I payed K'naan to be entertained by him, and it worked...mostly! In fact, I paid for 5 tickets, because my family all really enjoys K'naan's music and his intelligent and insightful lyrics. K'naan's style of hiphop attracts even my wife and I, who are both 50. Yes, the music was great, as was the sound-mixing at the B.C. Theatre in Winnipeg (which doesn't always happen). However, I can sure do without the popular city and crowd bashing and manipulation, that seems to happen at many concerts these days, when we are asked to answer or respond to questions like, "are you having a good time yet?...I can't hear you...Winnipeg, you're disappointing me; last time you were much louder!" and that sort of crap. Sorry, I paid you to entertain me. I'm not here to entertain you or be loud to feed your energy. I'm paying you piles of money to professionally entertain me. It reminds me of church, where some preacher wants me to wave my arms or say this or that and if I don't do it, I'm somehow not as spiritual as the next guy. That's why I don't go. No, leave that stuff out of the concert, is my opinion or I'll stop going there, too. I'm there to enjoy the music and the lyrics and I don't need to be manipulated and told to get louder while being told I'm not good enough. In fact, the more that happens, the quieter I get. Ask any teen who is being compared to his proper or more well-behaved sibbling if that's a good strategy coming from a parent. Even my 17, 19 and 21 year old daughters were offended by K'naan's dissing of Winnipeg and us - the audience. Unfortunately, so much of it intensified as we got to the final songs, so this is what I most remember and that's unfortunate. When musicians resort to that adolescent approach of exciting an audience, I am insulted. Just shut up between songs, or say only intelligent things if you're going to speak, and sing the songs that have made you so famous. That's why we're there. Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton and Mark Knopfler have a lot to teach some of the young artists of today - as the artist, you can be fairly quiet and even appreciative between songs (Dylan isn't always that, mind you) and still perform the best concert your audience is going to hear (and pay big bucks for!).
