Story highlights
Third Eye Blind upset attendees of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland
The band refused to perform one of their signature songs
Third Eye Blind taunted Republicans Tuesday night in a charity concert at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland during the party’s convention, and a frustrated audience responded with persistent boos.
“@ThirdEyeBlind I have never been more disappointed,” Twitter user Liza White tweeted.
And in a single tweet the band indicated that they didn’t care, tweeting, “good.”
The band bashed the Republican platform, asking the crowd, “Who here believes in science?” And lead singer Stephan Jenkins spoke out in support of LGBT rights before performing one of their greatest hits, “Jumper.”
His words set an overt political tone to the lyrics, which open: “I wish you would step back from that ledge my friend. You could cut ties with all the lies, that you’ve been living in.”
Twitter users, who posted videos of the show, reported that the band played some of their more obscure music like the 2009 song “Non-Dairy Creamer” and left before performing their 1997 classic hit, “Semi-Charmed Life,” which many fans wanted to hear.
“Non-Dairy Creamer” implicitly criticizes the Iraq war and tells the story of “two gay Republicans.”
The band also responded to a tweet by a fan, and criticized a lack of diversity at the RNC, tweeting, “@SHudspath darling, we would never play the rnc. We played a charity event for musicians on call at the Rock and roll hall of fame.”
Jenkins wrote an op-ed in the Huffington Post in 2012 titled, “Why We Aren’t Playing at the RNC,” announcing that the band declined an offer to perform a private party at the GOP convention in Tampa that year, because, “They are in fact, a party dedicated to exclusion.”
