On March 22, 2003, the band “Live” played for the Mardi Gras celebration at Universal Studios Orlando. I went, mostly because I liked their music. About halfway through the concert, they stopped playing and the singer said “I want to take a minute to talk about George Bush’s illegal war.” I yelled out, “Shut up and play the fucking songs.”
Some dude standing next to me pushed me and took a fighting stance, so I punched him as hard as I could. He went down and I got out of there before security could arrive.
The point here is I paid to go to a concert, not a political rally. A musician is no more qualified to comment on foreign policy than any other random person. If he had been expressing his opinion about the best guitar, microphone, or even what flavor is best for LSD, he would probably be qualified to express his opinion. They are abusing the fact that they have an audience held captive by the cost of a ticket to attend this concert to force that same audience to listen to your completely unqualified opinion.
So when I hear that Ed Sheeran stopped his concert in order to express his opinion on Palestine and Israel, I have only to remind them of the saying: Dance, monkey, dance. We pay you for a concert, not to hear your take on today’s news.
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