Sheeran drives the girls Edsane

The Sheerios call it Edsanity.

If you don't know a 13-year-old girl, allow me to explain. Ed Sheeran is a dreamy, ginger-haired British pop star who sings heartfelt, romantic songs that make young girls swoon and raps with the furious flow of Eminem but without the offensive words.

The 23-year-old heartthrob causes 'tweens and teens to stand in line, four-abreast, 30 yards long, to wait to buy one of his T-shirts or posters — as they did before Sheeran hit the stage Monday at Target Center. The queue had one guy, one dad, and you can figure out the rest.

All this for one mop top performing all by his lonesome self in a basketball arena.

The last time I saw one person work his magic solo in an arena, it was a wild and crazy comedian named Steve Martin. That was in the late 1970s. He wore an arrow through his head (kids, go look it up on YouTube) and told jokes.

Sheeran had a few more props in his bag of tricks. He took the stage Monday with one acoustic guitar, two microphones, four sound monitors, a looping device (triggered by foot controls) and about a dozen video-screen panels.

This was essentially the same concept as his concert at the 900-seat Varsity Theater in July — except for the video panels. And, oh yeah, there were 9,000 people at Target Center.

Yes, he peppers a few tunes with staccato rapping, and his trademark gimmick is to add percussion (he pounds it out on his acoustic guitar and then loops it to expand his sound) and background vocals (he sings into a second microphone and loops his vocals). But the excessive volume was unnecessary — even in an arena.

Furthermore, Sheeran seemed to be rushing through the first half of the 1 ¾-hour performance, seamlessly seguing from one selection to the next without saying much to the faithful. He slowed down to explain that he was adding a song he hadn't performed in a while, "Kiss Me," and then shushed the scream-happy fans for "The Man," a diarylike entry that was an uncharacteristically harsh kiss-off, which he performed because "I'm in the mood."

Sheeran was more effective doling out compliments in "Tenerife Sea" or imploring "Give Me Love." But this night was more about fueling the Edsanity. So he indulged in a few arena moves, including pumping up the volume and drama on the intensely emotional "Bloodstream" (complete with fast guitar riffing that felt like Eddie Van Halen going off in concert) and unleashing a dizzying display of twirling and tumbling lights during the finale "Sing," his recent hit that suggests Justin Timberlake. If the Sheerios weren't sing-ed out by then, they certainly had gone Edsane.

Twitter: @JonBream • 612-673-1719