THE FEEL’S THE THING
WHEN HE WAS 16, an age when most guitarists are still dreaming of playing their first high-school dances, Marcus Machado got a call to perform the National Anthem at an Orlando Magic NBA game before a sell-out crowd of 20,000. “I should have been nervous, but the truth is, I was elated,” he says with a laugh “The crowd actually helped me perform. Practicing in my bedroom, I had always imagined what it would be like playing to an arena full of people, so when I heard them cheering for me, it wasn’t scary at all. It was pretty magical.”
In the years since his arena debut, Machado would be called to perform the National Anthem a few
