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.
6 Comments
Don Curton · September 22, 2026 at 7:39 am
100% agree. Whether musicians, movie stars, or athletes, just shut up and perform.
Unfortunately we sometimes have a blind spot and when someone famous accidentally goes hard right then we tend to celebrate too. But yeah, their opinions are generally worthless.
Steady Steve · September 22, 2026 at 1:48 pm
And this is why, along with the fact I hate being in crowds like this, that I stopped going to concerts years ago.
Jester · September 22, 2026 at 4:14 pm
I had the same experence with seeing Megadeth and the crowd at this time was not having it. (I think 2012?) He started off and there were enough people in the crowd that either told him to shut the fuck up and play or outright booed him till he grumbled something and picked his guitar back up. It’s one thing if someone asks their view on something and they are not preforming, it’s another when they start up on stage with whatever it is they feel like making everyone listen to that paid to see them preform.
Shark · September 23, 2026 at 10:02 am
I could not possibly agree more with you on this subject.
Actors/actresses are paid to play dress-up pretend roles. If they have personal opinions, they certainly have the 1st Amendment right in the U.S. to express those opinions, but I have the right to vote with my money and not buy tickets to the project they take part in (and thereby subsidize their opinions). It’s unfortunate that this lesson never seems to sink in to the minds of these narcissists. When their employer realizes how much this behavior is damaging ticket (or other) sales, the financial impact helps create the Unfortunately, other people working in the industry suffer real economic damage from the self-absorbed behavior of the actor/actress.
Musicians are self-indulgent clowns who play music, but feel entitled to lecture a PAYING captive audience with their personal or political agenda. Whether or not that message is welcomed by the audience is irrelevant, it is a self-indulgent arrogance toward other people.
CE · September 23, 2026 at 10:11 am
Sweetie and I play a few short shows with our geetars and never bring up politics. Audiences are already politically divided, and there’s no reason to stoke their differences, since, they pretty much come to the shows to get away from the nonsense that is everywhere else.
James · September 23, 2026 at 6:23 pm
I would be cool if say generally anti war or something and they then played Warpigs or their anti war song,getting into it beyond that,not on stage,as the song says,let the music do the talking.
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