He's only just finished touring the country, but Ed Sheeran is already keen to come back.
The UK pop star has confirmed he'll return at the end of the year to perform his biggest New Zealand show yet, at Mt Smart Stadium on December 12.
"Moving to stadium shows is pretty nuts for me." Sheeran told the Herald while enjoying a break in the North Island after finishing his recent tour.
"It's definitely going to be a better set. It will be more polished. I've still got to plan it - but it's going to be good."
Filling a stadium will be another step up for the redheaded singer, known for his hits The A Team, Lego House, Sing and his most recent single Bloodstream.
The British one-man-band uses just an acoustic guitar and layered vocal harmonies - fed through a loop pedal - to create his music live from scratch.
He's just done that over four well-received dates in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch but this time he will do it all solo on a huge stadium stage.
Sheeran promises he'll be getting plenty of practice in before his December show. "I'm doing a bunch of stadium shows in other countries beforehand - I should be used to it by then, hopefully."
And Sheeran is resisting the urge to add anyone else to his live show.
"I haven't done anything different for the past 10 years. So it's the same thing that I've always been doing and I think if I changed it up now it wouldn't be any good. So that's what I'm doing ... I'm not fixing anything that isn't broken."
The 24 year-old singer, who first performed here in 2012, shot to fame with his debut album + in 2011. His second album x was named Spotify's most-streamed album for 2014 and won British Album of the Year at the 2015 BRIT Awards.
• Tickets go on sale on May 5, with a pre-sale beginning on Aril 27.
Ed Sheeran's NZ links
British pop star, Ed Sheeran. Photo / Alexander Hallag
March, 2013 - Ed gets inked: Ed has a plethora of tattoos covering his body and on his 2013 visit he added another tattoo to his collection. Hamilton tattoo artist Russell Wilson was flown down to Wellington to tattoo Sheeran with a Ta Moko on his left arm.
March, 2013 - Lord of the Rings sword: Sheeran spent time in Wellington in 2013 to work on the song I See Fire for the Hobbit movie, The Desolation of Smaug. While there the singer spent time with Kiwi director Peter Jackson, and even bought a replica of the Lord Of The Rings sword 'Sting'.
June, 2014 - Shortland Stree cameo: Before last year's Auckland show, Ed took the opportunity to appear on beloved TV soap Shortland Street. Sheeran's cameo aired on June 23, to coincide with the New Zealand release of his second full-length album, x.
April, 2015 - Kicking back: After his four-date tour concludes, Ed was believed to have spent a week on holiday here. He wouldn't tell us where though, only saying: "We had to get the helicopter to get to where we are ... it wouldn't really make it a secret holiday if I told everyone where I was. I was pretty North, I know that."
