Ed Sheeran can’t sleep after a concert without having some wine to calm him down

Ed Sheeran can’t sleep after a concert without having some wine to calm him down.

The 31-year-old pop star always thought that having a drink after a show was an “excuse” used by alcoholics but now feels he “has to have” at least half a bottle of wine to wind down after playing to the crowds.

He said: “I always thought that was an excuse for alcoholics because all the musicians I knew were like mad alcoholics. I always was like ‘Oh I guess it’s just an excuse to think that the adrenaline is so big that I have to have 40 beers. ‘So if I finish a gig, I have to have like half a bottle to a bottle of wine when I’m winding down and a steak or a bit of chicken or something afterwards.”

The ‘Shivers’ hitmaker is currently on his ‘+–=÷x ‘ world tour and embarked on marathon-style training regime in preparation for the run, even though he has “never been” an exerciser before.

Speaking on ‘That Peter Crouch Podcast’, he told the former England footballer: “There’s a certain time you have to eat and don’t eat anything too funky. Just plain. Otherwise, you’re jumping around on stage and you’ve got curry coming up the back of your throat. The fitness you have to have to be a footballer – if I play 10 minutes of football I’m f***** but running around a stage and trying to be at all angles at all times, I found at the beginning of this tour I really had to get into serious shape for it. I’ve never been an exerciser before and I’ve never done weights or gone on long runs. But training for this tour was pretty much like training for a marathon.”