Fans Are Divided Over Paige Blake’s Electric Guitar Anthem Before The Union Jack Classic

Paige Blake delivered a National Anthem performance like no other before the Union Jack Classic between Arizona State and Kansas at Wembley Stadium Saturday night. She played an electric guitar and sang no words in her rendition of the pre-game anthem. Blake, a blues and rock guitarist from Los Angeles, has the performance listed on her website. The performance was announced on August 21st.

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In the stadium, thousands of fans of America sang along to Blake’s instrumental rendition of the song and drowned out the sound of her guitar at points. At home, some viewers criticized the unique version of the anthem while others praised it as a unique take on the song.

Blake’s performance was compared to Jimi Hendrix’s famous instrumental version of the national anthem on electric guitar. Fans believed her performance paid homage to Hendrix, whose death anniversary fell the day before the game.

This game was the first of its kind at Wembley. The game is being held as a Big 12 Conference game as part of a multi-year plan to play the event in London. The organizers have a three-year contract with Wembley for one game per year, with an option for a fourth year.

Arizona State won 24-17. Kansas had 414 yards of total offense compared to ASU’s 228. However, Kansas turned the ball over three times, and ASU did not turn the ball over once.

Arizona State scored first on Carson Smith’s 39-yard field goal. Kansas responded in the second quarter with a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown by Tate Nagy. The first play of the second half was a 100-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Jaren Hamilton, making it 17-7 ASU.

Kansas is now 1-2 overall and 0-1 in the Big 12, while ASU improved their record to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in conference play.

Below is social media reaction to Blake’s performance.