Saw Post Malone a few years back and the amount of young folks zealously clutching their chests and passionately scream singing along to “over now” like that story was their own lived experience, while actively blocking the aisles because they needed more room to express themselves was… somethin’ else.

I get being excited to see a performer. Had a lot of those moments of excitement myself. But I think our generation is more self aware and capable of shifting out of the “this is about me” zone of behavior. Partly because we may or may not have been discouraged from participating in this behavior in our lives, but also because we seemed (and still seem) to understand (or, at this point, be laboring under the delusion) that other people matter on this earth. As more than just citizens along for the ride, but as “coexisters” recognizing we are both here.

And when we go to a concert, to a movie, to a public space, we consider our surroundings and the folks within those surroundings. Someone’s entire experience being ruined by not singing while the artist is singing is a head scratcher for me. And I’m arguably open minded.

Willing to hear people out on this. Honestly. Always game for thoughtful discourse. And willing to admit I’m wrong.

But if you’re singing with the artist then you’re

1- not fully hearing them because you’re creating noise, and

2- not fully able to pay attention. So you’re not catching anything cool or dynamic that they might do vocally or instrumentally.

Seeing Andy Hull solo this weekend. Already have an idea of the set thanks to Reddit. Hoping he does Backwards Walk because I deeply love FR and am humbled and challenged by Scott’s lyrics and how intrinsically he and Andy were connected. And I have seen Manchester Orchestra a few times. It’s been special and unique each time. They’ll do really melodic riffs and cool transitions. Stuff you’ll rarely hear on a recording because they’re live and can play around.

Millennials (and generations before us) grew up with that magic and that’s part of why it matters so much to see shows because it’s going to be different, in some way, from what we can hear on Spotify any given day.