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Music

Nothing Can Stop Matchbox Twenty (Except Bees)

A swarm of bees delayed the 90s rockers' show and no we can't bee-lieve it either.
Image via Instagram

"You taste like honey, honey / Tell me can I be your honey," Matchbox Twenty sang on their 2002 hit "Disease." But little did they know, the taste of honey can often be less than sweet. Everyone's second favourite 90s meme-rockers (next to Smash Mouth) have had a quiet, unassuming career of making titanic hits and being pretty chill about it. Now they have faced their greatest challenge yet: bees.

As reported by BBC and the band's deeply amused commentary on Instagram, a swarm of bees that had taken up residence on a set of speakers delayed Matchbox Twenty's show in Tucson, Arizona for more than an hour.

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Beekeepers were called in and the problem was resolved with hopefully limited harm to the bees themselves, because as all you shitposters know, bees are dying at an alarming rate globally. Matchbox Twenty themselves were apparently not that vexed by this obstacle to audiences hearing "Push" for the first time since high school, as the band's guitarists killed time by, in their words, "jamming a bee solo." What is a "bee solo," you ask? Well it has nothing to do with "Flight of the Bumblebee," which is what a sane person would assume is the case. No, it's this strange thing:

Bees and musicians have had a long history together. Firstly, bees are scientifically proven to be Juggalos. Also, people have spent years making music with bees. Here's a whole-ass story about a former Spiritualized member making a literal drone symphony and you can listen to an entire song made from bees bee-low.

You could compare this story to that one Black Mirror episode that was way too long and ended with robot bees murdering a considerable portion of the British public because they were being Mad Online. You could also spend some time talking about the one boss in Metal Gear Solid 3 who just fires swarms of hornets at you for the whole battle. What we're really trying to say here is that no one—not Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, not Carlos Santana (he's involved by proxy)—can fuck with bees and it's good that everyone is cool with that.

Phil is un-bee-lievably stoked he did this without a single 'Bee Movie' reference. He's on Twitter.
Alex Robert Ross was bee-hind several of these quips. Follow him on Twitter.