Saturday 8 October 2016

Monarchs Musicians And More

I really appreciate the effort that SNHU Arena puts into taking photos and posting them on their website. The arena, like most in North America, plays host to a number of concerts and events every year, and they often have big-name musicians roll through town. When they do, they routinely award these musicians a Manchester Monarchs jersey and capture the jersey exchange in a picture! If you've been following the Musicians In Jerseys series, you know that there is an entire section dedicated to the Manchester Monarchs because they churn out so many photos, and today I add a few more as we look at the next wave of Monarch jersey-clad musicians!

Again, if you want to see the full collection of musicians wearing hockey jerseys, you can find the photos here. I'm always looking for your photos as well, and I will credit you for the pictures if you send me any, so snap a picture at the next concert when you see a musician in a jersey and send it here!

Without further adieu, let's check out who traveled through Manchester, New Hampshire!

Among the various concerts that passed through the SNHU Arena were Ariana Grande, Miranda Lambert in 2013 and again in 2015, Alice Cooper, Dierks Bentley, Rob Zombie, Michael Bublé, Thomas Rhett, Lee Brice, Eric Church, Keith Urban, Jason Aldean in 2014 and again in 2016, and, of course, Justin Bieber!

Ok, so there's everyone who toured through New Hampshire according to SNHU Arena. Before we get started, I want to remind everyone that this examination is about musicians wearing or holding jerseys. It's not about just producing a jersey with a musician's name on it. If there's no proof of holding or wearing the jersey, it does not get included in this series of articles. In saying that, let's take a look at the rest of the world and who went where when it came to getting hockey jerseys while touring!

We'll start in Montreal where the Imagine Dragons were given their own individual jerseys! We'll follow the band as they move across the country to the XCel energy Center in Minneapolis/St. Paul, and the Minnesota Wild welcomed them with their own personalized jerseys as well! The Imagine Dragons were off to the Pepsi Center in Denver where they received one jersey? Seriously? The band is four members deep, yet the Avalanche cough up one jersey? Wow.

In one of the cooler moments from recent concerts, Canadian Michael Bublé was in Raleigh, North Carolina for an evening. During his concert, he was present with a Carolina Hurricanes, only it wasn't for him. Instead, it was presented to him for his new-born son, Elías! Dad happily accepted the gift for his son! Well-played, Carolina!

I had to do some searching for why the Columbus Blue Jackets have never delivered a jersey to any musicians that have come through Nationwide Arena. It turns out that they do something very unique: they provide customized robes to musicians! That's Elle King in her jersey-robe! Pretty cool, right? It turns out, however, that they did give the Dixie Chicks personalized jerseys, so there are your first Columbus Blue Jackets musicians!

It's rare to see both home and road jerseys given to musicians, but Cage The Elephant visited Buffalo and came away with some Sabres jerseys! Looking good!

I'm not aware of American country music star Easton Corbin, but the musician met up with fellow country music star Carrie Underwood in Buffalo and endeared himself to the pro-Sabres crowd very nicely! Word out of Buffalo is that Underwood called Easton a "traitor" for wearing the shirt, so he must have pledged his allegiance to the Predators at some point!

As surprising as it may be, Miley Cyrus has not appeared on any of these musicians articles. Well, that streak comes to an end tonight as she visited Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2013, and the Wild presented her with her own jersey. At least she didn't shred it to show more skin.

Chris Jericho, lead singer of Fozzy, was in Los Angeles for a wrestling event, but the Los Angeles Kings presented him with a retro "Irvine" jersey. As you may be aware, Chris' real last name is Irvine and his dad, Ted, played for the Kings during his career! Kudos to the LA Kings for giving Chris a jersey that also honours his father's career!

I'm pretty sure that Ireland is not a hockey hotbed. In fact, I'd bet that soccer, hurling, and golf are bigger sports than hockey. That being said, Irish rockers U2 have played across the globe and in many hockey rinks as they have toured. In Boston, U2 was given a Bruins jersey as well as a commemorative banner! I guess that makes Bono and the boys Bruins fans!

If you were a fan of the hip-hop movement in the 1990s, you knew the names Bell Biv Devoe and Bobby Brown. I wasn't aware that they were still making and performing music in the new millennium, but it appears they made a stop in Tampa Bay where the Lightning presented them all with personalized jerseys!

I know he's a die-hard Nashville Predators fan and attends their games as often as he can, but Vince Gill was a hockey fan long before the Predators rolled into town. Here's an old picture of Gill wearing an Edmonton Oilers jersey! How about that hair?

Speaking of Edmonton, we've already seen Keith Urban wearing the new alternate jersey that the Oilers have, but Keith Urban has also worn Edmonton's white jersey as well! Keith Urban might be a true Oilers fan!

We all know how revered The Tragically Hip are in Canada. The band has songs about hockey, they've featured Don Cherry in a music video, and they hail from Kingston where the OHL Frontenacs are beloved. It's almost surprising that they aren't featured wearing hockey jerseys more often, but here is the legendary band being presented with Winnipeg Jets jerseys during their stop in the Manitoba capital!

Country singer Blake Shelton has toured all over North America, and his stop in Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2013 resulted in Shelton receiving a Minnesota Wild jersey!

Drake's tour is taking him all over the land, and he seems to be accumulating jerseys in every stop. His tour took him through Edmonton recently, and he took to the stage in an Oilers alternate jersey!

Joining Drake on the tour has been fellow hip-hop artist Nayvadius DeMun Wilburn, better know by his stage name Future. Future has taken to the stage in a Colorado Avalanche jersey, a Los Angeles Kings jersey, and a Tampa Bay Lightning jersey! Looks like we have another closet full of jerseys developing on this tour!

American rock band Papa Roach doesn't have a ton of tie-ins to the sport of hockey, but the Winnipeg Jets made sure they made this list. While Papa Roach was in Winnipeg, they were given their very own Jets jerseys!

Ed Sheeran has made an appearance on a few of these articles, and he'll add his name a couple more times tonight. Ed Sheeran got a Washington Capitals jersey during his appearance in DC, and he added a Tampa Bay Lightning jersey when stopping in the Florida city!

Rockers from the 1980s going out on tour is nothing new, but it's surprising that British rockers from the 1980s are collecting hockey jerseys as they tour through North America. Duran Duran now has a second set of jerseys from when they stopped in Minneapolis/St. Paul!

Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood are currently touring across North America, and they have been collecting hockey jerseys as well. Their stop in Winnipeg was no different as the Winnipeg Jets presented each of them a jersey! Jets President Mark Chipman is looking dapper on the right!

The Backstreet Boys have repeat appearances on these articles, and tonight's article will include them again as they found themselves as recipients of Minnesota Wild jerseys after an on-stage performance at the XCel Energy Center! Is Nick Carter really wearing a Los Angeles Lakers jersey while in Minneapolis/St. Paul? AWK. WARD.

Charlie Wilson, better known as Uncle Charlie, is an American R&B singer, songwriter, producer and the former lead vocalist for The Gap Band. The guy has been nominated and won a pile of awards including Grammys, and he is highly respected within the music community. Needless to say, when Charlie Wilson comes to town, you roll out the red carpet and get him in a jersey as the Tampa Bay Lightning did!

I have to say that sometimes you'll find a disgraced artist or a one-hit wonder on these lists. They live life to the fullest for the 15 minutes they're in the spotlight, and occasionally you'll see them in hockey jerseys. One such case is Robin Thicke as he toured through Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2013, and I'm pretty sure his music career is dead at this point. He may make a comeback, but the chances of seeing him atop the charts again is pretty low.

R&B and hip-hop artists are always on these lists. And yet it still makes me smile when one of the artists in the upper echelon of these genres accepts a jersey. Usher, who has a ton of hits and is known across the world, hit Minneapolis/St. Paul in 2014 for his tour, and the Wild provided him with his own jersey!

If there's one person who always infiltrates these lists, it's Justin Bieber who claims to love hockey as much as he loves making music. Ok, I don't know if that's a real claim, but he must like it a lot with all the jerseys he is adding to his collection. He's already appeared up above, but he took home a Martin St. Louis jersey while on tour in Tampa Bay at some point. On his current tour that has taken him through Europe, he's been dropping in on European teams to have a skate, and Jokerit in Finland was no different as he met GM and hockey legend Jari Kurri while getting his own jersey!

In recent years, the Minnesota Wild have been giving hockey sticks to musicians to commemorate their trip through the Twin Cities. It seems to be a unique idea from the Wild as there aren't as many jerseys being given away, but a few lucky bands still get them. One such band was Twenty-One Pilots who received their jerseys! As a new band on the music scene, it's nice to see them join the jersey club!

Congratulations, readers, you made it! There were a lot of musicians up above, but you made it to the end! Of course, I found more instances of jerseys for musicians - Bruno Mars, Demi Lovato, and 5 Seconds of Summer - but if they aren't holding or wearing them, I can't be sure they ever got them. If anyone has photos of those three bands wearing or holding their jerseys or any other band doing the same, please send them in! It's time for me to retire backstage for the night, though. Thanks for reading, everyone!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

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