Sacramento cancellation

[cascade13]

It's been years since I last posted (long enough that I had to re-register), but I really feel like I need to get this off my chest...it's been bothering me for the better part of 3 weeks. FM has always been my favorite band, probably since I was a toddler and my parents played Rumours on the record player constantly. I've owned almost all their albums and have most of their songs committed to memory, plus I've seen the full band three times (95, 97, and 03) and Stevie three other times. Not to mention lots of time reading and posting on newsgroups way back when!

Anyway, I had tickets to FM's show in Sacramento on 5/18, which happened to be my birthday, and was taking my wife, who's never seen them perform. I sprang for lower-level seats, the closest to the stage I'd ever been. It was great that they were playing up here, since we can't really make the several-hour drive down to Oakland or San Jose very easily, and the fact that it was on my birthday was incredible...talk about a great present!

A few hours before the show (no kidding...about 2 p.m.), Live Nation called and said it was being postponed due to an "undisclosed illness." Needless to say, we were both extremely disappointed, since we'd been looking forward to it for months, and a bit annoyed at the late notice, but what can you do when someone's sick? The subsequent email said that a new date would be announced (which seemed like the appropriate thing to do), and tickets would be honored then, so I did have that as a consolation. I've waited six years to see them again, so what's another few weeks?

Well, no such luck. The entire show was cancelled last Friday because of "scheduling conflicts." I'm sorry, but *scheduling conflicts*? They're able to reschedule two shows all the way up in Canada midtour, but they can't find a *single* date between now and the end of the summer that Arco Arena is not being used? What galls me the most is not postponing for illness, but the fact that they promised a new date, only to cancel it entirely and come up with some half-hearted "scheduling conflicts" excuse and, I'm not kidding, a line saying "thanks for your ongoing support." Seriously, we're adults here - if ticket sales were too low, or if they were feeling burned out, or the arena owners booked up every possible date between now and next century, just tell us. "Scheduling conflicts" just makes it sound like they're lying through their teeth about cancelling for some other reason, and that "thanks for your support" when taking away your one chance to see them is just a complete kick in the teeth at this point.

Needless to say, FM is not getting my ongoing support for a while. Certainly not on this tour if they add more dates, or if they reissue Rumours. I think I'm going to save my money for Little Big Town's performance here in September. At least they announced *before* their tour with George Strait last year that they'd be skipping Sacramento...

Thanks for letting me vent, everyone.