Denver pop-rock icons performed a questionable version of the national anthem at the start of the NCAA men’s basketball championship game in New Orleans Monday night. The roughly two-minute performance sparked a firestorm on social media moments after its conclusion — the vast majority of tweets reacting negatively.
The band members responded on Twitter:
Upon thinking about it, doing the National Anthem is a bit like choosing between Jif and Skippy. You just can’t please everyone. – dw
— The Fray (@TheFray)
While the performance was not awful by any standards — it left many scratching their heads. This is a band that owes its success to piano-based, highly accessible pop songs. Why tinker with that formula on national TV? Why not give Isaac Slade a Baby Grand and let the other guys sing back-up? Moreover, why go the increasingly tired, revivalist folk route of bands like Mumford & Sons?
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John Hendrickson is the managing editor of Reverb and a multimedia journalist for The Denver Post. Follow his rants on music and more on .
