When Philly made the World Series, summoning Hall & Oates to sing the national anthem was a no-brainer. Incredibly, this didn’t happen until Game 5, when Daryl Hall was chosen to belt out The Star-Spangled Banner. (Tampa’s opening play? The Backstreet Boys, a solid 5 years past their expiration date.)
While Hall’s solo act was definitely preferable to, say, DJ Jazzy Jeff spinning some national anthem beats, or Double Dutch Bus songster Frankie Smith rapping the SSB, ROTI was a little bummed that John Oates wasn’t going to be there to perform…as web series Yacht Rock definitively proved, he’s by far the superior member of H&O.
Well, surprise surprise, as the curtain rose on Game 5, Hall was nowhere to be found, and Oates belted out our proud anthem to the delight of all Philadelphians! Wearing a boss commemorative jacket, no less!
Turns out Hall caught a cold, and like the puss he is, called in sick. MLB.COM has the story of Oates’ heroic cross-continental journey to save the day in Philly:
PHILADELPHIA — Daryl Hall was scheduled to perform the national anthem prior to Game 5 of the World Series Monday night, but after he came down with the flu, he turned to his longtime friend and bandmate John Oates for a pinch-hit appearance, so to speak.
Oates, one half of the hit band Hall and Oates that reached its peak in the 1970s and ’80s, lives in Aspen year-round and received a frantic call from their manager around 8 a.m. Monday morning, pleading with the singer to hop on the first flight to Philadelphia to sing the anthem.
“At 8 o’clock, my wife starts shaking me and goes, ‘You’ve got to go to Philadelphia,” Oates said, an hour before he was scheduled to perform. “I thought she was kidding me. I thought she was just trying to get me out of bed. Then she said, ‘No, no, Daryl got sick and you have to sing the national anthem at the World Series. I’m like really? I said, ‘OK.’”
Turns out, that was easier said than done. Every flight out of Aspen connects in Denver, and his flight, which was scheduled to leave Denver at noon, was delayed.
“I said, ‘That’s it, I’m not going to make it,’” he said. “We were cutting it close as it was, I was supposed to arrive at 6. Then I saw a flight that was leaving in 20 minutes for Philadelphia. I said, ‘Can I get on?’”
There was one seat left — a middle seat, no less — and Oates pounced.
“I guess it was meant to be,” he said.
Oates, who grew up 25 miles north of Philadelphia in North Wales, had plans to watch the World Series, but from his couch, not in person.
“I was actually looking forward to watching Daryl sing,” he said. “I was quite happy to stay home and watch the game on TV. But now I’m in it and it’s fantastic. It’s very exciting.”
This isn’t the first time Oates has been asked to fill in. He performed the anthem at a Denver Nuggets game a while back after the original act had canceled.
“Exact same circumstance,” Oates said. “I got a call in the morning that someone was supposed to sing it and couldn’t make it. I guess I’m the designated pinch-hitter. They called me down, and I went on.”
It’s likely that night didn’t compare to Game 5 of the World Series, however. On a cold and blustery night at Citizens Bank Park, Oates provided a flawless rendition of the anthem, sparking a thunderous ovation from the sellout crowd.
What is wrong with the anthem-singer-pickers at various sports stadia? John Oates ain’t no second-stringer!
Though, it must be said, we miss his epic ‘stache terribly…
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