Billy Ray Cyrus put on a chaotic, glitch-filled performance at the post-inauguration Liberty Ball on Monday night.
The ’90s country music legend was welcomed onstage to perform Lil Nas’ Grammy-winning “Old Town Road,” which Cyrus was originally featured on and added his vocals and guitar. But his performance in Washington D.C. was barely heard as the song’s music video played loudly on a big screen behind him.
“Old Town Road” became the longest-charting No. 1 song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 in 2019 and spent a total 19 weeks at the top of the chart. But as the music video ended, Cyrus continued singing with a decidedly hoarse voice and a spoken word tone and at one point invited the audience to chime in as he cantered across the stage with his microphone thrust out ahead.
“Y’all can put your hands together now. If you encourage me, I’ll keep going. They told me to kill as much time as possible,” Cyrus then announced as he turned his back on the audience. He then asked whether anyone knew the words to “Achy Breaky Heart,” while fiddling with his electric guitar and complaining it wasn’t hooked up to the audio system.
“Check, check. Is my guitar still on? I don’t hear my guitar anymore,” he announced. “Ah, Check. Is anybody awake? I don’t hear it. Do y’all hear this? Is anyone back there? Can somebody turn my guitar back on? We’re going to sing a bit more,” Cyrus asked the backstage technical crew.
“Y’all want me to sing more or you want me to just get the hell off the stage? I don’t give a damn,” he added to the stage crew as he got no response. A technician appeared to try to restore the country’s singer’s electric guitar to the audio system, and Cyrus wondered aloud if he’d unplugged the instrument on his own.
As that fix was attempted, Cyrus, now standing onstage in silence, praised Carrie Underwood’s earlier performance, while remarking she had technical difficulties too. Fellow country singer Underwood was forced to perform a cappella during Monday’s inauguration of President Donald Trump due to audio glitches.
When it looked like the guitar couldn’t be restored to the audio system, Cyrus told the technician, “I guess it’s dead.” He then urged the audience to snap their fingers as Cyrus attempted an a capella rendition of “Achy Breaky Heart,” by half-speaking and half-singing.
That didn’t last long before Cyrus bid goodnight to the audience and was played off-stage. The Hollywood Reporter reached out to Cyrus’ management team for direct comment on the performance, but has not heard back.
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