Neil Diamond attended a Boston Red Sox baseball team game over the weekend to promote the Corona-delayed premiere of his musical Neil Diamond: A Beautiful Noise. He watched the home team’s game against the St. Louis Cardinals with Will Swenson, the main character in the play.
Diamond started singing along with Swenson as the 8th inning—a period during the game—started. Traditionally, “Sweet Caroline” has been recorded here at Fenway Park, the home stadium of the Red Sox, for 25 years. The singer was there in 2010 and 2013 to perform one of his biggest hits himself. Diamond has not performed since 2018 due to a Parkinson’s diagnosis. That’s why the guest performance was a very special one.
With a lot of fervor and a laugh, the now 81-year-old directed the audience during their “Bah-Bah-Bahs”, as a video of the performance shows.
Neil Diamond singing “Sweet Caroline” at Fenway Park is incredible ? ? pic.twitter.com/P1yRDJR5ho
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) June 19, 2022
The Diamond musical can be seen in Boston for a total of six weeks before making its Broadway debut.
“Good Times Never Seemed So Good”
Released in 1968, Sweet Caroline may have been inspired by John F. Kennedy’s daughter, although Neil Diamond later gave conflicting accounts. The song is often part of the fixed supporting program at sporting events of all kinds – probably also because of its engaging subtitle “Good Times Never Seemed So Good”.