THE national anthem singer at Monday’s NFL playoff game broke down in tears after an emotional performance.
Rachel Platten, 43, sang the Star Spangled Banner at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
She performed ahead of kickoff at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona[/caption]
Her passionate rendition came ahead of the Los Angeles Rams’ game against the Minnesota Vikings.
The playoff clash was moved from LA to Arizona due to the deadly wildfires raging in Southern California.
And the game at State Farm Stadium was an emotional one for all concerned, including Platten.
The New York-born songwriter performed some hits ahead of kickoff.
She then sang the national anthem, but couldn’t hold back her tears at the end.
Platten was giving a rousing ovation by the crowd gathered for the NFC wild card game.
Rams stars Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp also appeared to be choked up by the performance.
At least 24 people have now died and over 150,000 forced to evacuate their homes in the Los Angeles area.
The wildfires have been raging since last week and seen a number of sporting events moved or canceled.
The Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Kings have all had to postpone games.
While the Rams’ playoff game against the Vikings was moved to Arizona by the NFL.
The LA Rams advanced to a division round game at the Philadelphia Eagles next week.
But they’re unsure if they’ll be able to practice outdoors in their LA facility this week due to air quality from the wildfire smoke.
Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell previously worked for the Rams and also grew up in California.
He played college football for San Diego State.
NFL division round schedule
Sat 18 Jan, 4.30 pm ET (ESPN/ABC) – Houston Texans at Kansas City Chiefs
Sat 18 Jan, 8 pm ET (Fox) – Washington Commanders at Detroit Lions
Sun 19 Jan, 3 pm ET (NBC) – Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia Eagles
Sun 19 Jan, 6.30 pm ET (CBS) – Baltimore Ravens at Buffalo Bills
And he told selected UK media before the Rams game, “Southern California is near and dear to my heart.
“There’s a couple friends of mine who did lose homes.
“Having lived it, there were a couple of times in my early childhood there were some pretty significant fires in my home town.
“In my senior year at San Diego State we had a game postponed for 10 days maybe even two weeks because of fires.
“For many people that watch the news and see the clips, this is hard to imagine.
“But for people in Southern California it’s something they’ve experienced before and a tragedy.”
