe

If you’ve been to see Ed Sheeran’s LOOP stadium tour this summer, you may have caught a set from Aaron Rowe, one of his opening acts. But if they ever made a movie about how Aaron ended up with that gig, you wouldn’t believe it.

Dublin native Aaron spent years playing cover songs in pubs. One night Lewis Capaldi just happened to stop into one of those pub with friends. A few weeks later, Aaron was playing an open mic night in Nashville, Tennessee, when Lewis walked in again. Lewis’ best friend eventually became Aaron’s manager, and next thing you know, Aaron was tapped to open Lewis’ U.K. and Ireland tour. Lewis also told his pal Ed Sheeran about Aaron.

“The day Ed heard my music we had a meeting, and he’s been an unbelievable supporter of me since then,” Aaron tells ABC Audio about Ed. “He’s been like a mentor, brother, friend. … I can’t thank him enough, honestly.”

According to Aaron, Ed has “done everything he’s ever wanted to, in terms of concerts and selling records.” Now, Aaron says, “I think that’s his goal in life, is to just pay it forward.” 

Aaron, who released the EP Exodus last year, says he’s learned one major lesson from touring with Lewis and then Ed. “People think that you go on tour, and it’s all just drinking and it’s all partying the whole time,” he says. “But being a singer isn’t very rock ‘n’ roll. You have to stay healthy, you have to be ready for the next show. So … what I’ve taken from those two guys is just their absolute professionalism.”

Aaron has also been able to apply his own life lessons to playing for 60,000 people at Ed’s stadium gigs.

“The reality of doing these support shows is that you’re just playing to people when they’re just coming in, so what I would have learned from doing all those pubs was … you have to let the audience come to you,” he says. “You can’t go out there all guns blazing … you have to, you know, show a little respect.”

But making the transition from pubs to stadiums has been a strain on his personal life. Aaron recently released a new single, “Hollywood Sign,” which explores that very topic.

“It’s really just kind of dealing with the duality of … getting all these amazing opportunities to be able to chase my dreams,” he says. “But I’ve got a girlfriend at home, family who I’m missing out on. There’s been things happening. I have an uncle who died a couple of months ago and I wasn’t really around a lot for all of that when it was going on. So it’s just dealing with the nature of everything that’s going on right now.” 

Aaron resumes opening for Ed Sept. 19 in Philadelphia.