THE OFFSPRING Joined By ED SHEERAN For BOTTLEROCK Festival Performance

THE OFFSPRING was joined by pop superstar Ed Sheeran on stage during the band's performance on Sunday (May 26) at the at the BottleRock Napa Valley music festival at the Napa Valley Expo in Northern California.

Prior to launching into "Million Miles Away", a song from THE OFFSPRING's 2000 album "Conspiracy Of One", which the group had not played live since 2016, THE OFFSPRING singer Bryan "Dexter" Holland told the crowd: "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, who performed on the main JaM Cellars Stage later in the night, then proceeded to join THE OFFSPRING on the guitar, as well as to trade verses with Holland.

"I want to thank Ed Sheeran for playing with us. How cool is that?" THE OFFSPRING guitarist Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman said before the closing song of the the band's concert, "Self Esteem".

Sheeran is a noted rock and heavy metal fan, having recently collaborated with British extreme metallers CRADLE OF FILTH on a song that will reportedly be released for charity.

In July 2021, Sheeran floated the possibility of exploring a more extreme musical path while speaking to The Sun. He said: "I was really into death metal as a kid. I listened to CRADLE OF FILTH and SLIPKNOT and all that stuff. I'm not saying I could ever step into that world. I learnt all those riffs on guitar as a kid. That's something I've never thought about doing — but something I would not be opposed to creating."

Sheeran had previously dabbled in a variety of genres, including rock, dance, rap and reggae.

Sheeran admitted to his love of SLIPKNOT in a 2017 interview with Gist. Speaking about the inspiration for his then-brand new album "Divide", Ed said: "I've had the concept for 'Divide' since 2010. I wanted the whole album to feel a bit schizophrenic. My first sort of music that I got into that wasn't from my parents was rap, metal, punk… I went one day listening to 'lowa' [from] SLIPKNOT and the next day listening to Damien Rice's 'O'. It was quite a switch."

As it turns out, SLIPKNOT singer Corey Taylor is also a Sheeran admirer, as he made clear in a 2017 interview with NME. Speaking about Ed's massive commercial success, Corey said at the time: "I'm stoked for people like Ed Sheeran — that kid worked his ass off, so why shouldn't he get the recognition?"