Ed Sheeran ticks item off his bucket list as he joins Busted on stage during their final London O2 performance

A young Ed Sheeran may not believe that the older version of him would finally take to the stage with pop-rock group Busted, as the band celebrate their 20th anniversary, but as it so happens the ‘Shape of You’ singer did just that last night at London’s O2 last night.

Busted invited Sheeran on stage to perform their 2004 hit “Who’s David,” with the singer bounding onto it with his acoustic guitar and performing alongside the members of the group to the delight of not only the crowd but Sheeran himself. 

In an interview with the Evening Standard, Charlie Simpson quipped that he takes credit for Ed Sheeran’s success, telling the newspaper in May 2019 when asked who his favourite celebrity fan is: “I take credit for Ed Sheeran. His dad brought 12-year-old Ed to one of our gigs, and he said: “I’m going to do that one day, Dad.”

Sheeran has previously discussed how he auditioned to join the band on tour before he became the multi-million-selling artist that he is today, before finally becoming an opening act for the group, including their celebrated performance at London’s Royal Albert Hall back in 2017.

His appearance has also led to renewed talk about a potential collaboration between the two; Sheeran and the group teased a collaboration on Scott Mills’ BBC 2 radio show back in August of this year. When asked if it was true that Busted influenced Ed Sheeran to pick up the guitar, Simpson mentioned that Sheeran’s vocals would have sounded good on the song “Sleeping With The Light On”, but Matt Willis also mentioned that the singer went quiet when they reached out for him to collaborate on their most recent album.

Watch this space.