Australia's favorite country son Keith Urban stopped by a sold out Bridgestone Arena recently to sing the American national anthem before a Nashville Predators playoff game.
Videos by Wide Open Country
And one thing's for certain. Urban probably set the record for the fastest nationally-televised anthem. The Aussie burned through the whole song in around one minute and twenty seconds!
The average length of a televised national anthem performance for major sporting events hits around two minutes. Either Urban was really nervous or he knew everybody just wanted to see the puck drop! Either way, it was a fine rendition that sounded exactly like how you'd think Keith Urban would sing the national anthem.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvgRU7y1YRY
The National Hockey League's Nashville Predators are the talk of the town thanks to their surprising playoff run. The entire town is buzzing with hockey fever and national sports outlets are singing the praises of America's newest "hockey town."
Part of the excitement comes from the Preds bringing out big celebrity guns for the anthem and other "hype up" moments. In addition to Urban, country stars Lady Antebellum, Carrie Underwood and Little Big Town. Other stars like rock band Paramore, NFL players Dak Prescott and DeMarco Murray and Urban's wife Nicole Kidman also make appearances to pump up the crowd.
READ MORE: Carrie Underwood Gives $100,000 Grant to Houston Girl's Sports Teams
So far, so good. The Predators are unbeaten at home in the playoffs, going a perfect 6-0 so far. But not everybody loves it. The normal anthem singer expressed his disappointment with the celebrity performances. Not because of the quality, mind you. He just wanted to sing. But hey, he can't complain too much. He still gets two premium tickets to the Predators games (worth thousands) and parking next to the players.
The Predators have at the very least two more home games in the playoffs, and at the most five. And you can bet celebrities are chomping at the bit to sing in front of the electric crowd. Some of the team's biggest supporters from day one include Vince Gill and Dierks Bentley. Both of them haven't made an appearance in the playoffs yet. Just saying.
