Well, the suspense didn’t last too long.
Less than 24 hours after posting a teaser video that not-too-subtlely suggested Ed Sheeran would play Summerfest in 2026, the festival on Thursday morning officially announced the pop star as its first proper headliner. Sheeran will play the American Family Insurance Amphitheater on June 25, the second Thursday of next year’s event.
Summerfest had previously revealed that Garth Brooks will play a special kickoff concert June 17 and then quickly added a second show June 16 after overwhelming demand for tickets following the initial announcement.
Sheeran has been packing them in for a while now, including a previous visit to Milwaukee that brought him to the Brewers home field in 2018. His current “Loop Tour” in support of just-released album Play now has a North American leg that includes the Summerfest gig, tickets for which go on sale starting with a presale next Tuesday, Sept. 23. The general sale will begin at 10 a.m. Sept. 26 online via Ticketmaster and at the amphitheater box office.
Ed Sheeran artist bio
After closing the chapter on his Mathematics series, Sheeran stepped into a fresh new phase for 2025 with the release of new album Play on Sept. 12. Billboard heralded the album as “a brand new era” while USA Today claimed his “unrelenting drive coupled with a heart ready to burst with tenderness is tucked into nearly every note of his eighth album.”
An artist who is constantly evolving, Sheeran uses Play to explore new musical ground through collaboration with producers and musicians from across the globe. In addition to the team-ups, he also used the album to dive deeper into the timeless sounds and themes that have made Sheeran one of the world’s top artists.
Inspired in part by his exposure to Indian and Persian musical cultures — and their surprising connections to the Irish folk tradition through shares scales, rhythms and melodies — Sheeran explored a borderless musical language that gave Play a fresh, distinctive edge.
