CLEVELAND — After days of expectation-building and speculation regarding the details of a huge, forthcoming concert at Cleveland Browns Stadium, a group of local dignitaries — including Mayor Justin Bibb and big wigs from The Haslam Sports Group, Destination Cleveland, the Rock Hall, and more — converged for a much-anticipated press conference to make the reveal.
Given the hype leading up to this and the importance of the people in attendance, we knew this news had to be big, right?
Would it be a modern, Cleveland version of 1985’s Live Aid, featuring every currently popular musical act converging together?
Did some Cleveland Clinic researchers manage to clone Mozart, and would Wolfgang himself appear at the podium to announce that he'd be launching his upcoming tour from Cleveland out of appreciation?
Nope. Turns out, Mayor Bibb announced that Billy Joel and Rod Stewart are coming to town for a joint stadium performance on Friday, Sept. 13.
Rock and Roll Hall of Famers Billy and Rod are no strangers to town, of course. Billy Joel last played Cleveland in 2017 at Progressive Field, and Rod Stewart played Blossom less than two years ago.
But now, they're coming together. And that was the announcement, which is cool.
Let's get this out of the way first: This is great. It's great for the city. These guys are genuine legends, and I personally love them.
Billy Joel was actually my very first concert. I saw him as a child at Richfield Coliseum. Still have the ticket.
This isn't about whether or not this will be a good show; this is about the importance of expectation setting in all aspects of life.
A press conference of this magnitude featuring this many civic leaders should be reserved for purposes like informing relieved citizens that a child who fell down a well has just been rescued, thanks to the heroic collective efforts of the whole city coming together. It should not be used to announce that two 106.5 The Lake adult contemporary artists who perform here fairly regularly will be coming here again, but together, nine months from now.
It’s inarguably good news, but I’m sorry, you guys just overhyped it.
See, this is why before we air one of these segments of mine, I don't spend a week leading up to it telling everyone on social media how great it's going to be, the reason being that some times it's just not. In fact, most of the time it's just not, according to some of our more strident viewers.
This way, if you see one of my segments and find it mildly engaging, you might be pleasantly surprised. And if you find it disappointing, you still don't feel let down because I promised you nothing, and I delivered.
Now, of course, "hype" can be useful (even pivotal) when utilized properly. There's nothing wrong with getting people excited about things or celebrating when something cool, like this concert, comes together. It only becomes an issue when the hype that is employed is not proportional to the expectations created by said hype.
When those two factors fail to align, it's only natural that some people are going to feel a little let down, as seems to be the case following yesterday’s announcement.
In closing, I just want to be clear that I'm by no means dismissing the accomplishment of landing this concert for the city, or the talent of either of these two legends.
As I said, I've been a Billy Joel fan "For The Longest Time," and I’m not trying to act like some kind of know-it-all "Big Shot." I'm just saying that by hyping up the announcement in advance, the organizers placed a lot of unnecessary "Pressure" on themselves. Why did they do it? "Don't Ask Me Why," but they did.
Or maybe you think I'm being unfair, and who knows? "You May Be Right." But even you are upset with me right now and consider this criticism to be a bit petty, that’s Ok. Know why? Because "I Love You Just the Way You Are."