Kid Rock, the North Dakota State Fair, and our overweening sense of entitlement

1

MINOT, N.D. — My hometown recently made national headlines in a way that you don’t want your hometown to make national headlines.

Detroit rap rocker Kid Rock was scheduled to play the North Dakota State Fair here in Minot on Friday night, July 22. Only, he didn’t take the stage. The opening act, Night Ranger, played for the crowd. Then there was a roughly two-hour delay. Then it was announced that Rock wouldn’t be playing at all.

The blame went to the weather, and things were, at least potentially, pretty ugly that night. There was even a tornado warning. My family was at the fairgrounds and came home early where we watched, on our weather app radars, a nasty storm skirt just north, and then east, of town.

But the headlines didn’t stem from a concert canceled due to weather concerns.

They were inspired by the crowd’s reaction to the cancellation.

Continue reading…