(NBC)
Dierks Bentley had the honor of performing at the 2016 NFL Kickoff concert on Thursday. But now his performance has kicked off some harsh criticism on Twitter. See video below.
In Denver before the Broncos took on the Carolina Panthers for the first game of the regular season, Bentley performed “Freedom.” The celebratory song is featured on the country singer’s album Black, which came out in May. And while the live crowd seemed to enjoy the performance, Bentley is now getting ripped on social media for what some felt was a job done poorly.
@Stacey21King tweeted, “My dog just opened the front door & walked out after hearing Dierks Bentley on NFL pregame show & guess what he’s not coming back.” @lofro54 wrote, “Dierks Bentley makes freedom sound pretty awful. #merica.” @BMONAY85 said, “Umm Dierks Bentley sounded like hot garbage.”
“Dierks Bentley is awful. Terrible way to open up #NFLKickoff,” posted @ChristianCline. Sports reporter @KylenMills even wrote, “Yikes I think my ears are bleeding after that Dierks Bentley performance on NFL Kickoff Special.” @Ron_Clements also remarked, “Well, if I was ever thinking about seeing Dierks Bentley in concert, I’m not anymore. This sounds awful.”
The performance led @Jaberuski to crack, “Hoping tonight’s game is better than Dierks Bentley.” @SportsChannel8 snarked, “How badly would the Panthers have to lose tonight for you to say ‘That was worse than that Dierks Bentley performance’?” And @LindsayABoyle observed, “I’m glad everyone seems to have hated that Dierks Bentley performance as much as I did.”
That seems to include Bentley’s own fans, too. @Tanyarenee tweeted, “Dierks Bentley does not sound like that! Something was horribly wrong with the sound! Someone needs to be fired!” To be fair, some Twitter users criticized OneRepublic’s turn on the stage, too. Check out a clip of Bentley’s performance below, which he posted on his own Twitter account.
