Ed Sheeran Brought His 'Old Friend' Macklemore Out in Seattle: 'I Said to Him You Have to Come Out Tonight'

The rapper joined the singer-songwriter to perform his songs "Thrift Shop" and "Can't Hold Us" on Saturday

Ed Sheeran has made a reputation of collaborating with and befriending everybody from pop mainstays to rappers — one of whom he brought out on stage on Saturday.

At the singer-songwriter’s + – = ÷ x (Mathematics) Tour stop in Seattle on Saturday at Lumen Field, he invited Macklemore to join him for a performance.

Fans captured footage of Sheeran, 32, and the hip-hop artist, 40, playing his hits “Thrift Shop” and “Can’t Hold Us” in the latter's home city.

Before the “Same Love” rapper came on stage, Sheeran gave him a heartfelt introduction.

“I have a real great love for Seattle. I have a lot of friends here. I shot the ‘Shape of You’ music video here. I’ve spent a lot of time here,” he told the Lumen Field crowd, who broke audience attendance numbers at Lumen Field that night, according to The Seattle Times. “And there’s an artist that I really love from here. I remember hearing him for the first time when I was in Australia, and I reached out on Twitter back in the day, and we got to be friends and now we’ve been friends for about 10 years.”

Related: Andy Cohen Hangs with Ed Sheeran, John Mayer and Jon Bon Jovi: 'One of These Things Is Not Like the Other'

“I got to see him today, which was really cool, and it was like seeing an old friend and catching up on everything,” he continued. “I said to him, ‘You have to, you have to come out tonight.’”

“Let’s go,” Sheeran shouted, as the rapper (whose real name is Ben Haggerty) came out to the sound of his 2012 song “Thrift Shop.”

Sheeran joined him on the melodic verses of the track and supported him on the acoustic guitar.

Their joint set then continued. After playing the track, Sheeran added, “When I saw Ben today, I said, ‘You can’t just come for one song,’” and the two jumped into “Can’t Hold Us.”

The “Eyes Closed” musician shared footage of Macklemore’s guest appearance on Instagram and thanked him in the caption. “What a moment, bringing out @macklemore in Seattle for a home crowd. Will never forget that energy in the stadium. Thank you Ben for your time, and your city rocks x ,” Sheeran wrote.

Related: Macklemore Describes Addiction as 'Like an Allergy' and Says Recovery Was a Choice Between 'Life and Death'

Although the two have yet to release a song together, they previously performed together at iHeartRadio Music Festival in 2014. Sheeran also covered “Thrift Shop” in a viral mash-up with Blackstreet and Dr. Dre’s “No Diggity” that he and singer-songwriter Passenger performed back in 2013.

The Grammy winner is currently wrapping up his Mathematics tour dates, which will continue through late September, and is also gearing up to release his next album.

Last week, the “Perfect” singer announced his new record Autumn Variations is due out Sept. 29, coming just several months after - (Subtract) was released in May. 

Related: Ed Sheeran Announces New Album 'Autumn Variations' with 14 Songs Written About 14 Friends

He gave fans insight into the upcoming release by sharing a video on Instagram. “Hello everyone. The sun is shining but autumn is coming. I have an album I've made called Autumn Variations. This is a record that I was sort of making at the same time as Subtract. It's what me and Aaron [Dessner] went in originally to make,” he said in the clip. “Elgar (a composer) has this thing called the Enigma Variation where he did 14 songs about 14 friends so I wanted to make 14 songs about 14 friends and base it on autumn.”

In the caption of the post, he wrote, “Last autumn, I found that my friends and I were going through so many life changes. After the heat of the summer, everything either calmed, settled, fell apart, came to a head or imploded.”

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“When I went through a difficult time at the start of last year, writing songs helped me understand my feelings and come to terms with what was going on, and when I learned about my friend’s different situations, I wrote songs, some from their perspectives, some from mine, to capture how they and I viewed the world at that time,” he continued. “There were highs of falling in love and new friendships among lows of heartbreak, depression, loneliness and confusion.”

The record is available to preorder and presave here.

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