This Londoner sang O Canada for the Blue Jays at the 1992 World Series

It's a moment Londoner John P. Allen will never forget—a flashback to 1992, when Toronto Blue Jays fever was also sweeping across the nation.

The stakes were high. The Jays faced the Atlanta Braves on October 22, 1992, in Game 5 of the World Series.

That's when Allen stepped up to the microphone in the SkyDome and sang the national anthem with his bandmates in the popular country act, Prairie Oyster.

While the Blue Jays would lose that game, they'd go on to take the World Series in Game 6.

Now, as the Toronto Blue Jays head back to the World Series for the first time since 1993, Allen is remembering performing on the big day.

He spoke with CBC Afternoon Drive host Matt Allen to talk about the experience.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Matt Allen: Take us back to that moment. You step up to sing the national anthem. What's going through your head?

John P. Allen: Well, Prairie Oyster was at the height of our career, I guess you could say. We were Canada's top country and western band in the '80s and '90s. We were approached by the Commissioner's Office in New York about coming and singing at one of the games. So we got Game 5. Ed Sprague Jr. hit a home run in Game 2 to win the game. So, we knew there would be a game 5. It was really wonderful. I was probably the biggest sports fan in the band, but everybody really enjoyed it.

MA: Take us there. What was it like being front row, first of all, on the field, but then for the game itself to get to see all of that?

JA: It was amazing. We we got to sit in the dugout till after we got in our pass into the stadium and I sat with the Blue Jays in the dugout.

It was a real Canadian moment. We rehearsed for a whole day beforehand because we knew the reverberation and feedback might throw us off. But we managed to get through it, and it was really something. It was unbelievable. My feet were hardly touching the ground.

MA: Now you were a member of the Prairie Oysters. You've had so much success with them, six Juno Awards. Could you tell us about playing in that band?

JA: Well, it was a great experience. It was the culmination of my career. I'd done a lot of other things professionally in Toronto as well, and I got to travel all over the world with Prairie Oyster and represent Canada at all kinds of events. We were good friends.