Those who know me know that I was practically raised on the internet. I spent all my free time watching Let’s Plays, participating in fandom culture, and streaming fan songs on my iPod touch. However, I never got to express these interests in an IRL shared space.

Now, ten years after I first touched the internet, I got to see a staple of my childhood, CG5, at District Music Hall in Norwalk, Connecticut as part of his “Too Many Songs” tour with my friend Lindsey Franco.

CG5, real name Charlie Green, is a 26-year-old musician and YouTuber who has amassed over 9 million subscribers on his main channel. His oldest CG5 videos date back to 2015, but he has been writing and performing music since he was four years old.

He’s most known for his video game-inspired songs, with his most-streamed songs being “Sleep Well,” “I Got No Time” and “Show Yourself,” all parodies of popular video games.

As I approached the theater, I studied the VIP line to my left. The growing crowd could be split into three categories: eager children sporting video game merchandise, their supportive parents, and me, who was somewhere in the middle of it all. After a brief meet-and-greet photo op with CG5 himself, where I learned that he also worked for a local radio station when he was younger, which is really cool. 

Since I didn’t particularly want to strike up conversations with eight-year-olds, I spoke to some parents around us to get their opinions on CG5 and the impending concert. The general consensus from parents was that they enjoy CG5’s music and think his content is appropriate for their children to watch. 

“There’s a lot of channels out there that just want to exploit children, but I can tell that [CG5] is not one of those channels,” one parent claimed. “I really like some of his songs too, and I’ve heard some of them like “Dancin’” on Connecticut’s local radio stations.” 

Now that the general admission folks started to pile in, it felt like the volume level in the venue tripled. Children dressed in costumes of their favorite video game and web series characters buzzed around the pit to make new friends, trade bracelets, and exchange phone numbers.

Watching this all go down was heartwarming and made me wish I had gotten to experience something like this as a child. This sentiment reigned true from the beginning to the end of the performance.

The concert itself could be described as a YouTube video. Hearing 50 songs in one night in rapid succession with ‘sponsor breaks’ (pre-recorded skits played on the large projector on stage) between chunks of songs felt like I was watching a CG5 song compilation on my laptop. Personally, I think this was the perfect way to arrange the tour, since nearly everyone in the audience primarily listens to CG5’s music on YouTube, so utilizing YouTube elements for the stage performance makes perfect sense. 

My favorite part of the concert by far was halfway through the show, when CG5 played a video of him singing “Landslide” by Fleetwood Mac when he was in seventh grade.

“I wanted to sing this song for you all tonight as a special full-circle moment,” he added.

What followed was a surprisingly emotional rendition of “Landslide” that left most of the crowd silent, with only parents and me singing along under our breaths. Playing in the background of the performance was a compilation of childhood photos, videos, and various subscriber milestone videos leading up to where he is today. It was an unexpected but touching part of the show for me, and I believe all of the parents in the audience agreed.

Once the song concluded, a mom next to me started to wipe away her tears, telling her daughter that her own mother used to sing “Landslide” to her when she was a child. After that, the set continued like normal, but admittedly, it took me a second to shake off my awe. 

As the concert roared on and continued counting up to song fifty, the crowd’s energy was unwavering. The fact that a crowd of elementary to middle schoolers could stay dancing and singing along for fifty songs better than I could was pretty impressive (and humbling), especially considering that this was many of these children’s first concert experience ever.

After song fifty concluded, CG5 exited the stage quickly, much to the fans’ despair. On a stool in the center of the stage was a glowing “CG5” cube. CG5, his dad (CG4), and a young fan who had the key to the box returned to the stage and activated it. This unlocked the “bonus songs,” or encore for the night.

The two bonus songs were his biggest hits: “I See A Dreamer” (recently renamed to “I See A Dreemur”) and “Sleep Well.” These two songs, and the fifty others before it, each had unique visuals playing on the background screen, all incorporating the CG5 logo in some way, shape, or form. The best way I can describe this visual choice is like a rave’s background visuals, which we later told to CG5 himself.

After the encore songs, the concert officially wrapped up, and everyone began to funnel out of the venue. In the lobby, I spotted groups of children exchanging phone numbers and emails to communicate with each other outside of the show, which warmed my heart. To this day, my favorite part of concerts is socializing and making new friends, so seeing young music fans get to have that experience is really sweet.

Once most of the audience had fizzled out, we were led to the green room backstage with two other VIP ticket holders so they could get their VIP photos, and so Lindsey and I could have one last chat with CG5.

Despite the original intent of an interview, it ended up being ten minutes of us thanking CG5 for the safe space he has curated for his fanbase. We also chatted about the Five Nights at Freddy’s musical, growing up with neurodivergency, and more. After trading Instagram usernames, we said our goodbyes and left the “Too Many Songs” Tour to head home.

When I first stepped into the concert, I genuinely did not know what I was getting into. At most, I thought it was going to be just like any other concert I have ever been to.

What it turned out to be was an unforgettable experience, but not for the reason I expected. It was not about the music; it was about the community. Being surrounded by a small but mighty group of young, passionate fans who feel truly safe to express themselves healed something in me. 

As I said before, I never got to express my niche interests with my friends growing up, so I turned to the internet for companionship. As I got older, I became cynical about seeing people express their ‘weird’ online interests, because I wasn’t able to. However, I think this concert somehow gave me some closure about that, and let me get the experience I always wanted to have as a kid.

Overall, I want to give a shoutout to CG5 and the community he has built: it is full of wholesome, accepting, and dedicated people who strive to be creative and kind.