MINNEAPOLIS — British pop superstar Ed Sheeran is a math nerd. He named a series of hit albums with mathematical signs — “+” (pronounced Plus), “x” (Multiply), “÷” (Divide), “=” (Equals), “-“ (Subtract). In 2023, he brought his Mathematics Tour to U.S. Bank Stadium in front of 72,102 fans, a record for a concert at the venue.

These days, Sheeran’s math isn’t mathing. He returned to downtown Minneapolis on Saturday night for the Loop Tour without momentum. Neither of his two most recent albums, 2023’s “Autumn Variations” and 2025’s “Play,” has been his usual big seller. And, at one point this summer, promoters were selling tickets two-for-one for the Minneapolis gig. Maybe Sheeran should have given this trek a retail name like the BOGO Tour.

Attendance figures weren’t announced for Saturday’s show, and there were noticeable empty purple seats, including entire sections, throughout the Vikings venue. Maybe some of Sheeran’s fan base of teen and 20-something women exhausted their concert budgets this year on newer stars like Olivia Dean and Noah Kahan.

Nonetheless, Sheeran’s charm, enthusiasm, passion, talkativeness (“my manager says I talk too much”) and jukebox full of hits, including cuddly love songs, pleased his faithful 15 years into his career.

In 2023, Sheeran, an inveterate solo performer, was mathing with more creativity, using a backup band on one-third of the selections and using an innovative revolving, in-the-round staging with resourceful visuals on guitar-pick-shaped screens.

Sheeran opened Saturday’s 170-minute concert on a satellite stage in the middle of the football field with the rap tune “You Need Me, I Don’t Need You,” the second single from his debut album that reminded everyone that Sheeran is no Eminem.

Then he gave a brief tutorial on looping, which has been pretty much part of his professional career from the get-go. He explained there are no prerecorded backing tracks; rather everything — the rhythms and backing vocals — are recorded live as everyone is watching.

While that may be a cool technique (perhaps even an art), a solo artist looping, even one of Sheeran’s considerable charms, in a cavernous venue remains a stiflingly tiresome approach. Flashy designs on a mammoth video screen along with fireworks, flames and lasers couldn’t disguise the soloness Saturday on Sheeran’s third trip in U.S. Bank Stadium.

The looping rhythms and vocals sometimes worked successfully, adding a percolating groove to the smash “Shape of You,” drama and urgency to “I’m a Mess” and a haunting loneliness to the laser-enveloped, flame-enhanced “Bloodstream.”

Elsewhere, however, the looping misfired, for instance, making “Shivers” feel repetitious and turning “Azizam” into a clattering monotony, not the danceable banger heard in clubs last year.

Working solo, Sheeran was most effective with just his voice and acoustic guitar and no looping. In a segment of requested songs, he offered the night’s most heartfelt singing on “Sofa” and “Slowly,” with the passion continuing on the ensuing “Give Me Love.”

Thankfully, Sheeran did his two first-dance wedding classics sans looping, “Thinking Out Loud” (on electric guitar) and “Perfect” (on acoustic guitar), which had the crowd vocally swooning. Perfect, indeed.

The highlight of the long evening came when Sheeran, 35, that old busker at heart, was joined by Beoga, an Irish folk group he first met in a recording studio in 2016. Seeing Sheeran exchange smiles with fiddler Niamh Dunne on the opening “Galway Girl” brought a refreshing camaraderie to the stage and a newfound joyousness to Sheeran’s face.

Sheeran and Beoga collaborated on a fun treatment of “I Don’t Care,” his hit duet with Justin Bieber, who was seen on giant video screens dressed up as a panda, ice cream cone and other silly costumes.

The eight-song Beoga set brought a communal spirit that was missing onstage when Sheeran worked solo with his technological assists. He invited Ellie Banke, a newcomer from suburban Chicago who opened Saturday’s five-and-a-half-hour concert, to join him and Beoga for a crowd-rousing duet on “Dive,” his 2017 hit.

Sheeran, who started as a pub singer in the British countryside before moving to London at age 17, has also developed into a prolific songwriter, collaborating with such disparate artists as Beyoncé, Chris Stapleton, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Luke Combs, Elton John, J Balvin and Katseye.

There’s no question about the depth of Sheeran’s talents. On Saturday, he did a medley of his material penned for others, including One Direction’s “Little Things” and Bieber’s “Love Yourself.”

Maybe the moral is: Sheeran plays well with others.

On Saturday, he enlisted three opening acts, all of which had live bands. There was the aforementioned Banke, and Lukas Graham, the Danish group that had the hit “7 Years” 11 years ago.

Most impressive was “Stargazing” hitmaker Myles Smith, an enthusiastic Brit of the island-flavored folk-stomp school. His band, especially animated fiddler/mandolinist Julia DiGrazia, demonstrated the value of musical depth and personality onstage.

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