Watch: ED SHEERAN Joins THE DARKNESS On Stage In London To Sing 'Love Is Only A Feeling'

December 10, 2023

Pop superstar Ed Sheeran played a surprise set as the opening act for THE DARKNESS, and later joined the British rockers to perform their song "Love Is Only A Feeling".

THE DARKNESS, which is currently celebrating 20 years of its debut album "Permission To Land", has had a long relationship with Sheeran, having previously opened for him on the U.K. leg of the 2019 "Divide" tour", along with James Bay and Zara Larsson.

"The crowd started off with their fingers in their ears," THE DARKNESS guitarist Dan Hawkins told Guitar World about his band's opening slot. "But by the end they had their hands in the air. It was a massive success, actually."

Sheeran opened last night's (Saturday, December 9) concert at London's Roundhouse by playing a six-song set, telling the crowd he bought a copy of "Permission To Land" when he was 13 years old, "and it was always my ambition to be onstage with them one day." He jokingly asked THE DARKNESS's audience to "check me out on MySpace" before adding: "I hope you like it… If you don't, it's only 30 minutes."

After playing his set, Sheeran returned to the stage later in the night to join THE DARKNESS on "Love Is Only A Feeling", taken from "Permission To Land".

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?"

Find more on The darkness
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).