Guitar sensation Sophie Lloyd set the Rugby World Cup final on fire with her blazing licks and effortless X-factor playing Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer” and a surprise second cover. If there’s one person who can make hard rock guitar on trend again in the 2020s, it’s definitely Sophie. She’s got the skills, the swagger, and the 50 million fans who watched across multiple platforms just couldn’t get enough. Sophie kicked off her performance with the iconic talkbox intro of “Livin’ on a Prayer.”
She then took Bon Jovi’s vocal melodies to the stratosphere with her guitar shred rendition. She not only nailed it technically but also played with a lot of emotion and feel. The electrifying energy in the crowd as she played said it all. The British guitar virtuoso then transitioned into surf rock classic “Miserlou,” then mashed it up with hip hop stars Black Eyed Peas’ “Pump It” – naturally, with a whole lotta push behind it. The Music Man has to say this is what we love to see on the big stage!
Sophie opened the 2025 Women’s Rugby World Cup final on Saturday, September 27, 2025. Fans were stoked to see this kind of talent showcased at the event, and added comments such as “I absolutely love the fact that a major sports tournament chose something as inspiring as this” and “As a father to two daughters and someone who has tried to play guitar his whole life, this video brought me a tear or two. It is amazing the power of music and how a guitar solo can bring up so much emotion.”
The Music Man readers probably won’t be surprised to hear that Sophie has scored a stack of viral videos on her YouTube channel. One of her popular videos is her take on Iron Maiden’s 1992 banger “Fear of the Dark.” In this version, she not only gives a catchy treatment to Bruce Dickinson’s big vocal lines, but also ups the ante in the guitar pyrotechnics department. There’s already plenty of blazing licks in any Maiden song, but Sophie managed to bring it to the next level with her interpretation.
Sophie Lloyd is a 30-year-old British guitarist who was born on October 22, 1995, in Oxford, England. She began learning guitar at age nine, after seeing the comedy version of Twisted Sister’s “I Wanna Rock” on The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie. Sophie launched her YouTube channel in late 2011. She went viral immediately with her first uploads, which were a pair of Black Veil Brides covers. She has since built up a popular channel, drawing 1.27 million subscribers on the platform. She has also issued an EP and two full-length studio albums to date.