Attending a POLICE concert was something that I just can’t quite seem to put into the right words yet. I never ever thought I would get to attend such an event, considering they broke up when I was yet too young to go to a concert, therefore crushing my young dreams along with their break up in the 1980’s. Considering I was so young when the POLICE was first introduced to me, via MTV and the radio, I always dreamed of going to see them in a huge arena concert when I was old enough, never thinking they would break up before I was old enough to attend. I watched old POLICE concerts on VH1 in college, thinking how fantastic it would have been to be there at see them perform live. What does it feel like now? I just can’t say. Seeing the POLICE perform live in concert was on my “List of things to do before I die”, but I had accepted that like most things on my list, I would never get to do that one.
In college my dad got me tickets to attend a Sting concert in Phoenix after I tearfully begged him over the phone. He ended up getting me 5 tickets, 7th row. Wow! It was fantastic. I will always be very grateful for my dad doing that for me. I had never asked for tickets to see anything before. One thing about the concert I noticed though, when Sting sang his POLICE songs during his concert, that was when everyone stood up and screamed, those songs were the ones everyone wanted to hear the most. Not that his solo hits were not fantastic, but they were not as beloved by the fans as his POLICE songs. I am sure it must have been a point of great frustration for him to know that at every concert they only screamed for his POLICE songs. However, this experience made the wish to see the POLICE in concert even more then before, but seeing Sting perform these songs in his regular solo concerts would be the closest I ever came to the real thing, or so I thought.
As we entered the arena, after parking in a seedy basement parking garage near by, we were first greeted by several radio station stands blearing POLICE songs from their speakers. We rode the large elevator up to the top of the arena. My dear friend Davina had gotten me tickets on the upper right side of the arena, which turned out to be great seats. I really don’t think there were any bad seats in the house, because the stage was set up well and the monitors and sound system was fantastic, but I am getting ahead of myself. We began milling our way around and weaving through the crowds to get to our side of the arena. I could hear the pre-show going. I thought Sting was singing, but then I didn’t recognize any of the songs, so I thought I was just hearing things. The pre-show band was named Fiction Plane, but I knew nothing about them except they were English. We finally arrived at our seats, which were really hard to find in the dark. We listened to the pre-band. I thought, they must be modeling themselves from the POLICE because they had a lead singer who also played the bass in their trio, and at times I thought the lead singer had some of Sting’s moves down. Fictions Plane’s music made me think that if the POLICE were young, making new music today, that they might sound a little like this band. I soon realized after we were seated that my ears were hurting due to the amazing sound system that made your chest vibrate to every note. It was a thrilling feeling, but my ears were screaming at me. I had already given my husband my green ear plugs, which he promptly lost one of. What were us old folks going to do now? I was sure that when the POLICE came out it would be even louder. If I only had a napkin or cotton or something to shove in my ears, that would solve our problem. No napkins in my purse, nothing. Wait, a tampon has cotton in it. I promptly broke one open and ripped it into perfect ear plug sized pieces and put them in my ears. I gave my husband one for his ear that had lost it’s ear plug. I smiled thinking about later telling him he had tampon cotton in his ear. It was such a relief. My ears were happy now. I guess this is what I get for being old at a concert. The band was good. I think the audience really got into their hit, “Two Sisters” which really does remind me of the POLICE style. Every one was really enjoying things, until the last song which was filled with the F-word over and over and over. It was a bit much for me. I enjoyed the days when swear words were not considered appropriate for bands to add in their songs. It pretty much put a damper on things. I was even considering buying Fiction Plane’s album when I got home, until that point. I looked over at my husband who rolled his eyes and mouthed, “too bad they had to do that, I liked them.” I realize that swear words are used to make an emotional response, but I rather admire the bands that can get their point across with out having to resort to that kind of crude verbiage. After the concert Davina informed me that Fiction Plane is Joe Sumner’s band, who is Sting’s son, I recalled thinking his voice, moves, and bass playing resembled his father’s.
When the POLICE finally came out to play after the technicians set up the stage after the pre-show, it was to a stadium completely full of people. I looked around and I really didn’t see any empty seats. The stage was set in an oval and it was 360, so even the people who would normally be behind the stage could see pretty well. From where I was the stage looked pretty tiny, but when the show started they fired up the monitors, which I was directly across from and you could see the smallest freckle on Stings face. It was crystal clear and amazing. The giant speakers were also directly across from me and from the first chords of “Message in a Bottle”, which started out with a gong note from Stewart Copeland, you could feel every chord and beat of music go right through your bones. It was the best feeling in the world. Stings voice was perfection, clear as crystal from the first note of the concert to the last. His bass guitar was so old and beat up, the finish was completely warn off and you can see this in the picture below. From the girl sitting next to me who was in college, to the 50 year old couples seated in front of me, we all sang the words to every song. I have never been to a concert where everyone knew the words and was singing along. I sang my little heart out too. At times Sting would ask us to sing the well known counter melodies or some, “Yo, yo, yo, yooo” in the song sets. We ate it up. Sting would walk around the stage and when he came on our side he would wave and the spot lights would show the audience and we would scream our hearts out. Andy Summer’s guitar solos were amazing and Sting usually went to the side of the stage so that Andy could have the lime light. Stewart Copeland was incredable from the first beat of that gong. At one point he broke his drum stick and in between 8th notes he swaped out sticks and thew his other one behind the stage some place. He ran from gongs, to simbols and back to his drum set in flying motion with more energy then I could imagine he had. How old are these guys? You couldn’t tell they were not yong men again. My favorite songs were: “Message in a bottle”, “Walking on the moon”, and “Walking in your footsteps.” The best song in my opinion was “Wrapped around your finger” which was just pure magic everywhere. During “Invisible sun” they had pictures from the Iraq war play in the background of their faces singing live. It was a very powerful message. During "King of Pain" I think Sting got a little annoyed with the audience because we were not singing his counter meldoy loud enough, but I think that is because we forgot the words. Actually I have never figured out what they are saying on that line anway. It was still one of my favorite POLICE songs reguardless. Sting once swore never to sing that song again, but I was glad he did for us. "Roxanne" was a little funky compaired to the original, but not nearly as jazz oriented as when he played it in his solo concerts. I was pleased with what they did with it. They also had two encores and we were still begging for more songs at the end. I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my little dream came true and I got to see the amazing band perform live.
Here is the play list: (I was a little bummed they left out Synchornicity I though.)
The Set List: Message In A Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking On The Moon
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down
Don’t Stand So Close
Driven To Tears
The Bed’s Too Big Without You
Truth Hits Everybody
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking In Your Footsteps
Can’t Stand Losing You
Roxanne
King of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
Next To You
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