The Police Concert

So, Tuesday night was the Police concert at Rentschler Field at UConn in Hartford, CT. Preschool Queen and I and 30,000 of our closest friends were there. We drove down on Tuesday afternoon, getting into her sister-in-law's house around 3pm. She and a friend of hers were going to tailgate with us in the evening and then see if they could pick up tickets anywhere. (they hadn't purchased them yet) So we ate and had a good time just watching the crazy people around us. There were certainly very unique outfits on some of the women at the show. We had a pretty good laugh on more than one occasion that's for sure!
As everyone was walking to the gate with us, a man was selling two tickets to the show. The ladies offered him $150 for the pair of tickets and he took it! (now the tickets were $250 each) We were totally psyched. Turns out they were tickets on the floor...20th row. We went our separate ways when we got into the stadium since we were in an upper section. The opening band was pretty darn good. Turns out it was Sting's son's band. I'll have to find more things by them, but I enjoyed it.
Before the Police took the stage, Preschool Queen and I went and we got t-shirts...(yes I was there and have the t-shirt to prove it!) They took the stage at just about 9pm and immediately started playing the hits that everyone loves. The whole crowd was singing and screaming and dancing. It was just wild. After about 5 songs, the other two women came up to our seats and switched with us. They said since PQ and I were the really big Police fans, we should be down on the floor. So, we made our way down there, and WERE IN THE 20th ROW!!! It was just about the coolest thing in the world!!!
I have no words for how amazing the music was. They were so dang good. There were big screens around so that you could see the band close up and other things during the songs. When they played Invisible Sun there were pictures of refugee children being flashed up. And I stood there listening to the words and singing along, watching these pictures. The thought that flashed through my mind was, "I'm not sending UNICEF nearly enough money." But I suppose that was their point. If you can spare enough money to spend anywhere from $100-$300 on a concert ticket, then you can certainly help those who need it.
So, now that I've established that this was the coolest concert in the Universe, there are two complaints that I have. First. While there were many people in the neon yellow shirts who worked security in the venue, there was no security clearing. No one checking bags, no pat down, no wanding. People could have brought in anything that they wanted. And that really bothered me. If someone had wanted to cause damage or loss of life, this would have been a perfect opportunity. Second. The traffic fiasco which was 30,000 people all trying to leave at the same time. Now I know that this is not the first time this location has had a large crowd. It's where the UConn football team plays. They know about crowds. But although there were many police officers around, they weren't directing traffic in any way. It was really frustrating to leave.
But like I said, it was a blast! Something I'll never forget.