Review: Shhhh: I’m Trying to Hear Khalid Sing

Kids these days.

First, they decided to stream music through fashionable headphones, thus killing music quality forever. Now, they’re literally interfering with the concert environment.

Monday night’s Khalid concert at Red Rocks featured the audience as headliner – teens bouncing around and shouting over the top of Khalid’s smooth, developing R&B sounds. Teenagers tell you it’s “lit” when this happens, and Khalid didn’t mind it at all, often encouraging the behavior early in his set.

The early part of the concert was dominated by tunes from his debut album American Teen, and the young audience who helped guarantee short beer lines all night mightily shouted out each verse. Khalid and his audience tried to trade off roles, but often times the artist was drowned out by the enthusiasm. The production value was high – a large screen behind an elevated stage with dancers who didn’t get the memo that the temperature hovered in the low 50s with rain, complete with strobe lights for good measure.

By the time the concert ended – and Khalid closed with a trio of exceptionally great sing-alongs dominating Spotify playlists – it was clear that the only part of the set where those who were there to hear Khalid sing was during a string of new songs he sang for the crowd early in his encore. For the first time, fans listened with attentive ears.

The scene made for great Snapchat stories for sure. Had it been a YouTube clip, viewers everywhere would have sworn it was the best time ever and overpaid for the tickets, as many who bought tickets on secondary markets did. But from row 54 where all the “old-timers” hung out, it all seemed less about music and more about social media. The Beatles faced something similar at the height of their popularity, of course, but stopped touring as a result. Khalid, being of this generation after turning 20 earlier this year, seems to have no such desire.

It’s too bad we couldn’t hear Khalid sing. His voice is an instrument worth hearing in person. Maybe someday, the crowd will figure that out as well and actually listen to it.