Ed Sheeran delighted fans with an impromptu open-air gig in New Orleans – after bad weather put paid to a planned St Patrick’s Day parade.

Sheeran, 34, was in the spiritual home of jazz at the weekend and teamed up with local brᴀss band The Soul Rebels for the 30-minute session.

The group – who recently teamed up with Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl for the halftime show – provided backing for some of the singer’s own songs, as well as covers.

Sheeran – famous for smash hits such as Perfect and Shape of You – then delighted the crowd when he announced he would play a new song from his upcoming album called Azizam.

He said: ‘We’re gonna do one song here – we’re filming a bit of content – and then we’re going to do a parade and walk down and play some songs, if you want to come with us.

‘I’ve got a new song coming in a couple weeks that no one’s heard. This will be the first time it’s ever been played live.

Ed Sheeran delighted fans with an impromptu open-air gig in New Orleans – after bad weather put paid to a planned St Patrick’s Day parade

Sheeran, 34, was in the spiritual home of jazz at the weekend and teamed up with local brᴀss band The Soul Rebels for the 30-minute session

‘We’ll play it once now and then we’ll walk down, play some songs that you know, and I’ll play this song again. Thanks for coming out. It’s nice to be back here.’

Dressed in a tie-dyed shirt and blue grey cargos he then turned to the Soul Rebels, and said:’Shall we give it a whirl?’

Holidaymaker Tom Horn, 22, from Cornwall, who was on the last day of a family break, was among the lucky few to see the impromptu gig.

PR executive Tom told MailOnline: ‘It was such a great way to the end holiday, I’m a big fan and to see and hear him so close and for free was great!

‘There had been a St Patrick’s Day parade planned for the Saturday but apparently it was cancelled so Ed playing more than made up for it.

‘We were there completely by chance and saw the crowds and wandered up to take a look and were amazed to see Ed singing and dancing with a brᴀss band.

‘Apparently, he had been posting cryptic clues that he would be there and he seemed to have an entourage with him filming and the security were closing off the streets.

‘But it was a great atmosphere and everyone got into the sing of it and there was a huge cheer when he finished and everyone was clapping.

The group – who recently teamed up with Kendrick Lamar at the Super Bowl for the half time show – provided backing for some of the singer’s own songs, as well as covers

Sheeran – famous for smash hits such as Perfect and Shape of You – then delighted the crowd when he announced he would play a new song from his upcoming album called Azizam

He said: ‘We’re gonna do one song here – we’re filming a bit of content – and then we’re going to do a parade and walk down and play some songs, if you want to come with us’

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‘He waved at the crowd and then got into a police car and drove off but it was so exciting to see him and such a lovely surprise.’

At one point as he played, Sheeran whipped out his mobile phone and filmed the crowd while trying to control a red heart shaped ballon attached to a suitcase amp he was wheeling.

Sheeran sang ‘I Don’t Care’ as his film crew recorded the scene and he stopped briefly to high-fives fans before he continued with ‘Don’t’.

He rounded off the gig by playing ‘Shape of You’ but not before inviting the crowd to ‘join in with a sing a long’.

One fan was left even more delighted than the others after Sheeran signed his guitar for him as a special gift.

Grayton Hoffman, 11, who has Down Syndrome, made his Holy Communion last year on the day Sheeran played New Orleans and went to see him at the Jazz Fest as a present.

His mum, Cherisse Hoffman, saw a Sheeran social media post Friday evening about the weekend event, and brought him along with an acoustic guitar in hand.

As Sheeran arrived in a blacked out SUV he spotted Hoffman with his guitar and a bodyguard collected the instrument and pᴀssed it to him.

Sheeran then had his bodyguard ask Cherisse to the SUV to check the spelling of Grayton’s name and he then signed it with the words: ‘Grayton, play this guitar!’