Ed Sheeran performs with The Offspring during BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 26, 2024. Steve Carlson/STAFF.

NAPA — Sunday BottleRock Napa Valley headliner Ed Sheeran made a surprise appearance earlier in the day during the performance by rock band The Offspring.

The two played “Million Miles Away,” off the band’s 2000 album, Conspiracy of One. Introducing the friend they’d made backstage, Offspring frontman Dexter Holland said he had found out that this was the friend’s, “Ed’s,” favorite song from one of the first albums he’d owned. Notably, this was the Offspring’s first performance of this song since 2016.

“Come on out, Ed!” Holland said, and the crowd that must have approached 10,000 went wild as he walked out in a black Offspring T-shirt. The song’s rendition was powerful and straightforward, with Sheeran rocking out on guitar and contributing vocals.

Sheeran performs with The Offspring during BottleRock Napa Valley at the Napa Valley Expo on May 26, 2024.

The partnership was actually arranged a few days before the start of the festival.

The Offspring played for about 75 minutes, rolling through some of their most famous songs like “Come Out and Play,” “Want You Bad,” “Pretty Fly (for a White Guy),” “Self Esteem” and “Gotta Get Away.” They threw in fun covers of the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” and “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Edvard Grieg.

Guitarist Noodles and Holland joked throughout the performance, with Noodles proclaiming the festival had set a record with more than 1 million in attendance.

“This is the best thing to have happened in the history of rock and roll,” he said. “This audience is the best thing to happen to music ever.”

Follow editor Roman Gokhman at Twitter.com/RomiTheWriter. Follow photographer Steve Carlson at Instagram.com/SteveCarlsonSF and Twitter.com/SteveCarlsonSF.