Five things to know about Ed Sheeran and his frenzied fans last night in Grand Prairie

The hit-making English singer Ed Sheeran played for several thousand screaming fans at Grand Prairie's Verizon Theater on Thursday night. His dynamic one-man show offered an odd blend of boy-band fanaticism and skillful musicianship. The 24-year-old redhead is a force.

If you didn't make it out to the show, here's what you need to know about Sheeran's live experience:

The opening act had local roots and killer tunes: Since regular opening act Foy Vance took a couple of shows off, the Grand Prairie crowd was treated to a blazing acoustic set by Greenville-raised firecracker Ben Kweller, whom Sheeran later referred to as a "Texas hero." Kweller, 33, was in fine form and spirits as he played to a nearly full house on Thursday, and he won over the seemingly bored teenage onlookers with his effortless charm and infectious pop tunes. Kweller earned light singalongs on "Falling," "Gossip" and "Sundress" — even in their acoustic-guitar, stripped down form, those can easily get lodged in the hippocampus.

"Sheerios" have been known to cause hearing loss: I doubt anyone has suffered actual damage as a result of hearing thousands of Ed Sheeran fans screaming for him. But when the phenom first appeared on stage Thursday to sing "I'm a Mess," my ear drums did feel a little, uh, pierced. And that blood-curdling scream chorus didn't stop, either — it came in waves throughout the evening.

Call me late to the party, but I did not foresee the level of passion reserved for Sheeran. Before the show began, a woman in front of me leaned over to her companion and said, "I hope this guy behind me doesn't mind me standing up the entire time." There were groups of younger girls who shouted "oh my god!" after everything Sheeran said between songs, no matter how inconsequential the comment. And then there was that one person holding a sign that read, "NOTICE ME." Aww.

Ed don't need no stinkin' band: The most impressive aspect of the concert had to be Sheeran's go-it-alone approach. He held court over several thousand adoring fans without the aid of a band. He performed alone with only his voice, a parade of guitars and sound-loop-sampling pedals. Most of the git-fiddles were acoustics, allowing Sheeran to create makeshift beats on wooden bodies.

As he built the sometimes sweet, sometimes sassy compositions, he also layered in his own backing vocals and harmonies using those pedals. His whole setup was surprisingly seamless. Even if a couple of his radio hits tend to grate after repeated listens — particularly the ones on which he scat-raps — Sheeran's dynamism and confidence on stage won him permanent respect and adoration from me.

There can never be enough video screens: The Verizon Theatre stage's height and square footage is enough to intimidate any performer, especially one without a band. Good thing Sheeran's tour set included fourteen floating-and-moving video screens projecting both atmospheric collages and close-up performance views.

Sheeran himself added as much as he could to the overall visual effect, moving around the stage when he could and stepping out to the front to command his people to dance or sing along. They always followed their man's friendly orders.

Sheeran played his full range of tunes and a couple of the classics that inspired them: The star's relatively short headlining set moved from confessional to celebratory and back. "We're all going to lose our voices from singing too much," Sheeran warned his crowd before the heart-on-sleeve ode, "Lego House." And he was right — they did all but drown him out on that one and several more romantic tracks including "Tenerife Sea" and the current hit, "Thinking Out Loud." Sweet, earnest crooning is something this guy does a lot better than most of his peers, and he always saves his most soulful vocal cries for the climactic endings.

Yet fans let loose more during upbeat moments when Sheeran half-rapped and danced around to his guitar-box beats. The kiss-off tune "Don't" segued into a cover of its primary sonic influencer, "No Diggity." He mashed together his song "I See Fire" with the jazz-pop classic "Feeling Good."

While I enjoy Sheeran's singing voice more than I do his goofy raps, there's no denying the guy's immense all-around talent. He's an authentic performer worthy of the fever pitch created in his presence last night. Next time I see him, though, I'll protect my eardrums a little better.