Thanks to the Police for a job well done

I went to Giants Stadium the other night to see The Police. (Wow, I actually supplied a link to an article from the New York Times without saying what a sucky, ultra-liberal,  downright traiterous rag that publication is. Well, it was one of the first on the list when I googled to find a review of the NY/NJ Police concerts and I was feeling lazy- but as usual I digress…)

 The concert was absolutely wonderful. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to see these three awesome musicians play together as the band they once were. A fan of their music in the early eighties, I was only a child back then and had never even been to a concert when they broke up. But this post wasn’t meant to be a concert review in the usual sense, or an opportunity to wax nostalgic about long lost days of my youth. This post is to say “Thanks” to the Police for doing their job and doing it well.

 I bought tickets to see and hear the band perform their songs live, and that is what they did.  I had no interest in hearing their political views (whatever they may be), or to hear about Iraq, or global warming, or the rainforest, or the baby seals or any other such issue that often gets thrown at you during live events these days. None of that went on. The band played and played well, and the stage show was much more than satisfactory. It was a feast for the eyes and ears, and between songs the chit-chat was minimal, which is just the way it should be. For this I say “Thank you very much Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland for a job well done!”

 In all seriousness, far too often people in the public eye take themselves too seriously, and use their fame to spread a message about something. I guess there is nothing wrong with that as long as they are up-front about it from the start. Take the recent mess Sean Penn has made for himself for example. Although I think he and his buddy Danny Glover (un-linkworthy IMO) are absolute morons and their political views are ridiculously misguided, if they want to be puppets and make asses of themselves I say “go for it, fellas.” You see, they have always been upfront and rather vocal about their idiotic political views, so anyone who wastes their time and hard-earned money to see their movies knows what they are getting into, and what kind of people they are supporting. It helps that they are mediocre actors at best, so I personally don’t feel at all like I am missing anything.

No, No my gripe is about when the “stars” are sneaky about it. This especially happens at concerts. When I pay to see a concert, I don’t want to hear about politics or causes- period. Way too many times I have laid down my cash to get inside and have my good time ruined once the band (usually the lead singer) decides to start ranting about this or that,  “feed the children” or “save the whales”- whatever. That is not the time or the place, and I seriously get perturbed when I am forced to be an audience for someone’s message. This to me is the same premise as I ragged about when the “Campaign to Defend America” sent their unwelcome message into my home. It’s one thing if you are at a festival, benefit, or fundraiser where the activism is put out there from the get-go, like Al Gore’s recent “we-have-to- save-the-world-concerts” (which the Police played FYI). Again, that’s fine in my book. I just don’t want rhetoric cast upon me from someone no more qualified to comment than I am after I paid only to hear them play music. The last time this happened to me was at a Van Halen concert in 2004:

During the 2004 reunion tour, the band revived the Van Halen “Right Now” video with a few extra modern scenes, to project on a large screen behind them while the song was performed. Ironically, one of the additions was an image of George W. Bush with the caption “right now nothing is more expensive than regret”

This pissed me off so badly that even now, 3 years later I am very tempted to skip the Van Halen/David Lee Roth Reunion Tour. BUT, I have to consider the fact that Eddie Van Halen’s judgement has been clouded by alcohol for a long time, as evidenced by the band’s constant drama as well as his stints in rehab. So, I may just give him another chance. ( This has nothing to do with the fact that I have been a hard-core Van Halen fan for over 20 years, and although I have seen the band live about 15 times I never had the opportunity to see them with David Lee Roth at the mike…)

And purely for your entertainment -straight from the “you gotta see this” department, check out this trailer: SPIDER PIG