How Did Mushroom Creative House Tell the Story of Ed Sheeran and the Biggest Tour in the World?

Late last year, the team at Mushroom Creative House produced something remarkable. As Ed Sheeran embarked on the biggest ticketed tour of all time, they would document every inch of the creative and technical process. It was a technical challenge all its own (both the tour and the documentary), as well as a creative one.

“We needed to create an engaging story,” says chief creative officer Tom Macdonald. “This couldn’t just be a story of the world’s largest tour – we needed to uncover the potential peril and drama that underpinned it.

“This is a story about the biggest artist in the world, trying to top his previous record of the biggest grossing tour, and instead of just playing it safe, he chooses to put everything on the line to create a show and tour that was considered impossible in so many ways.”

The documentary is aligned with Ed Sheeran’s longtime marketing strategy - one which firmly promotes a direct connection with fans. As Tom puts it, “There’s no artifice with Ed. It’s not fake… This film illustrates how close he is with his team, with his crew - they all talk about him fondly. They are family. It’s genuine and warm - just like Ed himself…

It’s so clearly a family environment. This is a team that’s been together for 10+ years, and they’re spending five years together on the road to deliver this show. It’s more time than they spend with their own families. WIthout the strength of these relationships, they just wouldn’t be able to deliver it.”

This was a huge story to tell, yet one with an intensely personal focus. It also needed to meet the demands of tying into a huge commercial venture in the form of Ed’s Mathematics (+ - = ÷ x) tour.

To find out just how the team managed to spin all these plates, while never compromising on the documentary’s quality, we spoke directly to Tom, who delivered some piercing insight:

LBB> How did the team at Mushroom and Ed/Ed's team go about fleshing out your conception of the film - and how much time did you even have for pre-production given the speed at which the whole thing was moving?

Tom> It all happened pretty fast. We identified the opportunity of marketing the tour via a documentary piece early, and pulled together the initial concept in four weeks. We presented our ideas to Ed, knowing he was performing in the iconic Wembley stadium in London. It was incredible to think he’d gone from gigging in pubs in London to now - at his peak - selling out 12 back-to-back shows in Wembley. We really wanted to trace this journey and understand how he got from back rooms in pubs to sold-out stadiums.

That’s where we saw the ‘Full Circle’ moment. And then, we chatted more to the production team and technical supervisors involved with the Mathematics tour and began to understand more about the complexity involved in the ‘revolve’ mechanism in the round, and we uncovered what a phenomenal undertaking it was. The documentary traces the story around the production itself and what led up to it. And also, crucially, how it almost didn’t happen, because - four weeks out - it still felt ‘impossible’. This process of refining and evolving the initial concept was entirely collaborative with Ed himself, Ed’s team and, crucially, Stuart Camp, who is Ed’s manager and is the executive producer on this production. 

LBB> The Mathematics Tour is designed to be immersive, intimate and yet on a colossal scale. How did you go about echoing that sense of immersion and intimacy in the film itself?

Tom> In our day-to-day work, we document a lot of live shows, and traditionally live shows closely follow the artist, but we think it’s so much more than that. We think it’s incredibly important to show points of view from the crowd and different people’s reactions within it. We love to show the production, the venue, the experience, the emotions. It makes all the difference. You really feel part of it - even from your sofa. The ultimate reaction would be if people are buying tickets for Ed’s show halfway through the documentary. We had that in the media preview - people buying tickets from the aisles. That’s a huge ‘win’ for us in terms of what we set out to achieve. 

LBB> How would you describe the film’s directorial style?

Tom> We have consistently high creative standards, so we wanted to make sure we delivered this visually. But, more than that, we wanted to go deeper than just a talking heads documentary. We wanted to take the viewers on a journey from the bump-in process leading into the show, but we wanted to bring some heart and comedy to it by telling the stories of the key crew that help bring the show to life. 

LBB> What was the biggest challenge you faced bringing this story to life, and how did you overcome it?

Tom> There were things that weren’t fully tried and tested at the start of the tour, just purely because there wasn’t enough time. In fact, four weeks out from the first show date, they didn’t think they’d be able to pull it off. 

If you were at one of the shows, you wouldn’t necessarily realise that, in two other cities, at that very moment while you’re watching Ed perform, the stage is being set up already for the next show - four full days in advance of Ed stepping on the stage.

Sometimes, this complexity shows. In the first couple of shows the revolve mechanism stopped working completely. They had to put the whole crew in to manually rotate it from underneath like a giant hamster wheel. It ended up going way too fast for Ed. It was a blur for him. But they solved it. It’s complicated and technical and it feels impossible, but they somehow make it work. And it makes for an unbelievable experience.

LBB> How is the film going to be distributed and amplified in the various platforms in addition to the world premiere?

Tom> We’ve strategically premiered Full Circle in Australia, where we as Mushroom/Frontier are the promoter of the tour, and where there’s a tight connection with Ed and the Gudinskis. We collaborated with Channel 9 on the release plan with a premiere after the ARIA Awards which already has an engaged music audience, but also a heavy push to their streaming platform 9now which is known for a younger audience.

Separate to Australia, we’re also releasing in New Zealand where we also promote the tour. Given Ed has a connection and fondness for both countries, we’ve created different edits for both territories, with specific stories from Ed talking about those counties. That helps connect with the local audience, which in-turn drives a deeper connection.

LBB> Ed and Mushroom have a strong relationship. Tell me a bit about the history?

Tom> Michael Gudinski’s ex-employee Stuart Camp discovered Ed and knew he was onto something special. Stuart brought him to Michael and, from that point on, Michael played an integral part in helping to develop him. Michael is a music lover, and once he backs someone he does everything in his power to support them. Even though he never directly managed Ed, Michael was instrumental in helping to build his career and Ed says as much. Ed even has a life-size statue of Michael in his house, so they can ‘share a drink together’ whenever the moment takes them. Ed also wrote a song ‘Visiting Hours’ about Michael, after he passed. The Gudinski and Sheeran families are still very tight, with Matt Gudinski who now runs Mushroom and works closely with Ed and executive produced this documentary.

LBB> As creatives yourselves, what did you learn having such access to a talent like Ed and watching him in his creative element?

Tom> I’ve worked in the music industry for over 15 years, and this is the highest creative quality I’ve ever seen. The show’s visuals are phenomenal. They’re so well considered across so many different elements. Show visuals, pyro, lighting takeovers - the whole experience. It’s about as meticulous as you can get with show production. 

Not only is Ed an incredible songwriter and performer (and has built career off basically being a one man show), but to then combine that with such a unique production in the round, and then put that in the biggest stadiums around the globe, and have it feel as intimate as he started when performing in pubs… it truly is a full circle moment. One Ed and his team should be proud of.