Musicians and Politics.

For as long as I can remember, musicians have used their notoriety to further causes close to their hearts. Protest songs, and acceptance speeches have both been used to get their message out. It's good to see socially conscious stars reaching out to help make the world a better place and in doing so, give back to the community. However, I think the recent canceling of shows by two legendary artists, might have some unintended adverse consequences. Bryan Adams and Bruce Springsteen both canceled shows in Mississippi and North Carolina respectively because of laws those states passed that are bigoted towards the LGBT community. They certainly have a right to protest, and whether or not one agrees with their views, they have the right to speak out against the laws and I suppose they have the right to cancel shows.

For the most part, people on social media are lauding these cancellations, saying how great this is, I wonder how great they would think it is if they had missed the concerts because of this. Unfortunately, their actions don't punish the politicians, they punish their fans. These two artists are arguably "bucket list" artist. The kind of musicians you hope to see before you kick the bucket, or the way 2016 is going, before they do. I couldn't imagine how pissed off and disappointed I would be if I had tickets to or had planned to go to these shows and they were canceled for political reason. I'm sure that out of the 10,000 plus people that would have attended each of these concerts, not very many of them voted for the laws. If it's the laws you don't like, why make your fans suffer? I would think that a better way to protest the laws would be to write a hit song about it and donate the money to the LGBT community in those states. Come on guys, don't make the people suffer because politics, the idiot politicians are already doing that enough.