Queen, Led Zeppelin, and... the Minnesota Orchestra?

​What planet am I on right now? I'm seeing the orchestra, but I'm being stared down by a giant polar bear that's trying to sell me Klondike bars.

This is the Target Center, right? It must be. I smell the distinct aromas of nacho cheese and pretzeled bread, but look at all these people in fancy suits. Their perfume is in the air, and there's something else! It's not upscale cologne. No, it's... marijuana. Okay, I am most certainly at a rock concert, but who's that on stage? That's a conductor! Why is there a beer in my hands!?

At this point, the right side of my brain attempted to switch places with my left. I have seen my fair share of rock concerts, and I've been to orchestra hall several times. I've even heard of rock bands using full fledged symphonic arrangements, but not where the Timberwolves play.

I'm not saying combining orchestras and rock bands is a bad thing. A lot of times it can be quite pleasing. I'm saying that this rock band and this orchestra in this setting was utterly surreal. It's not often you get to see a gentleman in jeans hoisting a lighter and yelling, "FUCK YEAH!" at a bunch of violinists dressed in black tie.

If you must ask, "Did they play 'Bohemian Rhapsody,' or 'Stairway to Heaven,' or 'Kashmir,' or 'We Will Rock You'?" they did. In fact, they pretty much went down the track list of each bands' greatest hits collections, and I had no problem with that.

I did, however, have a few issues with this concert. The entire stage production was completely ridiculous.  The light shows were stupendously cliche, and there were several times when I wanted to kick the sound guy in the stones. He kept panning individual notes from the left speaker to the right speaker. He would annotate entire blues riffs in this manner. Left, right, left, right. I almost got motion sickness.