Las Vegas Weekly

December 8, 2008 · 11:52 AM

Photo Gallery: Brooks & Dunn and Lee Greenwood honor the troops at NFR

By Robin Leach

Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Photo: Tom Donoghue/www.donoghuephotography.com

It was an emotional moment for rodeo fans last night -- when the lights went out! Country superstars Brooks & Dunn had kicked off the opening of Night 4 of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo at the Thomas & Mack Center, while American Idol finalist Kristy Lee Cook sang the national anthem, and the sell-out crowd of 17,149 roared its approval.

Then the lights went out! Completely out! After a split second of silence, one pinprick light shone on a surprise guest.

Singer Lee Greenwood suddenly appeared in honor of Pearl Harbor Day. As he sang “God Bless the USA,” several members of the military, including four survivors from the Pearl Harbor attack, joined him.

“It was a highly emotional scene,” an obviously moved Tom Donoghue told me this morning. Tom, our contributing photographer, is covering the entire NFR activities right through to Saturday’s wrap up and presentation of the $5.5 million prize purse. Once again, he captured some incredible photos of all the action -- and some of the pain -- from the fourth night!

Each day, Vegas DeLuxe will have the newest photo reports, and, as we add them to our exclusive coverage, we’ll add the previous photos to our ever-expanding souvenir photo album of the 50th anniversary of NFR, which you will find on our Photo File page.

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