Nova’s Red Room with Ed Sheeran went like this…

Ed Sheeran blew all 1,056,006 tiles off of the Opera Houses’ sails for Nova’s 120th Red Room.

Sheeran promised and delivered a “love fest” after Nova’s nine hours of non-stop Ed hits across the workday leading up to last night’s show, with the network officially naming Tuesday 7 February, Ed Day.

Before the gig, NOVA Entertainment’s chief commercial officer Peter Charlton, chief marketing and digital officer Tony Thomas and CEO Cathy O’Connor entertained a room of special guests that included the network’s clients, politicians, socialites and Nova breakfast talent from Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth

The executive trio spoke of Nova’s commitment to their hit music position, playing the new pop-star-studded TVC, with O’Connor telling everyone in attendance that last night was “our biggest Red Room yet” and alluded to more Red Room announcements for 2017.

O’Connor also took the opportunity to announce a new agreement with podcast network Acast but was tight-lipped on details. Radio Today will bring you more on this partnership “very soon” according to a spokesperson.

But last night was all about Ed Sheeran – undeniably the biggest artist in music right now with two singles topping airplay and sales charts globally. He performed the second longest set in the Red Room‘s history; the record was only beaten by Ed himself during a previous visit where he played for two hours at Bondi’s hip hang Bucket List.

Sheeran played wall to wall hits, opening the set with Castle on the Hill (cue flashing wristbands, provided by Nova), but it was Shape of You that put the room on their feet. Ed told the room, quite proudly, that “this song [Shape of You] had tested better than any other” for Nova.

Filling the Concert Hall on Tuesday night were over 2,000 punters, media, celebrities and key Nova clients, for what Ed labelled to as his “first proper concert in over a year”.

He dedicated the gig to his Australian label boss and good friend Tony Harlow, who will shortly relocate to New York for a new posting with Warner Music.

Among the VIPs that turned out to adorn Ed last night were Russell Crowe, Jesinta and Buddy Franklin, Karl Stefanovic, Pia Miller, Roxy Jacenko and NSW’s new premier, Gladys Berejiklian. And Radio Today, of course!

This morning (8 Feb) all five Nova breakfast shows broadcast from the Nova 96.9 Sydney studios, with – you guessed it – special guest Ed Sheeran.

With ten days until the British singer’s birthday, Fitzy & Wippa presented Ed with an Ed Head cake.

“The great man turns 26 in 10 days’ time so we thought we’d celebrate early with Ed’s head cake. Happy Birthday, Ed, as the saying goes ‘Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face’ but don’t bite it off either cause it looks like your making out with yourself,” Wippa said.

You can watch the video here.