Ed Sheeran stopped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! before kicking off his Australia and New Zealand tour, joined by some very special guests.
The English pop superstar, accompanied by Dave Grohl, John Mayer, Blake Slatkin, Rami Jaffee, and Pino Palladino, performed “Drive” on the late-night show. “Drive” was written for the Brad Pitt racing film, F1.
The all-star group performed the track backed by clips from the film playing behind them on screens. Mayer handled guitar with Sheeran, while Grohl banged on the drums.
The F1 soundtrack also featured contributions from Doja Cat, Burna Boy, Tate McRae, Madison Beer, and many more. Sheeran teased his track ahead of its release, saying that he had “a lot of fun making” the song alongside Grohl and Mayer.
In other Sheeran news, the musician took to social media yesterday to tease the first show of his Australia and New Zealand tour, which will take place at Auckland’s Go Media Stadium tonight (January 16th).
“So tomorrow, if you are at the gig, there will be a big thing on the screen before it begins where it will say ‘text in song recommendations,'” he said in an Instagram Story, adding that “there’s five slots in the gig where I’ll play any song that you guys decide.”
“So whatever song you wanna hear at the gig, go look at the screen, text it, and it’ll basically tally up the songs and I will play those songs, whatever the song is.
“I will learn it before the show… so surprise me and see you tomorrow.”
After Auckland, Sheeran’s tour will take him to Wellington, Christchurch, Perth, Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide through January, February, and March.
Sheeran is hugely popular in these parts, having already sold 2.5 million tickets across Australia and New Zealand to date.
The tour follows the release of his new album, Play, which was released in September. Play featured the singles “Azizam”, “Sapphire”, and “Old Phone”, and the album was described as “an explorative, technicolour pop album that captures the fun, chaos, and heart of an artist reinvigorated by life and travel.”
