During a recent John Mayer show at The Wiltern in Los Angeles, Ed Sheeran joined the “Your Body Is a Wonderland” singer for a cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’.” Footage of the performance was uploaded to Instagram by Billboard.
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As a surprise guest at the September 19 concert, Sheeran opened the show with seven songs including “Bad Habits” and “Shivers.” After John Mayer came out and played his own set, which consisted of 16 songs, Sheeran soon returned to the stage and joined Mayer for a rendition of “Slow Dancing in a Burning Room,” as well as the cover of “Free Fallin’.”
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After performing “Free Fallin’,” Sheeran informed the audience of what he just whispered to Mayer when the song came to a close. “I just said to John: I feel like I’m going to watch that on YouTube for the rest of my life,” Sheeran told the fans. “That was so special.”
Sheeran previously performed “Thinking Out Loud” with Mayer, who is said to be one of the singer’s teenage idols, at a Gillette Stadium concert in Foxborough, Massachusetts. That show occurred on June 30 and was part of Sheeran’s Mathematics Tour.
“Free Fallin'” was originally released on Tom Petty’s 1989 debut solo album, Full Moon Fever. The song was notably covered by Mayer in 2008 for his Where the Light Is live release.
The Wiltern concert served as a charity event, with all of the profits made from the show going toward the Heart and Armor Foundation. The organization was founded by Mayer and focuses on the physical and mental well-being of veterans. Mayer’s solo acoustic tour will resume on October 3 before wrapping up again in November.
Sheeran has revealed that he will be releasing his seventh studio album, Autumn Variations, on September 29. The “Shape of You” singer will play the album in full during live shows at the Royal Albert Hall in London on November 18 and 19.
Sheeran officially announced Autumn Variations in an Instagram post on August 24. “My dad and brother told me about a composer called Elgar, who composed ‘Enigma Variations,’ where each of the 14 compositions were about a different one of his friends,” Sheeran partially wrote. “This is what inspired me to make this album.
“When I recorded Subtract with Aaron Dessner, we clicked immediately. We wrote and recorded non-stop and this album was born out of that partnership,” Sheeran continued. “I feel he has captured the feeling of autumn so wonderfully in his sonics and I hope everyone loves it as much as I do.”
Photo by Timothy Norris/Getty Images
