Blues Traveler, 3OH!3, Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray and Uncle Kracker perform at Red Rocks Amphitheatre on Fourth of July 2014. Photos by Candace Horgan, heyreverb.com.
By now you’ve heard about Media outlets across the world are reporting on during the “family friendly” Taste of Fort Collins.
Reactions to the video have been met with your typical online snark, bashing of the band, the and a
However, a few online commenters in blaming the Fort Collins crowd for tossing bread on stage and riling up the singer.
To a point these people are right. If you’re at a show — no matter the quality of the band — you should be respectful. Sure, bread isn’t physically harmful, but it’s distracting to both the performers and the people in the crowd watching the show.
But that in no way excuses the actions of Harwell. Insulting, threatening and cussing out a group of people who are playfully throwing bread is no way to act in any given situation, especially when you’re in front of a crowd of thousands. Regardless of a crowd’s behavior, a professional musician is expected to be just that — professional.
, Atlas Genius, a younger band (especially compared to Smash Mouth), “handled the bread-throwing well” the day before. At least one band was able to show some maturity.
It’s like sitting down a group of misbehaving children: Fort Collins, don’t throw things. Harwell, act like a grown up. And can people stop blaming, “the kids who go to concerts these days”? We all know that people who can legally drive a car have no idea who Smash Mouth is.
The real winner here, though, is the band, who kept playing “All Star” even as their singer was having an all-out meltdown. Also, they knew they didn’t even need a singer to finish out the song from “Shrek” that everyone has heard countless times since 1999.
