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

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?"