The Black Eyed Peas played to over 100,000 unusually masculine fans in Dallas this afternoon, a crowd that filled the enormous football stadium and seemed united for no other reason besides the Peas. This comes as a huge surprise to anyone whose most recent memory of the band may be yelling in pain when some tasteless jag played “I Gotta Feeling” at a party.

The Peas must have been yelling “mazel tov” this evening, because it seems like they’ve been forgiven for not only that particular auto-tuned, overplayed earsore but some in-stadium technical difficulties and the slightly more recent frustrating earwig “I’mma Be.”

The fans in the packed venue were present not only long before the performance, but long after ““ presumably basking in the afterglow of a show that was not only long-anticipated but also a near-religious musical experience. (Possibly a Jewish near-religious musical experience. Experts are still trying to figure out the nonsensical inclusion of Hebrew phrases.)

Not only were the ticket sales a rousing success, but ad sales for the televised broadcast blew the roof off any previous expectations ““ upwards of a couple million dollars for a single commercial. “Honestly, I have to use sarcastic air quotes to talk about their “music,’ lately,” a representative of the group says. “But this show could indicate they’ve become a heckuva cash cow, somehow. L’chaim!”

It seems inarguable at this point that the nation, or at least that faithful stadium of people in Dallas, loves the Black Eyed Peas. “To be fair, ‘Meet Me Halfway’ is a good song,” the representative reasons. “But the rest of their recent stuff? Air quotes, man.”