I ate lunch with a co-worker who attended the show. She watched from a suite. When the Police took the stage, she picked up her binoculars and observed to her husband, “Hey, the lead singer of the Police looks just like Sting.” So, yeah. Nice work.
Here’s what some of you thought of last night’s show:
Sting either felt the songs needed a modern reworking or simply didn’t feel the need to strain the higher ranges of his voice. Honestly, it took something away from songs like “Walking On The Moon.” For the $20 investment I made in the show (quietly gloating), it was money well spent. However for the suckers who spent hundreds and thousands — IJS
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I was a bit unimpressed. The music lacked the tempo the Police needed to really rock American Airlines and truly “come back” with a bang. They definitely didn’t turn on my red light.
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I thought the show was awesome last night. Sting was great, Copeland was incredible, and Summers was in fine form. I would have preferred all the songs to be performed just like the radio versions but Sting is well known for altering songs. For the most part, when the band changed a tune, it worked. Highlights included the opening song, “Message in a Bottle,” “Synchronicity,” “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” “Invisible Sun,” and “Roxanne.” The crowd was great and basically sang backup all night long. The sound these three guys put out is awesome and to consider Sting vocally carries a two-hour show by himself at his age is mind boggling. The only downer in my opinion is that the acoustics at AAC are atrocious.
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Before I comment on last night’s Police extravaganza, let me acknowledge that I’m really not much into Reunion Rockers: using the various reunion tours of the Eagles as a Point In Case, I’d here note my own surmise that it seems to me from past shows that Don Henley has managed to coalesce a group of Middle Aged Rockers who can barely stand each other anymore into the World’s Greatest Eagles Cover Band.
Having managed that Snarky Dribble, the Police offered an utterly memorable effort last evening (and not just for the fact that Sting managed to wink a couple of times at my Amazon Blonde girlfriend who was front & center before him). While staying within the bounds of what was clearly their Greatest Hits Canon, almost all of their versions of past songs were transformed into jazz-infected homages to the past work of their youthful era; as an example, I had never really liked their song “Invisible Sun” from the Ghost in The Machine album — finding the original version too ponderous and dark — until Sting turned the piece into a contemplative, stripped-down meditation at roughly the halfway mark of the concert.
Some things remain the same:
* Fit & Trim Sting seems intent upon reclaiming some relevance in light of his self-indulgent and BORING King of Pain pose of the past decade, with his Charisma Generator set on Full Force for this tour. Clearly, the man has missed the spotlight that this reunion has afforded — and, as with Frank Sinatra & Tony Bennett, it actually seems as if his vocal talents have grown with his increasing age.
* Andy Summers has aged considerably: but while also still insufferably boring to watch on stage, Summers combatted his lack of physical magnetism with appeggiated & enlightening riffs of fresh complex chords that made anew the anthems of last evening.
* Stewart Copeland looks — well, exactly like Stewart Copeland and clearly retains his World Middleweight Title as the Goofiest World-Class Drummer, emphatically tossing legions of paired drumsticks to the rafters which each change of percussive station.
But perhaps the most surprising element of the evening was Sting’s revelatory choice of almost-skintight trousers for the evening’s stagewear: for all Sting’s above-the-waist buffness, the Yoga Enthusiast completely blew my lady’s Visual Thrill Meter by dramatically highlighting a lower body featuring Toothpick Legs that only Mick Jagger Groupies could love.
