Shawn Mendes Joined Ed Sheeran on Stage For First Show Since His Mental Health Hiatus: ‘What a Reaction!’
Shawn Mendes surprised the crowd at Ed Sheeran‘s concert at the Rogers Centre in Toronto on Saturday night when the Ontario-bred singer performed live for an audience for the first time since announcing a break from performance last year to focus on his mental health.
In his first live performance in a year and a half, Mendes strolled out as Sheeran performed his 2011 single “Lego House,” and after collaborating on Ed’s song, the two men enthusiastically strummed their acoustic guitars for a run through Mendes’ 2017 hit “There’s Nothin’ Holding Me Back.” In a fan video of the moment, Sheeran said that he and Mendes were messaging last week and Shawn asked if he could attend the show. “And I was like, ‘you can’t just come to the show, you gotta come up a sing a song,'” Sheeran said he told Mendes.
“And he said, ‘can we sing ‘Lego House?’ And I said, ‘we’ll only sing ‘Lego House’ if we can sing one of yours.'”
“What a moment. Me and @shawnmendes on stage in his home town,” Sheeran wrote in a caption to a clip of the special moment, which ended with the two men enjoying a long on-stage hug. “Wish I could bottle the feeling and keep opening it to feel that buzz again, so much fun. Thank you for singing with me man, so good to have you back.”
In an accompanying clip the two men are seen hanging out backstage and Mendes reflects on the moment, saying, “I started shaking, I was like what the… I feel a bit speechless about it to be honest right now.” The video also contained footage of Sheeran asking Mendes how it will feel to be on stage for the first time in more than a year during the pre-show rehearsals.
“Dude I feel insane, I feel crazy,” a smiling Mendes said as Sheeran promised, “It’s gonna explode.” After some footage of the performance, Sheeran shared the wild response to the viral moment while chilling backstage afterwards.
“What a reaction!” he said. “I’ve had that three times in my life at gigs: Paolo Nutini in Glasgow, Stormzy in London and now Shawn Mendes.”
Mendes cut his planned 2022 Wonder: The World Tour outing short after seven dates last year after sharing that he needed a mental health break. The singer has mostly avoided the spotlight since, but dropped the new single “What the Hell Are We Dying For?” earlier this month.
Watch Sheeran’s video of the performance below.
Gil Kaufman
Billboard
