At the height of their superstardom — when both men were operating less like musicians and more like intercontinental phenomena — Sting and Rod Stewart entered into what can only be described as a prank war that was simultaneously puerile and oddly elaborate.
While both singers were known for their talent, charisma, and... let’s say strong sense of self, their interactions weren’t always limited to awards ceremonies and mutual respect. Sometimes, they descended into total absurdity.
In a 1989 interview with Q magazine, Sting recounted one such incident, beginning with a private jet — because of course it was a private jet.
“We had a plane in America, Rod had used it the night before for his gig, we took it over the next day,” Sting began, with the casual air of someone for whom mid-air travel was as routine as brushing one’s teeth.
Upon boarding, he sat down to discover a message carved into the table: “Where’s your f**ing sense of humour, you miserable g**?”*
This is real.
Naturally, Sting sought clarification. “I see this and get the stewardess. ‘What’s this?’ She says: ‘I know, I’m sorry, I was going to explain, Rod Stewart did it yesterday.’”
In response to this carved insult — by a man in his fifties, no less — Sting orchestrated his revenge with an equal degree of theatricality. Learning that Stewart would return to his Bel Air estate late one evening, Sting bought an industrial chain, snuck over to the property, and locked the electric gate shut.
Rod’s security team was powerless. Literally. “They couldn’t get out!” Sting recalled. “Rod comes back from his gig and can’t get into his house for three hours.” Cue dogs barking, phones ringing, and presumably an existential crisis over what life had become.
“He knew exactly who’d done it,” Sting said. The next day, his agent received the inevitable call: “I’m getting the police! I’m getting the FBI!” Which, in fairness, is not an overreaction when one has been physically restrained from accessing one’s own mansion.
To Sting’s credit, he sent flowers — because naturally, industrial-strength trespassing is made entirely acceptable with a bouquet.
Rod later confirmed the whole saga in a 2003 interview with The Mirror, saying: “We've had a bit of nonsense between each other but we're good mates. It's all fun.” Although, yes, he really did call the police: “As you do when you're chained in.”
Decades later, the two would reunite on stage for All for Love and, more recently, for the FireAid LA benefit concert in 2025.
Some friendships are built on respect. Others are built on passive-aggressive graffiti and hardware-store sabotage. This was both.
