Risky Video

I was at a gig recently. I didn’t really know the band. I only knew one of their songs before the concert but my friend offered me a free ticket and I thought ‘why not’.

So I’m at this gig, it’s coming towards the end of the night, everyone is anticipating the favourite song to finish. But then the band walks off and a video plays.

A video of a famous person stressing the importance of us doing more for the environment.

I was surprised to say the least. I had never seen that before at a concert.

I know that musicians often voice their personal causes and that politics and music often overlap but from a performance point of view this seemed to take all the excitement out of the room.

I looked around to try and gauge the audience’s reaction. Some looked annoyed – they probably saw this message as preachy and not what they bargained for.

And then there were some who were watching with rapt attention, oblivious to anything else around them.

I could sympathise with both, some had only come for the music and some loved the band all the more for these environmental views.

It just goes to show, you could have an arena full of fans and there’s still a risk when expressing your views.