Many esports events have included musical numbers as part of the live experience.
Sometimes they go very well, like when violinist Lindsey Stirling opened the main event of Dota 2’s The International 2016. Sometimes they can go very, very wrong, like at the Charleroi Esports 2019 Counter-Strike: Global Offensive tournament.
The duo of Belgian Eurodance singer Marisa and DJ Charley were meant to perform a number that included their recently released single Mister E Misterio. But when the backing track to the song began stuttering in and out on stage, things quickly became hilarious. The trainwreck was clipped on Twitch.
After the first few skips in the track, Marisa announces over the microphone that she is having trouble with her earpiece. For a few seconds, the issues seem to be fixed and she returns to singing. But when things start skipping again, she calls for DJ Charley to stop the song.
Not only does DJ Charley keep going, he begins dancing to the music as Marisa continues telling him to pause. This seems to frustrate Marisa, who walks past him and through the curtains. She comes back out, wraps up the song, and apologizes to the crowd at the end, but it does little to undo one of the most cringeworthy moments in recent esports history.
Fans that witnessed it understandably roasted both artists, with the incident trending on social media. Charleroi Esports made some tongue-in-cheek quips about it on Twitter. Though the confusion over the gaff was only one part of the performance, the crowd was not particularly receptive to the pair even when things were going more smoothly.
Though this was a rough way to start the event, Charleroi Esports 2019 is shaping up to be a solid CS:GO tournament. The lineup includes a number of European teams looking to gain traction including Virtus.pro, the recently retooled Team LDLC, and the Kevin “Ex6TenZ” Droolans-led Team GamerLegion.
The in-game action should be solid. Outside of the game, though? No guarantees.
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