Rick Astley performed a cover of Foo Fighters' 1997 classic Everlong during his headline set at Radio 2 in the Park last weekend (playingSunday, September 17).
The pop legend introduced the alt rock anthem with a few teasing strums of his guitar, before adding: “I like playing other people’s songs. Are you in the mood for us to murder one of the best songs ever?”.
Astley takes on the track seamlessly, crooning deeply in a sunny, yellow suit and a Kylie Minogue t-shirt, as a pair of backing dancers inject some extra cheesy pep into the song with their bouncing dance moves behind him.
While Astley may claim the performance to be a "murder" of the Foo Fighters fan-favourite, him and his band actually nail it, exclaiming into the cheering audience at the end: “Can I get a ‘hell yeah!’, Leicester?!”.
The hitmaker previously tackled Everlong in an acoustic arrangement during the COVID lockdowns in 2020. Back in 2017, he even linked up with Dave Grohl and co. in Japan to perform his trademark track, the 80s pop blockbuster Never Gonna Give You Up.
Astley is set to release his ninth studio album, Are We There Yet? on October 6.
Check out the performance below:
Astley's love of alternative music has long found its way into his performances, previously covering songs by AC/DC on the stage, including Highway To Hell and Touch Too Much. He's even a big Slipknot fan, and surprised the internet with a rendition of Duality on his TikTok account back in 2021.
In 2016, he selected the Knot rager as one of his favourite rock songs of all time, telling Classic Rock: "The thing with [Slipknot] is they actually write really great melodies... They’re quite unconventional [in] the way they write songs sometimes, but it’s just a brilliant track.
"When I’m in my room thrashing about on my drum kit with my headphones on, it’s one of the tracks I like to play. I forget what their drummer’s called [Joey Jordison, who left the band in 2013 and passed away in 2021], but he’s just a ridiculous drummer as well."
Although Everlong didn't make it into his list of top tracks, he did pick the Foos' 2007 flagship anthem The Pretender, adding that the band "are probably my go-to band when I want to get in the mood.
"They’re probably pound for pound the best rock band that’s been over the last 20 years – I guess it’s obvious to say that," he added, "but I think they are for a number of reasons. I think the musicianship is just off the scale."
