A story, and then a heads up for you all. I was lucky enough to see The Police twice last year. Once here in Cleveland, and then again about a month later at the Virgin Festival in Baltimore.

Message In A Bottle (live in Rio)

For the show here in Cleveland, I paid top dollar for the 200 dollar seats, which is something I reserve these days for the absolute best of the best. As a music fan that missed seeing The Police back in the day (I was too young,) I had long ago written off the chance of ever seeing the band live. I had been lucky enough to see Sting solo a few years back, and got the chance to meet him before the show. That whole experience was worth its weight in gold, and Sting delivered a grade A+ performance that hit all the marks that I could have hoped for. It was as close as I was going to get to seeing The Police, and I was okay with it. I had finally seen a show via Sting that filled that gap in my concert going adventures.

Hence, I was totally stoked when the long rumored Police reunion tour took shape, and I took away a number of things from the show that I saw here in Cleveland. As much of a fan as I was, I had really never paid that much attention to Andy Summers as a guitar player. That was the shocker of it all – when I saw the Police show, I actually enjoyed watching Summers and Stewart Copeland more than I did Sting. Summers whipped off some wicked licks for a 64 year old guy, and if Copeland was in it for the check, well he certainly went for every dollar of that check very passionately on both performances that I saw. Copeland was an absolute monster behind the kit. My complete review of the gig can be found right here.

Over all, this reunion for me has had the impact that a Led Zeppelin reunion would have on many others. Just like the solo show that I saw from Sting, the tickets were pricey, but The Police delivered the goods.

The band is back on the road this year, and will be coming as close as Columbus and Detroit, and I’m leaning towards hitting up the Detroit date, because it would be pretty cool to see the band at the former Pine Knob (now DTE Energy Music Center.)

As gung ho as I am about seeing the band again, it seems that there are people that aren’t making plans for a return Police visit. I read this with interest on the latest dispatch from Bob Lefsetz:

Hey Bob,

I was just going to trash this email having de-activated my Police.com account but I knew that the email I sent to them in response would not get a reply so I thought I would share it with you guys instead.

Millions of people like me joined ThePolice.com at a hundred bucks a pop to get the “best seats in the house” for their local Police reunion tour concerts. (The website was originally titled thepolicetour.com before they realized they’d have to change the name to keep raking in the cash after the band got off the road). The “limited edition” poster they sent out to everyone as gravy was an unremarkable shot of the band circa 1977, which fairminded folks put straight up on ebay to claw back a few dollars and a shred of their dignity.

But get this…in the email they sent me, they were informing that they were about to AUTOMATICALLY RE-CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD the $100 renewal for another year’s membership!

So here’s what I wrote in response:

Dear Thepolice.com,

I just received my membership renewal email. It is blatantly clear to me that you are attempting to automatically renew peoples’ accounts because you know that no-one in their right mind would fall for this scam twice, and you’re trying to dip your hand in our pockets one last time.

I joined your website to get GOOD seats to my local Police concert. I bought my tickets THE MINUTE they went on sale and the seats were half-way back in the arena. Surely, SURELY the fan club ticket allocation should have been, all things being equal, the best seats in the house. Of course, keep the front three rows of the arena for competition winners and the band’s family, friends and hangers-on, but beyond that, the people running these shows and this website should have made sure that the people who were big enough fans to drop $100 ON TOP OF the $225 tickets should be front and centre.

You have made millions of dollars with the scam of a website and I am delighted to finally be rid of you. I used to love The Police, but my memories of them will forever be tainted by this huge money-grabbing fiasco they have endorsed with their once-good name.

I don’t expect a response to this email as I suspect that right about now your mailbox is being flooded with emails just like this one.

Goodbye, and good riddance.

Luke

Ouch!