Bruce Springsteen was set to take the stage at the Sprint Center in Kansas City Monday night. But that didn’t happen, because shortly before the show, his 36 year-old cousin (who was also a road crew member) was found dead in his KC hotel room.

So far from what I’m reading in articles online (and on Twitter on Facebook), the general consensus is “boo.”

Are you guys nuts? Are you insane? Did you REALLY want to see Springsteen perform with a heavy heart?

Anyone who’s had someone close to them die can tell you that after a death like that, your entire guard is let down.

I’m not the biggest fan of Springsteen, so let me use a different example. My favorite “big name” band is Radiohead. If they were set to play KC, and found someone very close to them deceased right before the show, I would not expect them to go on. I understand that sometimes you have a certain responsibility to the fans/venue/community, but true fans would understand.

One time a couple of years ago I had the opportunity to see Depeche Mode in KC. I was out of my mind excited. But the show was squirrely. The lead singer kept running off stage, and encouraging the audience to sing his part, for about the first three songs. Then after a long pause, the rest of the band explained that he had been struck with a terrible illness, and then they tried to finagle their way through a 20-ish minute set without him. Trust me, it was awful. And people booed, and threw trash at the stage. Again, I thought they were nuts. If my favorite artist fell ill on stage (like what happened to Morrissey this weekend), I would not be mad, I would be CONCERNED for their well being (Depeche Mode ended up canceling the next day’s show in Chicago).

So to those of you who are booing Springsteen for the cancellation, shame on you. Have a heart. It’s unfortunate that this happened, but your tickets were refunded, and he’ll return to KC (with what I’m sure will be a stellar show). You could have either watched a mediocre performance last night, or you could be a patient and understanding fan and await a GREAT show in the future.

That’s my two cents.

Thoughts?