NSYNC silenced the boos with a stunning a cappella national anthem at 2000 World Series

On October 24, 2000, the New York Mets hosted their inter-league rivals, the New York Yankees, at Shea Stadium in game three of the MLB World Series. The crowd deserved a big-deal "Star-Spangled Banner" performance—the kind people could watch reverently decades later. And they ultimately got one, soaking in the dulcet vocal harmonies of ubiquitous boy-band NSYNC. But, at least at first, many of the amped-up baseball fans in attendance that night didn’t seem too stoked.

You can hear for yourself in the video. "Performing tonight’s anthem is one of the most popular musical groups in the world today: multi-platinum recording artists NSYNC," the announcer tells the crowd, prompting a response that sounds equal parts cheering and boos. Two of the members, Chris Kirkpatrick and Joey Fatone, look almost amused by the reception, smirking as they stare out at the masses. Perhaps they were thinking to themselves, "You won’t be jeering for long." Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake's expression is almost blank.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

A couple minor pitch hiccups aside, the a cappella rendition is incredible, filled with complex harmonic movement and interesting rhythmic variation. (JC Chasez is on fire belting the lead vocal, and Lance Bass deserves a special shout-out for anchoring the low end.) You can hear the crowd being won over in real time—before the quintet build into the grandiose final line, the cheering and clapping rolls in like thunder. "I loved how the crowd boo'd and JC was like...hold my beer. The audacity!!!!!!!!" one fan wrote on YouTube. "Never boo someone who’s about to sing your nation anthem unless it’s fergie," wrote another, referencing the singer’s infamously panned version from the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.

Maybe some of those initial naysayers were mostly rockers, or maybe they were tired of seeing Justin Timberlake’s frosted tips all over Total Request Live. At that time, NSYNC were seven months deep into the promo cycle for their blockbuster third LP, No Strings Attached, which features the enormous singles "Bye Bye Bye," "It’s Gonna Be Me," and "This I Promise You." They were everywhere.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

"I wouldn't call Mets and Yankees fans our 'target audience,'" Timberlake said with a laugh on The Rosie O’Donnell Show. He also floated another theory for the hostility—one related to a potential mix-up relating to the teams’ rivalry: "You know what happened? Somebody who works for us told us after [that] they showed a picture of [Yankees pitcher] Roger Clemens on the big screen [right before]." We’ll probably never know for sure, but some have speculated that the booing wasn’t music-related—as one Redditor noted, NSYNC were wearing World Series jackets that looked an awful lot like Yankees jackets, which probably wouldn't have gone over too well at the Mets’ home base, Shea Stadium.

This wasn’t the only time NSYNC performed "The Star-Spangled Banner"—they had another massive audience when they tackled the anthem for the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. The crowd reception on this occasion was more unanimously positive from the outset, with the flag-waving patriotism probably working in their favor. Regardless, it’s another gorgeous a cappella version of this notoriously intimidating song.

- YouTube www.youtube.com