Last night, The Offspring performed to a massive crowd at Napa’s BottleRock Festival performing career-spanning kick-ass fan favorites and were joined by a very special guest – global superstar Ed Sheeran.
Sheeran – who is a longtime fan of The Offspring – surprised the crowd and performed Miles Away” from the band’s Conspiracy of One album (released in 2000).
Earlier in the day Sheeran rehearsed with the band backstage- even showing off his Offspring tattoo inspired by Conspiracy of One– before joining them onstage. Later the band introduced Sheeran by saying “We were hanging out backstage and somebody said this was one of their favorite songs in the history of songs and he said he might be open to playing it with us – so let’s give him a shot you know?”
As fans erupted as Sheeran walked onstage, Dexter said to the crowd: “Ed told us that one of our records was one of his first cd’s he ever bought when was a kid and that really meant a lot to us and we thought wow we’d love to have you come out and join us onstage. We’re gonna play a song he wanted to play: “Million Miles Away.”
Sheeran shared a recap of the special moment with the caption: “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”
Earlier in the day the band joined Alton Brown at the William Sonoma Stage where they used some of Dexter Holland’s Gringo Bandito Hot Sauce to spice up some wings!
Up next, the band are set to perform a special hometown show in Anaheim, CA for “The Offspring: 30th Anniversary of SMASH and Honda Center”concert on June 1st. The show will celebrate over three decades of their iconic 6x Platinum album SMASH as well as 30 years of the historic Honda Center. The band will perform SMASH in its entirety plus some fan favorites.
Continuing on the road the band are performing overseas at numerous festivals as well as Inkcarceration Festival in Mansfield, OH on July 19th, Louder Than Life Festival on September 26th and more in North America. See full tour dates at www.offspring.com/tour.
