Everyone remembers their first ever concert.

Mine was OneRepublic. I was 15 years old, completely obsessed with Ryan Tedder, and had CDs of all their albums. My sister and I bought the best tickets we could afford—almost $60, if you can believe it—right in front of the stage. We memorized the lyrics to every song and had a whole fun day planned out. I was beyond excited to see them live and hear all of my favorite songs performed right in front of me. To this day, it remains one of the best live concert experiences I’ve ever had.

However, somewhere along the way, concerts became something else entirely. People, the artists and the audience alike, started caring less about the music and more about the show, the spectacle. Suddenly, it isn’t just about how the singer performs their songs live, it is about everything that happens around them as well. In the past month alone, we have borne witness to some of the most viral concert moments that either have absolutely nothing to do with the music or prove that artists don’t care about their performance anyway. 

Starting with Justin Timberlake.