Third Eye Blind headlined a GOP-themed charity event at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland on Tuesday night. To the surprise of those in the crowd, the band opted against playing many of their hits, and instead offered up plenty of jabs at the Republican platform. A snippet:
I checked in Wednesday morning with a former Republican Hill staffer I know who was at the event to get his take. His response:
Third Eye Blind disappointed in a massive, massive way. We spent all morning listening to the two albums that everybody knows. Then the show a) started late, so I missed being on stage with Rick Springfield, b) was an hour of songs nobody had ever heard of, prompting a chant of “play your good songs” from the crowd, c) they closed with Jumper, but not after lecturing us all about gay rights and asking the crowd to “raise your hand if you believe in science.”
Republicans are obviously backwards on a lot of stuff, especially at a national convention delegate level, but that’s not how you should perform when you’re getting paid by the RNC.
Note: It doesn’t appear as though the band was actually paid by the Republican National Committee. The invitation-only concert was sponsored by the Recording Industry Association of America and billed as a charity benefit for Musicians on Call, “a nonprofit that brings live and recorded music to the bedsides of patients in health care facilities.” Regardless, I suspect that distinction won’t be enough to make my source re-evaluate his evening.
