Ed Sheeran Says He Didn’t Know ‘Beast Of Burden’ Until Day Of Rolling Stones Performance
Ed Sheeran learned how to play “Beast Of Burden” by The Rolling Stones at the request of Mick Jagger himself.
Ed Sheeran made headlines on Sunday after joining the Rolling Stones onstage in Kansas City for a performance of “Beast of Burden,” but Sheeran said he didn’t know how to play the song until the day of the performance.
During a video posted to the Rolling Stones YouTube page, Sheeran said as follows.
“I got the call yesterday from Mick saying ‘Can you play “Beast of Burden?” ‘ So I had a day to learn it, so I didn’t really process that I would be playing it all day.”
Later that day, Sheeran joined the band on stage at Arrowhead Stadium for the song during their Zip Code tour.
Prior to the performance, Ed Sheeran said he had an opportunity to hang with the guys from the Rolling Stones, and yet, the realization still didn’t set in that Sheeran would be playing with what he calls “one of the greatest living bands of all time.”
“I went for the sound check, and I did that and it was fun, and I hung out with the band and hand conversation with them and that was fun, but it was until I stepped on stage and I turned around halfway through … and I was like ‘Oh! I’m on stage with The Rolling Stones! This is pretty cool!’ “
During the same YouTube video, Sheeran said that his knowledge of music by the Rolling Stones has grown as he’s gotten older. Ed Sheeran said he’s appreciated getting to discover the band “bit by bit.”
After the “Beast of Burden” performance, Ed Sheeran took to social media, expressing his excitement via Instagram and Twitter.
Amazing night playing with @RollingStones, what a moment – https://t.co/vANFcXcmUr
— Ed Sheeran (@edsheeran) June 28, 2015
https://instagram.com/p/4dPO4gEpKv/
https://instagram.com/p/4dY2fxkpMw/
The Rolling Stones also posted media from the Ed Sheeran appearance on their own social media account.
Stones selfie with @edsheeran! #StonesKC pic.twitter.com/c0aE7n5UFY — The Rolling Stones (@RollingStones) June 28, 2015
After the performance, fans around the internet applauded Sheeran for his performance, calling it one of the best “Beast of Burden” guest appearances in recent history. Pretty impressive, especially when you consider that Ed Sheeran didn’t even know how to play the song the day before.
[Photo by Ethan Miller / Getty Images]
