They're both in the middle of huge tours, and on Saturday night music fans were treated to the sight of two generations of British music stars joining forces.

Ed Sheeran headed out on stage to join The Rolling Stones on the Kansas City date of their Zip Code tour.

Taking a break from his own gigs, Ed opened for the Stones at the Arrowhead Stadium, before playing with the band for a rendition of Beast of Burden during their set.

Scroll down for video

Say cheese! Ed Sheeran joined The Rolling Stones on stage at the band's Kansas City date of their Zip Code tour on Saturday night

The Rolling Stones' Twitter account had been teasing a collaboration all day, with Mick Jagger telling fans he was looking forward to meeting 24-year-old Ed at the gig.

Ed was clearly excited to be joining his music heroes, sharing a selfie with the band moments after leaving the stage, uploading it to Instagram with the caption: 'Just sung a song on stage with these ladz.'

He later shared another snap showing him in conversation with notorious hellraiser Keith Richards, as he quipped: 'Learning how to be led astray'.

Sing! Taking a break from his own gigs, Ed opened for the Stones at the Arrowhead Stadium, before joining the band for a rendition of Beast of Burden

Take a bow: Mick Jagger was full of praise for the Brit singer following their surprise collaboration

Ed recently opened up about the changing nature of the music industry and artist ambition in an interview with The Big Issue, explaining that nowadays musicians are 'more sensible and savvy'.

Referencing Noel Gallagher's complaint about artists being too focused on having a career rather than living for the day, Ed pointed out:

'I know it's not a very artistic thing to be, into the way things work, but I wanna know everything, Drake's the same, Taylor Swift knows everything about everything.'

Souvenir pic: The Stones lined up with Ed for a photo from the stage during the band's soundchck

New friends: Mick Jagger had tweeted about his excitement at meeting Ed in Kansas City, Missouri

Here comes trouble: Ed shared an Instagram snap showing him in conversation with notorious hellraiser Keith Richards, as he quipped: 'Learning how to be led astray'

'Pop stars nowadays are just more sensible, more savvy because it doesn't last as long. It's do your time, earn your money, buy some property and when it all goes to s**t you've got something to fall back on,' he added.

'Whereas his generation, a lot of people just lived for the day. And managers were crooks, record labels took 50 per cent.'

Ed is currently in the middle of his epic x tour, which kicked off nearly a year ago. The Thinking Out Loud star is playing a series of dates in North America before heading back home to the UK for dates at Wembley Stadium in July.

Special guest: The 24-year-old held a copy of the band's set list for a Twitter pic before taking to the stage

Selfie fans: Ronnie Wood snapped pics with the acclaimed singer who is in the middle of his x tour

It's only rock and roll: Jagger and co put on a show for the Kansas fans as they continue their North America dates