Didn't care for it at all, it was awkward.

I thought it was terrible, but it did slightly improve very near the end. One of those live TV moments, that I really wanted to just turn away because I felt so bad for the people. It was like, yeah this is bad, the performers know it, and so do 40 million other people.

 

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of Marvin's version of the song either though. I thought Whitney really did it well, and the lady who did it at this year's Super Bowl really nailed it too.

I'm glad I was at a bar and could barely here it...it was very bad.

Not a fan of this one, but Saturday's performance by Monica was one of the best I have ever heard.

 

Didn't care much for that one either.

It stunk and was disgraceful.

Somewhere, at some time, someone thought the Fray singing the national anthem was an awesome idea. I hope that they aren't looking for work this week.

Zero chance it was "intentionally bad." The guitar player said his fingers "froze."

 

Marvin Gaye's version is considered to be "great" yet it was far more outside of "basic guidelines" than this one.

 

You don't have to like it but that doesn't automatically mean it was disrespectful.

 

I guess disrespect, like beauty, is in the eyes of the beholder, which is the reason I added the "IMO"?? Personally, I normally don't care for significant "variations" & "artistic interpretations" of songs like the National Anthem, and when they stoop to almost unrecognizable levels such as in this case, I find it disrespectful, again--IN MY OPINION!! Obviously not yours, but that's fine as well; that's why they're called opinions??

Never heard of the band before.

 

Didn't mind the interpretation. Took guts to change it up that way in a big spotlight.

Can't say that I loved loved loved it, but didn't hate it either. I did however think while listening that the general public that lives firmly inside of the box wouldn't go for it. Was intrigued by their attempt of giving a different rendition a whirl. I didn't find it disrespectful. It wasn't nearly as annoying as some plastic so-called diva adding 37 new notes to the song and dragging it out beyond belief, which tends to be the accepted trend these days by the younger set that are in awe of such clownish vocal gymnastics. They kept it rolling along and didn't overstate it. It might've worked better at a campfire with it's acoustic folky vibe and not on such a grand stage where, there again, they were playing to an arena full of most likely 80-90 percent 'In the box' general public types and an even greater amount of those types from the TV viewing audience. No it didn't go over well and the Fray themselves should've probably have known that it wouldn't, but ultimately they were apparently invited to do so, and they kept true to their musical stylings. Kudos to them for that. Low marks given to organizer that thought it was a good idea given its audience.

I actually think I would've liked it had it not been so off key. That was what ruined it for me.

After reading these posts, I was expecting a disrespectful massacre of the National Anthem. Other than the one guitarist who couldn't get his chords right, which was clearly a mistake, but not disrespectful, this was sung in the spirit and the same melody that the National Anthem was intended. I frankly liked it a LOT better than the overblown soul singer who carries out every note for five minutes to show how great a singer they are. Just one opinion.

Love the Fray, and didn't hear the performance on Monday night. But, after googling it...it was different, but I don't see how anyone can call it disrespectful. They didn't intentionally mess up.

I will second the opinions above about disliking it when the performer goes big and long and stretching the rendition out. That is irritating and I don't care how a great a voice the singer has. A sloooww rendition is always a bad rendition for me. I don't like the Marvin Gaye rendition nearly as much as most others for this very reason ... it is just too long regardless of how good it is. Keep the pace moving, don't forget the words and hit the big notes.

I actually think I would've liked it had it not been so off key. That was what ruined it for me.

 

This.

I thought it was kind of unique. Seems like I caught a mistake, but I liked what they were going for. I thought the ending was cool. When it got started everyone in the crowd was wondering what the hell was going on.