This Isn't Fake . . . Amplifiers Failed!

By Bobby

In light of faked performances everywere at major events (see the recent article I posted on what happened at the Inauguration and Super Bowl XLIII), it seemed interesting what happened during Saturday night's Budweiser (InBev-Belgium) Shootout* during the National Anthem (Fox).

* Because of trademark issues over the Bud name, I refer to it as Budweiser of Belgian brewer InBev.

During the National Anthem, the singer (most likely local; there is a talent contest hosted by Daytona International Speedway for some events) had the amplification (the wireless microphone) fail on her a few times early. She was singing, but most of the 80,000 fans did not hear it because it was not on the loudspeakers.

Somehow, the fans, especially near the front, knew something was wrong. They knew she was singing (the fans closest to the track and others could hear it), and the paying crowd decided to take the problem to their own hands, and turn the singer into a leader, with everyone singing alongside her. For the next few times the problem took place with her microphone failed, you could easily hear the crowd singing. For once, at a major event, you could clearly see the National Anthem wasn't a pre-recorded lip synchronisation. It was real, and the fans appreciated the real situation by following along.

The drivers even commented on the behaviour after that and were applauding the fans' attitude. Well done, fans. To know the anthem was being sung live, and not a fake was a good thing. The fans knowing what to do in singing was even better. I would love to see that at a major event where someone leads the fans to sing. The continued fakery of everything as we have seen in too many events has to go. What happened Saturday on Fox with the Shootout showed us what can happen with real singing and intelligent spectators who knew their anthem and showed reverence for it, not one of the numerous Star "Mangled" Banners we have seen or any of the intentionally faked music that is a sad trend.