How 10 Major Touring Musicians Feel About Sports

While music is often referred to as the universal language, sports are also known to be a unifying concept. Many artists are major fans of sports, just as many athletes are very passionate about music.

Live Nation is a leading promoter of concert events, and this summer it has dozens of major tours going around North America. Notable performers within the Live Nation ranks include Paramore, Lindsey Stirling, Jeff Beck, Evanescence, Pentatonix, Stone Temple Pilots, Styx, Taking Back Sunday, The Offspring, The Cult, O.A.R., and Kevin Hart. Live Nation is currently in the midst of an event it calls National Concert Week -- running through May 8th -- which guarantees up to 1.5 million concert tickets being for sale at an all-in price of $20.

Held in New York earlier this week, Live Nation hosted an event in which dozens of major musicians were on-site to talk with the media to launch National Concert Week. I had the pleasure of speaking with many of those artists, and below are my sports-related highlights, as exclusive to Sportskeeda. More on National Concert Week can be found online at https://ncw.livenation.com.

What is it like performing a national anthem at a sporting event?

John Driskell Hopkins, Zac Brown Band: The first time I performed it was at the Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati. I did "God Bless America" during the seventh inning stretch. Tomorrow I'm doing the seventh inning stretch "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" for the Mets. I'm slated to do an anthem later on in the season, but I'm not sure it's confirmed yet.

We love doing that stuff. We do it as a quartet when the whole band is present; the four main singers get together and we do kind of a Marine Corp version that's kind of traditional. We bring our own flair to it without the support system of the other voices.

Is the United States' national anthem the hardest song to perform live?

John Driskell Hopkins, Zac Brown Band: It's okay as long as you don't start too high [in your register]. We're all pretty accomplished singers and we have gotten used to doing it as a group. It's definitely the first time I've gotten nervous in a long time. You're very exposed out there by yourself and everyone's singing along with you.

You are rumored to have been an excellent hockey player. Are the rumors true?

Lawrence Gowan, Styx: Being in New York, I still have a bit of a chip on my shoulder that the [New York] Rangers never called. I've never had any contact with them whatsoever, I was completely overlooked. The longer I don't play, the greater the legend becomes. So I'm just going to stay in retirement for a while and let the numbers continue to escalate in memory. [laughs]

Who is the biggest sports fan in Stone Temple Pilots?

Jeff Gutt, Stone Temple Pilots: I'm the biggest sports fan in my band.

Who is your team of choice?

Ed Roland, Collective Soul: University of Georgia, baby. UGA, right here, let's go, 'Dogs.

Jesse Triplett, Collective Soul: There is more money lost on our bus to sporting events than you can imagine. (laughs)

Chris Henderson, 3 Doors Down: [interrupting] Go [LSU] Tigers.

Ed Roland, Collective Soul: Easy now, big dog.

Brad Arnold, 3 Doors Down: I don't care about sports, but I enjoy watching them watch sports. It's fun. He [Chris] and our drummer get going. (laughs)

Is anyone in O.A.R. into sports?

Jerry DePizzo, O.A.R.: We're big football fans. We all went to Ohio State [University], so there have been a couple soundchecks that were adjusted for kick-off times. LeBron [James] is in the playoffs right now, so we're happy about that. We're hockey goons as well.

Marc Roberge, O.A.R.: We're huge Rangers fans.