Neil Diamond came out of retirement to play a thank you show for firefighters.
The 77-year-old music legend – who announced his retirement earlier this year after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease – serenaded emergency service personnel in Colorado with an acoustic rendition of his hit ‘Sweet Caroline’ on Friday (27.07.18).
Neil and his wife Katie had paid a visit to the command post for a fire burning near Basalt in central Colorado, which stretches 12,588 acres and is close to their home, and after his performance for the 400 firefighters tackling the blaze, he gave them a speech to thank them for their efforts.
He said:"I want to take you all home, I want to give you a kiss, I want to make dinner for you, and I just want to say thank you from the people of this area for coming down and this town has not been this happy since… I don’t know.
"I’ve been here for 20 years and you’ve made everybody happier. The heaviness on our hearts is gone and we know the cavalry is here and we say thank you to each of you for making this trip."
The fire was reportedly started by incendiary tracer rounds being fired at a shooting range.
Meanwhile, earlier this year, Neil thanked his fans for their "love and support" following his diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease.
The iconic star announced his retirement in January after revealing he was cancelling the remaining dates of his ’50th Anniversary Tour’ in Australia and New Zealand due to medical advice after the onset of the disease made it "difficult to travel and perform on a large scale basis".
Neil Diamond thanks fire-fighters with surprise performance
