Like a lot of people his age, Ed Sheeran has a soft spot in his heart for one-hit-wonder Wheatus’ 2000 hit “Teenage Dirtbag.” The Beck-like beat folk jam has been in Sheeran’s brain since well before he became a global pop superstar.
But despite loving it for most of his life, Sheeran, 34, had never performed the song live before. That is, until Saturday night (July 5) at a show in Hamburg, Germany, where Ed surprised the crowd by bringing out Wheatus singer Brendan B. Brown, who dueted with him on the band’s signature track.
“I’ve got a cool surprise for you, it’s really quite cool, but bear with me,” Sheeran told the crowd before telling a tale of performing the song with his high school band decades ago before they broke up. The trio reunited in April to play at a friend’s wedding, which, naturally, led them back to Wheatus “When we were playing, we played a song we used to play when we were 12. And I said, ‘F–king hell, isn’t this a great song?,’” Sheeran recalled. “I wanna play this live.” He then invited the two men, as well as Brown, out to join him.’
“He’s flown over especially from New York just for this, and it’s gonna be f–king awesome,” Sheeran promised of Brown’s surprise spot. “This is one of my favorite songs of all time.”
In an Instagram post about the special moment, Sheeran reiterated the story. “Used to play ‘Teenage Dirtbag’ with my high school band when I was 12. We reformed after 22 years to play our mates wedding in April, but we had so much fun I asked them to come rock it with me at a stadium,” he wrote in the video featuring the rocked-up cover.
“I cheekily asked Brendan from @wheatusofficial to come over and rock it with us, and being the ledge that he is, he did. One of my fav moments ever on stage, thank you Brendan. What a night,” Sheeran continued in the bit that also featured Sheeran posing with two of his lifelong mates who joined him the performance of the cheeky song with the “‘Cause I’m just a teenage dirtbag, baby” refrain.
The footage also featured Sheeran and Brown rehearsing the tune in an empty Volksparkstadion and then performing it live for the sold-out crowd, with Sheeran excitedly bouncing around and strumming his electric guitar alongside Brown. In the video’s comments, Brown wrote, “BEST DAY EVER!!!! [heart emoji].”
Sheeran’s Play tour continues on Friday (July 11) with the first of three shows at Portman Road in Ipswich, U.K.
Check out footage of the “Teenage Dirtbag” summit below.
