“I used to pretend to be in their band in the mirror.” Watch Ed Sheeran live out “a childhood dream” by joining pop-punk legends The Offspring onstage in California

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Dreams can come true, if you're Ed Sheeran at least

The Offspring with Ed Sheeran
(Image credit: Steve Jennings/Getty Images)

Ed Sheeran fulfilled a childhood dream by joining The Offspring onstage in California at the weekend, and performing a song from the first record he ever bought. 

The English singer/songwriter superstar joined the veteran southern Californian pop-punk band onstage at the BottleRock Napa Valley festival on May 26, to play Million Miles Away from the band's 2000 album Conspiracy Of One. 

Introducing Sheeran to the festival crowd, The Offspring's Dexter Holland said, “Ed told us that one of our records was his first CD that he ever bought when he was a kid. That really meant a lot to us, so we thought, Wow, we’d love to have you come out to join us on stage. We’re gonna play one of the songs you wanted to play.”

Sheeran added further context on Instagram, posting a video of himself showing the band an Offspring tattoo on his arm, with a caption stating: “The first album I ever bought was the @offspring – Conspiracy of One. I used to pretend to be in their band in the mirror and sing along to the album when I was 9, mostly to their song Million Miles Away as it was the first song of theirs I heard.

“I mentioned it in an interview and Noodles / Dexter got in touch with me when we found out we were all playing the same festival, to see if I wanted to get on stage and sing it. It was an instant yes obvz. Really felt like living out a childhood dream thank you for having me up there guys. Music is a wild ride, every day I’m so grateful to be living my dream in reality. Hope you enjoy the vid x”

Watch Sheeran's video, and fan-filmed footage of the performance, below:

A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos)

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Sheeran has made no secret of his love of rock and metal in recent years, collaborating with Bring Me The Horizon and Cradle of Filth, and joining The Darkness onstage in London to sing Love Is Only A Feeling. Back in 2018, Korn guitarist Brian 'Head' Welch posted a photo of himself and the Suffolk singer/songwriter backstage at a show in Nashville, and revealed that Sheeran had told him that he'd been listening to Freak On A Leash earlier that same day. 

Paul Brannigan
Paul Brannigan
Contributing Editor, Louder

A music writer since 1993, formerly Editor of Kerrang! and Planet Rock magazine (RIP), Paul Brannigan is a Contributing Editor to Louder. Having previously written books on Lemmy, Dave Grohl (the Sunday Times best-seller This Is A Call) and Metallica (Birth School Metallica Death, co-authored with Ian Winwood), his Eddie Van Halen biography (Eruption in the UK, Unchained in the US) emerged in 2021. He has written for Rolling Stone, Mojo and Q, hung out with Fugazi at Dischord House, flown on Ozzy Osbourne's private jet, played Angus Young's Gibson SG, and interviewed everyone from Aerosmith and Beastie Boys to Young Gods and ZZ Top. Born in the North of Ireland, Brannigan lives in North London and supports The Arsenal.