Ed Sheeran has been criticized by fans for not having a live band on stage with him for his headline slot at the Glastonbury Music Festival on Sunday night (25Jun17).

The Shape of You singer took to the stage at the weekend and surprised some of the audience watching by not performing his set with a live band.

It’s not uncommon for the 26-year-old singer to perform a one-man show but some fans voiced their opinions, taking to social media to either express delight or disappointment at his closing set, and some claiming he wasn’t right for the main stage at Glastonbury.

“Truth be told, guitar plays by itself, ghost backing singers, backing tracks. Ed Sheeran has bombed #glastonbury2017,” posted one fan.

“Where is Ed Sheeran's band? Glastonbury is supposed to be about live music, not singing to a backing track. Need #Davegrohl #Glastonbury2017”, one critic tweeted.

“It was unreal…the best," Issy Symonds and Lucy Alexander told the Press Association. “He was so cool about it. We loved his rapping – he’s a lyrical genius.”

“Nice bloke, not a great headliner," Brothers Jamie and Alan Cawthorn told the news agency. “Ed was great but you’ve got a hell of a lot to live up to when you are (playing the same stage as) The Rolling Stones.”

The singer who performed a set with crowd-pleasers such as Castle on the Hill, Lego House and The A-Team was watched by a packed audience which included celebrities Victoria and David Beckham.

Ed admitted to fans that he was nervous at the start of the weekend’s final Pyramid stage headlining set and on closing his performance he confessed: “'I would like to say it was a dream of mine. But I never thought I would even get to the point where I was playing this stage, let alone headlining it.'”

135,000 music fans partied at this year's festival which was held over three days and saw Radiohead and Foo Fighters headline the main stage.