Eminem shocked the sold-out crowd at Ford Field in Detroit when he joined Ed Sheeran onstage to perform two songs.
In the midst of Sheeran’s headlining concert on Saturday evening (July 15) at the home of the Detroit Lions, he told the crowd that he was going to perform a cover of an Eminem song, but much to the audience’s surprise the legendary 50-year-old rapper was there and took the stage with Sheeran.
“I wondered if I could play you a cover of an Eminem song tonight,” Sheeran said, prompting a roaring applause from the capacity crowd. “I think you’ll know it. We rehearsed it today. We’ll see how it goes.” He then went on to strum his guitar in the key of Eminem’s massive hit, “Lose Yourself,” and exploded into a cover of the tune.
“Lose Yourself”
“His palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy / There’s vomit on his sweater already, mom’s spaghetti / He’s nervous, but on the surface he looks calm and ready / To drop bombs, but he keeps on forgetting / What he wrote down, the whole crowd goes so loud / He opens his mouth, but the words won’t come out / He’s choking, how? Everybody’s joking now / The clock’s run out, time’s up, over, blaow,” Sheeran sang before Eminem emerged onto stage to finish out the verse. Just before 10 PM when Eminem arrived to the stage, the stadium erupted.
The pair of superstars then joined together and sang the chorus in perfect harmony.
“STAN”
Eminem and Ed Sheeran went on to perform the 2000 smash hit, “Stan.” The performance found Sheeran flawlessly delivering the song’s haunting Dido vocals as the Detroit rapper belted out the lyrics to the track.
“Detroit I missed y’all,” Eminem shouted as his performance of “STAN” came to a close. “Thank you, I appreciate you. I love you. Thank you, Ed, Appreciate you man.”
“Detroit, please make some noise for Eminem. I don’t know about you, but that was pretty awesome,“ Sheeran said after Eminem exited the stage.
Later in the show, Ed Sheeran returned to the stage for his encore wearing a custom Detroit Lions jersey that read Mathers, which served as a tribute to Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Mathers.
Sheeran Credits Eminem’s Music For Helping Get Rid Of His Stutter
The unforgettable moment serves as a full-circle moment for Sheeran as he previously credited Eminem’s music for helping him grow out of his stutter. During an interview with Howard Stern on The Howard Stern Show, Sheeran revealed that Eminem’s album, The Marshall Mathers, played a huge role in helping cure his stutter, which began after a childhood surgery.
“I was going through all sorts of speech therapy. When I was 9, my uncle bought me The Marshall Mathers LP. He just said to my dad, ‘This guy’s the next Bob Dylan.’ My dad didn’t really clock it, he’s just like, ‘OK, Edward’s gonna go and listen to that,’” he explained at the time. “And by learning that record, and by rapping it back, to back, to back, to back, it cured my stutter and I stopped… talking like that.”
Ed Sheeran has also collaborated with Eminem in the past on songs such as “Remember The Name,” “River” and “Those Kinda Nights.” Sheeran also joined Eminem in November 2022 during Eminem’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony to perform “STAN.”
“Years later, I’ve made songs with Eminem now and we’ve gotten to know each other pretty well. And he asked me to play ‘Stan’ with him at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I remember getting the call to do it… and I’m shooting 14 music videos back-to-back. It was on my day off from shooting the music videos and I was like, I can’t say no,” Sheeran he also shared with Stern.
The Mathematics Tour
Ed Sheeran is currently in the midst of his massive North American stadium tour, known as the “+ – = ÷ x Tour” a.k.a. “The Mathematics Tour.”
The trek kicked off in Arlington, Texas at AT&T Stadium on May 6 and is set to run through September 23, where The Mathematics Tour will wrap up in Inglewood, CA at SoFi Stadium.
Special guests Khalid (May 6 – Sept. 2), Russ (Sept. 9 – 23), Dylan, Rosa Linn, Cat Burns, and Maisie Peters will appear on select dates of the trek.
The tour, which is Sheeran’s first North American trek since his much-anticipated 2018 Divide Tour, marks the hitmakers first stateside concerts in nearly five years.
New Album – (Subtract)
The tour comes in support of Ed Sheeran’s latest album, – (Subtract), which arrived on May 5. Produced by Aaron Dessner, the project features 14 tracks, including his current single “Boat” and the fan-favorite tunes “Curtains,” “Life Goes On,” “Dusty,” “End Of Youth,” “Salt Water” and more. – (Subtract) is an album of despair, grief and hope and all of the songs on the project were written after working through a really difficult period in his life.
– (Subtract) concludes his mathematical albums era and follows + (Plus), x (Multiply), ÷ (Divide) and = (Equal).
Ed Sheeran 2023 North American Tour Dates
July
15 – Detroit, MI @ Ford Field
22 – Nashville, TN @ Nissan Stadium
29 – Chicago, IL @ Soldier Field
August
5 – Kansas City, MO @ GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium
12 – Minneapolis, MN @ U.S. Bank Stadium
19 – Denver, CO @ Empower Field at Mile High
26 – Seattle, WA @ Lumen Field
September
2 – Vancouver, BC @ BC Place
9 – Las Vegas, NV @ Allegiant Stadium
16 – Santa Clara, CA @ Levi’s Stadium
23 – Inglewood, CA @ SoFi Stadium
