Furious NFL fans have ripped into the ‘worst rendition ever’ of the Star-Spangled Banner prior to the 49ers-Rams clash in Australia on Thursday.
Prior to the action getting underway at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, New York-based ‘soft rock’ band Infinity Song took to the stage to perform the national anthem.
However, their performance fell flat among viewers watching back on US soil – with hundreds of them swiftly rushing to social media to offer their criticisms.
‘Is this the worst version of the US national anthem ever??,’ one fan wrote on X.
Another disgruntled viewer wrote: ‘This might be the worst performance of a National Anthem ever holy s***.’
‘These people sound terrible singing the national anthem!’, another said online.
Furious NFL fans have ripped into Infinity Song’s rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner
They took to the stage prior to the 49ers-Rams clash at Melbourne Cricket Ground
Immediately after Infinity Song took the stage, fellow singer Cody Simpson performed the Australian national anthem – leading to high praise from those same online fans.
‘Dude who sang the Australian national anthem smoked the boots off the American national anthem rendition,’ one fan said.
Another wrote: ‘Based on National Anthem performances, its 1-0 Australia. Come on NFL you could have represented the U.S. better than that!’
Infinity Song is an American ‘soft rock’ band based in New York City composed of siblings Abraham, Angel, Israel and Momo Boyd.
The group has released three albums under record label Roc Nation.
Their performance came just one day after fans were left baffled by a wordless performance of the Star-Spangled Banner prior to the NFL’s season opener.
Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready performed the unique version of the anthem before the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 13-10 in a Super Bowl rematch at Lumen Field.
The American anthem was performed after Washington native, The Mwango Sisters had delivered a stirring rendition of ‘Lift Every Voice and Sing’, better known as the ‘Black National Anthem’ before the game and received a mixed reception online.
But McCready was widely slammed for his guitar anthem, with viewers online even going as far as to call the performance a ‘disrespectful’ way to start the new season.
Fans were quick to rush to social media and voice their frustrations with the anthem rendition
It came just one day after a wordless performance of the Star-Spangled Banner on Wednesday
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One disgruntled fan wrote: ‘As someone who has played guitar my whole life and loves the instrument… An electric guitar should never be used to play the national anthem in this way. This is a disgrace.
‘There are many ways to express the anthem uniquely, but also respectfully. Chris Stapleton did that phenomenally well – expressing his own unique angle on the anthem while still articulating it with the dignity and reverence it deserves.
‘But this is simply a self-indulgent disgrace. There is no thought behind this. He doesn’t even have the decency to stay in the key as he vandalizes the melody – going to stupid out-of-key canned pentatonic riffs for no reason.
‘I would be insulted if I bought tickets to see this as a musical performance, let alone listening to this as a rendition of our national anthem. Just terrible.’
