I spent last evening at Wrigley Field watching Maroon 5 and their special guest, Blackbear, in concert. Hey!! Don’t judge me! The tickets were only twenty bucks each on Stubhub and that’s including taxes. Hmmm….that may be the going rate for events at Wrigley in the near future.

Here’s a few quick thoughts about the event before I get to the old man looking up at the clouds main part of my rant:

a. The sound for both performers was awful. The bass was tuned up way too loud. It drowned out the other instruments and a lot of the vocals. I’m a big fan of good bass, but it shouldn’t be the main sound that you hear.

b. Too much crowd singing with the performers….way too much. Yeah, I know we’ve had this discussion before, but once again, I pay to hear the singer in the band sing, not the fourteen year old girl sitting next to me.

c. People….sit your asses down. You don’t have to stand up for all ninety minutes of a performance. You pay big money for a seat, use it. If you’re sitting in the upper deck, you don’t get a better look at Adam Levine by being on your feet.

d. Talking about Adam, he performed while wearing a Cubs jersey with the number 21 on the back. Hmmm…was that his way of saying that the Cubs need to bring Sammy Sosa back into the fold? Solidarity with Sam?

Okay….I know those four comment really sound cranky, but you ain’t heard nothing yet. Here’s my main takeaway from the show:

The opening act was a guy named Blackbear. I admit I was not familiar with him or his music before 7:45 pm last night. I had to spend most of his set on Wikipedia to find out about him. Nothing new about that….there’s plenty of musical artist that have a decent following that I’ve never heard of. Examples of that include the performers at the Grammys, Lollapalooza and most of the acts on Saturday Night Live.

But, apparently there were plenty of Blackbear fans at last night’s show because I could see and hear them singing along with the artist….word for exact word.

Finally, we get down to the final tune of his fourteen song set. It’s a song called “Hot Girl Bummer.” Apparently, it’s a biggie because the fans are singing along with him….and loud. I wondered why on this one and because I wasn’t quite sure about the lyrics, I did a little Google search. Here’s the intro:

Fuck you, and you, and you
I hate your friends and they hate me too
I’m through, I’m through, I’m through
This that hot girl bummer anthem
Turn it up and throw a tantrum

Hmmmm….okay now. Lovely sentiment!

Now sitting across the aisle from me is a young girl and her friend, intensely singing…okay, maybe screaming along with the Blackbear. They’re somewhere between ten and fourteen years old. I was somewhere between intrigued and freaked-out that they knew the lyrics of this song.

Look…the words don’t bother me. I’ve heard and said a lot worse….probably on these pages. I’m far from being Tipper Gore. I don’t want to stifle anyone’s creativity. I just thought it was more than a little odd and also, where were their parents?! Wow!!! How fucking old am I???

So, that was my main takeaway on a night with Adam Levine and Blackbear. Phew….I’m going to head outside, sit on a rocking chair and yell at kids when they get too close to the lawn.

Related Post: A night of oldies really are the goodies

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