If you love to watch someone die on stage then the Billy Ray Cyrus inauguration performance is one of the best examples I have seen in recent years. Good lord, it was painful to sit through.
I really don’t think the man is well enough to be standing up, let alone performing on stage. But, health aside, Billy Ray Cyrus didn’t even seem to know what was on the agenda for the inauguration evening. He spent a good portion of the performance staring at the screen behind him, and for one bleak moment, just started whistling.
I am not sure if he was experiencing technical difficulties or what. Sure, his guitar seemed washed out, and his mic seemed quiet, but that may have been on purpose. He certainly wasn’t playing anything, and his vocals were all lip-synced.
The few times it was possible to hear him speak or sing through the mic, it sounded like he had eaten a bag of gravel. There was no way Billy Ray Cyrus was fit to sing at the inauguration. Half the time he wasn’t even close enough to the mic to be heard.
Honestly, the man looked like he didn’t want to be there. He wandered around the stage, looking confused and put out. He spent a significant amount of time watching the screen at the back of the stage. Old Town Road was his first song, and it looked like it was the first time Billy Ray had even heard it.
According to Billy Ray Cyrus, there were a few technical difficulties plaguing his inauguration performance. As he began his rendition of “Achy Breaky Heart” he was left singing it acapella. It sounded like your local street drunk, and that’s being generous. Not to say, he was under the influence. He just sounds very unwell.
As he finally came to a close, after wheezing his way through his famous song, the lights went down. he continued to stumble around the stage, and at one point took his jacket off, dropping it to the floor. One of the stagehands finally came onto the stage to escort him off in the dark.