Miranda Lambert's Diva Moment With Concertgoers Wasn't The Flex She Thought It Was
Miranda Lambert's fans are split after the country singer came under fire for a tense interaction during her Las Vegas residency on July 15.
The "Mama's Broken Heart" singer joined the Las Vegas Strip lineup — alongside the likes of Katy Perry, Usher, and Kelly Clarkson — with her Velvet Rodeo residency back in September 2022. When crafting the set list for her months-long production, Lambert assured Vulture that she would consider what tracks from her discography were fan-favorites. "I realized that part of this Vegas show is, 'Give the people what they want,'" she explained to the publication. "I mean, they come in to see you because they've been a fan for a while and it's a staple in their trip. I know that there's songs that I'm tired of that have to be in the set."
But it was a group of concertgoers' behavior during the performance of one of her most beloved songs that set Lambert off mid-song.
Miranda Lambert called out audience members for taking a selfie
During her July 15 Velvet Rodeo show, Miranda Lambert stopped her set to chastise a group of audience members for taking selfies while she sang a particularly emotional song. In the video uploaded to TikTok, the country legend was performing her heartbreaking 2017 track, "Tin Man," which contains lyrics warning the Tin Man from "The Wizard of Oz" about the dangers of having a heart. After singing the first few lines, Lambert seemingly spots the offenders in the audience and says, "I'm gonna stop right here for a sec."
"These girls are worried about their selfie and not listening to the song," the singer spoke into the microphone as she pointed to the group. "It's pissing me off a little bit." Lambert tried to bring the crowd back to the moment and restarted the song, but commotion continued in the audience. In the video, people can be seen walking out of the theater. "Let's go," one exiting audience member said. "You don't do that to fans."
Many concertgoers cheered Lambert on after the incident, while others defended the country singer online due to the emotional nature of the song. But others disagreed. "Going to a concert is about creating an experience and a memory. If someone wants to take a picture to document that memory, they should be able to," one person tweeted. "Gurl at least they didn't throw the phone at you for this," another joked amid the recent epidemic of wild crowds. We're pretty sure Lambert's outburst detracted from the concert more than anyone taking a selfie ever could.
Miranda Lambert's onstage confrontation rubbed some fans the wrong way
This on-stage controversy comes at an inopportune time for Miranda Lambert, as her Velvet Rodeo residency is about to go on hiatus. The residency was originally supposed to last until the end of 2022, but 16 shows were added for 2023. According to her tour website, the singer will perform shows in the Bakkt Theater at Planet Hollywood on July 19, July, 21, and July 22 before going on a months-long break until the end of November. As of this writing, her residency is set to run until December 16.
But in the wake of this selfie incident, some fans are voicing their opinions on social media, with some reconsidering their attendance entirely. "Just got a refund on my tickets," one (former?) fan wrote in the comments of Lambert's backstage video on Instagram. "Not going to see you after you embarrassed those girls for no reason at all. They paid for those tickets." Ouch.
Tin Man is known for being a tearjerker, not a fight-starter
Of all of Miranda Lambert's songs, "Tin Man" doesn't seem like the type to trigger confrontation. Maybe the audience members were taking the low-tempo moment to get their photos in? Anyway, since its release on her 2016 album, "The Weight of These Wings," fans believe "Tin Man" was inspired by the emotions Lambert felt during her divorce from fellow country star Blake Shelton in 2015. While she hasn't revealed the true backstory of the song, the "Hell on Heels" singer divulged in a 2017 interview with Taste of Country that the album was a "diary of the last couple years" of her life.
"Whatever influenced you the most, at whatever time in your life, somewhere or another comes out in your art," Lambert explained in her conversation with Sounds Like Nashville in 2017. "The Tin Man. I guess, going through a lot of times where I felt empty, I understood a whole new meaning ... Everyone knows what the Tin Man represents; cold, and empty, and loneliness, and heartless ... and it just opened my eyes to it even more going through pain myself, you know, sort of an epiphany."
The singer performed an acoustic version of "Tin Man" at the 2017 Academy of Country Music Awards, plus Kelly Clarkson did her own rendition of the song during her 2019 tour. Will this #selfiegate incident now be part of "Tin Man's" legacy?