Watching a YouTuber’s Live Show While the World Crumbles

It's been a weird week

photo by me

I was sitting in the second row of a famous theater in Miami getting ready to watch some YouTubers play Roblox live on stage when I checked my phone to find that the world was falling apart again.

Now, I think it’s safe to say that the world is always falling apart in one way or another, whether we’re aware of it or not. And, if I’m being honest, because I know deep down that my entire way of life and material comfort is built upon the suffering of others both historically and in the present day, there’s always this heaviness that hangs over me even when the news cycle is quiet, or the atrocities are happening somewhere that’s more out of sight and out of mind. But some days, civilizational crumbling is more in your face. It’s starker and more horrific. When I saw the first snippets of news, I was shocked by the cruelty and heartbroken for the lives lost. I also hurt on behalf of my Jewish friends and family who would be especially traumatized and for all the innocent people on all sides of the conflict who were in harm’s way or would soon be in harm’s way. I quickly put my phone away because there was nothing I could do about it. It was clear another war was starting up again. Innocent people were suffering and would continue to suffer. I wish for peace and safety for everyone, but sadly, that wish will almost certainly go unfulfilled.

My two sons and I made the drive from our home in the Orlando area down to Miami’s South Beach to see Pixel Playground Live, which as it turned out, was two YouTubers, Kreekcraft and Karl Jacobs, doing basically nothing for an hour and a half. My kids loved it unconditionally. My glimpse at the horrible news on my phone before the show shifted my perspective, reminding me that my life was easy and making me feel lucky to be there. Otherwise, I would’ve been feeling pretty sorry for myself.

Good old Kreek and Karl graced the stage that was once the home of The Jackie Gleason Show, and let me tell you, they did not disappoint. To be clear, they did disappoint me, but they did not disappoint their core audience, which I guess is all that matters.

Ostensibly, the reason for this series of three live shows (in Miami, Austin, and LA) was to promote the duo’s new venture in Roblox game creation. Their new studio, Pixel Playground, made and released a Roblox game about a month or two ago, and from what my children have told me, it flopped big time. However, as they say, the show must go on.

And go on it did… kind of.

We were seated front and center in the second row because once I heard that THE Kreekcraft and Karl Jacobs were doing a live show only four hours from my house, I bought tickets IMMEDIATELY. I was not going to miss out! I also overpaid by about 100% because I’m pretty sure they were basically giving away tickets in the days leading up to the show, but alas, live and learn. Regardless, we made the trek down south after school on Friday, stopping for the night at a La Quinta Inn in Fort Lauderdale. The hotel was fine. It smelled like weed, but everywhere on the planet does, so we’re all used to it by now. We got up bright and early on Saturday because we were so excited for the show, and also, the alarm clock in our hotel room started randomly blaring at 5:50 a.m. After free breakfast (yay!), we drove to South Beach, arriving at around 9 a.m., a mere four hours before showtime. We parked in a public parking lot around the corner from the theater that was attended by a dour man with a huge cigar dangling from his mouth. My 11-year-old was mightily impressed, remarking that the cigar was as big as the ones you see in movies. I couldn’t disagree. Luckily, we were able to park for the entire day for the paltry sum of fifty dollars.

The morning was hot and sticky, so we sweated our way around South Beach on foot for about an hour, taking in the sights (there aren’t any sights). Eventually, we stopped in two surf shops to buy a baseball hat and to give my 11-year-old the opportunity to point out that one of the novelty signs for sale had a swear word on it. It was the clear highlight of the morning. We then trudged over to a McDonald’s to partake of some local flavors and marvel at the one lady who was eating a McGriddle while wearing a stunning evening gown at ten in the morning. We sat at McDonald’s for well over an hour, ordering multiple times from the self-serve kiosk, basking in the cold air conditioning and familiarity while getting a nice glimpse of the South Beach fashion scene.

Despite my best efforts to kill time, we still arrived at the theater about two hours early. It was fine because we got to sweat some more while standing outside under the steady gaze of about a dozen Kreekcrafts and Karls whose faces were plastered on posters in the theater’s front windows. After entering the theater, we waited in line to buy some overpriced merchandise. Then, we bought a can of water that was called Liquid Death and looked like a beer. I have to admit, this did please me greatly. The theater staff finally…FINALLY… let us into our seats about fifteen minutes before 1 p.m. I have no idea why they waited so long. Probably because no one in the building knew what they were doing or why any of us were there.

As you might expect, most of the audience consisted of kids and parents but the four people seated directly in front of us, literally front row, stage center, were grown women who were extremely enthusiastic. I was puzzled. I was even more puzzled when, during the show, Kreek and Karl made a comment about how their game development team sometimes calls them “K2” and one of the women shouted out, “How about K-Squared!” Karl actually acknowledged this like she was greatly improving their moniker even though K2 makes sense because of the mountain and K-squared DOES NOT!

That moment was very frustrating because I hate when people mess up wordplay, but it was also somehow the best moment of the show. I guess that probably tells you something about how the afternoon went for me. Karl and Kreek clearly planned nothing and basically ad-libbed the entire ninety minutes. They played a long and boring Roblox game on their computers. They chose some kids from the crowd to come up and play long and boring Roblox games on stage. The children wandered around on stage for a while like they were lost. Karl and Kreek didn’t really interact with them all that much. It was like the hosts and the crowd participants were NPCs passing by each other in the dark of night. The theater announcer yelled at everyone to stay at their seats about seven times. It looked like a tiny and adorable stampede was imminent on at least four occasions. Later, the theater announcer came back on the intercom and announced that there was NOT a fire, which was good to know but raised a few questions that ultimately remained unanswered. The show wrapped up with an inane Q and A session where almost every answer by Karl and Kreek was, “I don’t remember…I think we used ChatGPT?”

After the show, we waited in line for about an hour so the boys could get a picture with the YouTube stars. We will never get to see that picture because no one told us how to access it, but at least Kreekcraft was wearing his signature hat and flannel shirt, which was fun.

Again, my boys loved every second. In fact, my 11-year-old asked how long the drive was to Austin, Texas because he had a hankering to take in the next live show. It turns out that my children and I are very different people. We made the four-hour drive home afterward, stopping only for gas and to eat at McDonald’s for a third time that day. When we arrived home, I discovered that I had left my bag of toiletries at the hotel in Fort Lauderdale. The bag had my glasses in it, so I haven’t been able to see anything at night when I take my contacts out. Losing my bag and having to ransom it back from the hotel was annoying, but at least my vision was intact for the show. Otherwise, I would’ve missed out on so much. It’s the small blessings we have to cling to in this crazy world.

Anyway, here’s hoping you have no YouTube live shows in your future! And bigger picture, let’s hope peace and kindness can win out one day. Let’s try our best to be good to each other.

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Things I’ve Enjoyed Lately:

• Basically nothing and definitely NOT that YouTube live show.