Recently, I went to the Barenaked Ladies concert at Artpark in Lewiston.

I went with one of my life-long friends, and we had a great time. When I found out BNL was going to be performing in my area, I freaked out and bought tickets immediately. If you don't know who they are, The Barenaked Ladies have been around and performing since 1988. They are a Canadian rock band with an awesome name who perform a wide variety of styles of music and have a ton of singles that you probably know. But, if you want to know why they're still awesome and still draw sold-out crowds wherever they go — here's why.

They're easy to listen to. The Barenaked Ladies have songs that are hilarious, sad, poetic, comedic, lighthearted and short. One thing I've recently noticed about the band's songs is that they're not long. Some songs by other artists can be way too long, and you get lost in them, but BNL songs are short. They're about two verses and the chorus, with maybe a bridge or repetition thrown in there. This makes their music extremely easy to listen to, and you can always sing along. Their tunes are easy to follow, and their harmonies are also easy to sing along with. All the makings for easy to listen to.

Their songs tell stories. A lot of their songs are almost like a narrative — a person telling a story. For instance, one of my favorite songs of theirs tells the story of a group trying to rob a bank, and how the guy gets more frustrated that they messed it up. Another extremely popular song talks about a man and his significant other visiting their old apartment. Storytelling is a fantastic aspect of their music, and it's what makes their songs so fun.

They're fantastic when performing live. This is a group of honestly talented people. Some people may not like their sound or their music, but they are honestly truly talented. This is a band that sounds the same as they do on their recordings, which is a token of a good artist. They're not faking anything in the studio, and their harmonies are always on point. They're also hilarious on stage.When they're up on stage, they feed off of the crowd and interact with you. They tell jokes, make up songs and raps, and do their own thing.

They're hilarious. They honestly know how to make people laugh. Right when they got onstage, they took note of how many people were there. “You all best be on your best behavior,” Ed Robertson said to the crowd right in front of him. “The standby crowd is ready to take your places,” he said, and he motioned to the crowd on the far hill. It got everyone laughing. Ed also made a joke later on in the show during "If I Had $1,000,000" about how he wanted to raise awareness about an issue: how people take pictures holding their phone vertically. It was so funny and had the whole crowd laughing.

Ed raps. This has always been one of my favorite things about BNL. Ed Robertson, the lead singer, basically raps. He does this live on stage and in recordings. If you've ever listened to one of their most popular songs, "One Week," you will know this. And it's amazing. He can spit out stuff pretty quickly but honestly, his freestyle is so cool. I don't know how he does it.

Those are some of the reasons why I think BNL is still so popular after so long. If you've never listened to them, do yourself a favor and listen to them.