Guests in the Regency Hyatt in Louisville were treated to a stunning rendition of the American national anthem performed by the Kentucky All-State Choir conference participants. The choirs stay at this hotel every year, and since 1987 it has become a tradition to end each night singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
What makes this an extra-special event is its location and the number of singers. The Regency Hyatt has an atrium that runs through the center of the whole 18-storey building. Balconies are arranged at each level, looking down into the atrium. These balconies are where the choir members stand to sing. This unique shape makes the acoustics uniquely suited for singing.
It’s lovely to hear the singing voices combine so beautifully while they echo off the walls. Even the most patriotic Americans will never have heard so powerful and unique a rendition. It certainly made an impression on all the guests who have ever stayed there, but it wasn’t until 2018 that it went viral.
Guest Garrett Mager was staying at the hotel during the conference and was woken up by the sound of lots of people moving outside his room. Understandably, he went outside to see what on earth was going on and maybe (just a guess!) to ask them to keep it down. When he asked the young people what they were doing, though, they said they were about to sing the national anthem. Intrigued, he decided to stay and watch.
Mr Mager thought the performance was so impressive that he recorded it on his phone and uploaded it to Facebook. He had no idea how popular it would be! He admitted that he had to turn off notifications on his phone after a while due to the sheer volume of the views and comments the video got.
“It was just non-stop scrolling,” he said. “People pay for posts to go viral and this was just on a whim.”
Since then, the video has been watched an unbelievable 28 million times, been shared 663,000 times and has received 400,000 likes. Pretty amazing for something he recorded on the spur of the moment. Was this the best performance of the anthem you’ve ever seen? We bet it is!
Colorado State Choir also performed in this location. Their rendition of “Down in the river to pray” builds into a masterpiece. The natural acoustics will make your hairs stand on end.