Roots, Toots n' Hoots Blog

Knocking Luke Bryan and Anthem gig - much ado about nothing

Jeffrey Remz  |  July 11, 2012

Criticism of Luke Bryan's performance at the Major League Baseball all star game in Kansas City on Tuesday night is much ado about nothing.

The beef was that Bryan looked down at his hand and his watch during his two minutes of singing the song. In this day and age of Twitter and other formats, anyone can complain about anything. So what?

Bryan quickly looked towards his hand at one point. He Tweeted, "I had a few keys words written down to insure myself that I wouldn't mess up. I just wanted to do my best. I promise it was from the heart."

As for the watch, he also acknowledged having done so, but had a reason for that as well via Twitter. "I did check my watch because I knew the stealth bomber would fly over 2 minutes in and I knew a started a little late," he wrote.

In the best of circumstances, Bryan would not have done either. He certainly did a credible job in singing the ultra-hard song to sing. If you want to complain, check out such performances as Christina Aguilera, who blew the words badly, and Steven Tyler's screechy performance at an NFL game in January. Not to mention the worst of all - Roseanne Barr's butchering at a baseball game in San Diego.

Bryan at least got the words right and sang it just fine. I'd rather him peak at a few words than mess it up.

I understand why Bryan felled compelled to apologize. A singer, especially a country one, wouldn't want anyone thinking he or she dissed the Anthem. As for checking the water, whatever was going to happen would happen. It seemed to come across just fine for me.

So, not much need to apologize by Bryan.