Ed Sheeran is a surprising wee thing. On the outside, he's all cardigan rock; easy listening pop music for the masses, a firm favourite with mums and those happy to hum along to the top 40 while stuck in rush-hour traffic. It's won him Brit Awards, multi-platinum selling albums and a string of top 10 songs.

But get him on stage and the flame-haired fella kicks all those ideas to the curb. If this guy was wearing a cardigan at Auckland's ASB Theatre last night, it was well hidden underneath the All Blacks jersey he'd found on his travels.

So what was different? Well let's start, firstly, with his clientele. If this Englishman is all about the mature sound, then no-one told the scores and scores of teenage girls packing out the seated venue.

As he bounced (there's no other way to describe him to be honest, he's got an enthusiasm that just seeps from every inch of him) through radio hit after radio hit, right from the very first note of Give Me Love to the closing ballad A Team, for the largely underage crowd, the magic unfolded through mobile phone screens and ear-rattling screams. The cries of "I love you Ed" were yelled in a way that almost made you fear for the 21-year-olds' safety.

Sheeran is the most unlikely of heartthrobs, all cheeky, almost shy, smiles and bumbling storytelling, but the crowd couldn't have cared less. They adored him, the long and winding tales and the songs.

This brings us to point number two. This was not a set of MOR tunes from a man and his guitar. If they come across that way on the stereo at home, then it's a sad mistake. On stage is where Sheeran shines. Instead of travelling with a band, he is all about the DIY, using loop pedals, delays and clever trickery to turn one man into a crashing wall of sound, all with the help of his in-house gospel choir - the more than willing, delightfully vocal audience.

He sang new songs and old, and his disciples were right there with him. Although it has to be said, there is something rather uncomfortable about a theatre full of teens singing "I want to be drunk again" from the brilliant track, Drunk.

To say a singer delivers a song rhythmically should be a given. But when Sheeran sings, it's with almost a hip-hop lyricism and flow that is unexpected and mesmerising to watch. He transcends the boundaries of pop music or folk music or whatever he has been labelled as that day.

But he knows the joy of light and shade. He covered the hauntingly beautiful, traditional folk song Wayfaring Stranger, finishing a cappella to a hushed room, right through to the Nina Simone cover of Be My Husband, the heart-breaking Small Bump and the "sexy baby making" song Kiss Me. When Sheeran wanted to make a point, he certainly knew how to.

And maybe that was the point of all this, that Ed Sheeran is a more than you expect. A whole lot more.

ED SHEERAN

Where: ASB Theatre, Auckland

When: Sunday, July 29