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Ed played this song live on Jimmy Kimmel Live on february 12th 2020:
The Face: Cue the heavy-in-your-hips, mantric funk of Shangri-La. It’s the first single from the album, as well as the opening track, and named after one of Glastonbury’s most special after-hours places.

Ed: I wrote that four days after the 2014 or 2015 Glastonbury. I wanted that feeling, that spirit and feeling that you’re there, the image. I was with one of my friends in Shangri-La at four o’clock in the morning, people were dabbing away at MDMA, and I said to him: ​“What is this?” He said: ​“It’s the meeting of the tribes of the north, south, east, west!” I was like: ​“Fuck!” It is all these people, these journeys, where you leave your shit behind. 

So, four days after Glasto, I’m still feeling great about everything, doing a demo, getting into that spirit and power of people coming together. And trying to do it in a way that is emotional and isn’t clichéd.

NME: Speaking of perfection, ‘Shangri-La’ would have been the ultimate festival anthem this summer – if only we were going to have a summer…

Ed: “The song was written about four days from coming back from Glastonbury in 2014. Shangri-La at 4am with your people is a glorious place to be. You feel so happy and at peace at Glastonbury, so the song was about that as well as the journey of trying to find peace of mind in your own life and coming together to celebrate that. When Glastonbury does happen next, it’s going to be amazing.”

Rolling Stone: Tell me about the first song on Earth, “Shangri-La.” It really sets the tone for the rest of the album.

Ed: “Shangri-La” is a song about a journey. It’s a journey that some of us have taken about trying to find peace of mind and happiness, and sometimes you go rafting into a river trying to get to the other side. When you dive in that river, you don’t realize how fast-flowing it is and how long it’ll take to cross. It’s about a journey, but also about when you get there and you find your tribe. For me, there’s a literal tribe — which is when you get to Glastonbury festival, there’s an area called Shangri-La. That song came out of my journey in life, but also the journey of going to Glastonbury and the joy you feel going out.
Musically and melodically, I wanted to create this slightly psychedelic, warm, colorful vibe. I was really influenced by “Sympathy For The Devil”-era Rolling Stones, that kind of moment where the percussion gets turned up. It’s what I heard in Brazilian music and when I was demoing…basically all of the instruments on that track are played by me apart from a blistering guitar solo by Adrian Utley from Portishead at the end. Basically, I wanted that shuffle blues thing I got from that Stones Mick Taylor era. I know he was a bit later, but that groove and shuffle and dance that I felt in Brazilian music, particularly in Tropicália.
It always felt like the right album opener. It’s up and it’s positive and fearless. For me, I love South America as a continent. There’s a magical realism to the life there and you find it in the writings of the great South American writers, people like Gabriel García Márquez. I was trying to find that place in music as well, that has depth and color and is slightly psychedelic in parts.