A YouTube star on tour? On a real-life stage? Get outta town.
Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall has been hosting acts from YouTube stars since Dan and Phil brought The Amazing Tour Is Not On Fire to Clearwater last year. It was a sold out show that had the energy of a Beatles concert at the height of Beatlemania. Just about every teenage girl in the Tampa Bay area was there. But what if there was a YouTube act that the younger kids could enjoy? Specifically the gamer kids?
Enter DanTDM.
British gamer Dan Middleton (aka The Diamond Minecart) has been a YouTube sensation since he first created the The Diamond Minecart YouTube channel in 2012. Since then, he has accomplished over 10 billion views and over 15 million subscribers, mainly consisting of kids ages 5-13. Dan is currently on the second leg of his first ever US tour, and he decided to stop in Florida for four shows, two of which were in Orlando.
Clearwater was his final Florida stop. I only attended because my younger brother is a huge fan. I, personally, prefer live shows from longtime musicians and bands, but you know what? Almost all of the non-fans in the venue underestimated Dan’s showmanship skills.
Starting ten minutes before showtime, just about every kid in the venue chanted “We want Dan!” from 10 minutes before the show began, to when Dan actually ran down the right side aisle of Ruth Eckerd Hall to greet the sold out crowd of kids ages 5-14, many of them having dyed their hair blue to imitate their hero. After a brief intro from Dan, the story began: An “Evil Dan” kidnaps Dan’s beloved pet pug Ellie, and it’s up to him and his science – – and cellphone – – crazed friend, Eve, to get through Evil Dan’s challenge to get his pug back. And how else?
Through video games, of course.
He selected a number of kids from the audience to take on each other, and play solo on the games Dan was challenged with. And these weren’t VIP kids. While they were all much closer than I was, these were just normal audience members who likely didn’t buy the meet and greet pass, which sold out within days.
At the end of it all, Dan and Eve made us promise that we’d keep all that we saw a secret. So while I can’t say much more, I’ll say for sure that even though my brother had a better time than I did, it was a much better show than I expected. And if you have kids who love DanTDM, or if you are a kid who loves DanTDM, this show is a blast.
But just remember to scream loud and bring your diamond sword, and maybe, you’ll get picked to come onstage.
Josh Bradley Live 