Why Did Sir Rod Stewart Sing 'Sweet Caroline' at Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee?
Published June 6 2022, 10:33 p.m. ET
Why did Sir Rod Stewart sing "Sweet Caroline" at Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee celebration? While there's nothing wrong with one iconic musical artist singing a cover of an iconic song, fans of Rod were flummoxed by his song choice for the once-in-a-lifetime royal celebration.
After all, why sing what's arguably Neil Diamond's most famous song when Rod has plenty of hits from his illustrious career? Turns out there's a perfectly legitimate reason why Rod sang "Sweet Caroline."
Read on forthwith for the truth or we'll send you straight to the Tower of London!
Why did Rod Stewart sing "Sweet Caroline" at the Platinum Jubilee?
Although Kate Middleton and other members of the British Royal Family were spotted in the audience happily jamming out to Rod's performance of "Sweet Caroline," the singer himself admitted to the audience at the Platinum Party that it wasn't a fun song to sing.
Rod then cracked a joke about how the BBC made him sing "Sweet Caroline" before asking the audience to join in. That participation would make him feel more comfortable belting the tune. Hey, at least he was honest about it!
According to a report from the Daily Mail, the singer and his backup dancers had all also recently recovered from COVID-19! He flew back home to England just to perform at the Platinum Jubilee celebrations, saying, "I just came home especially for this, and I got COVID-19 and I got over it! All six of us got it, we're just glad to be here."
The British Royal Family enjoyed Rod's performance — What about the rest of the public?
Twitter wasn't having nearly as much fun as the British Royal Family during Rod's live cover of "Sweet Caroline." One Twitter user joked about calling the police to report a crime — Rod murdering "Sweet Caroline" with his rendition.
Another Twitter user also made a crack about Rod butchering "Sweet Caroline," writing that it was the worst thing they had ever seen. Hey, don't blame the singer, blame the BBC!
Who were some of the other performers at the Platinum Party?
We're going to give poor Rod a break from the backlash in order to shine a spotlight on some of the other Platinum Party performers. The band Queen brought the house down with their legendary hits "We Will Rock You," "Don't Stop Me Now," and "We Are The Champions."
Queen Elizabeth herself kept the beat to "We Will Rock You" with a teacup in a cute, pre-recorded clip with Paddington Bear.
Duran Duran delivered, Andrea Bocelli served, and Elton John brought a tear to our eye with a powerful performance of "Your Song." Alicia Keys and Diana Ross were also on-hand, bestowing us all with performances of some of their iconic hits.
The internet might have loathed Rod's cover of "Sweet Caroline," but we have to give the singers props for performing at the Platinum Party of all places after recovering from COVID-19! Sometimes life is just about singing your heart out and having fun.