my review of The Police concert...

What can I say, it was impressive. And despite me not even really listing The Police as one of my "Top 5" favorite bands (definitely top 10 though...), it may very well have been the first concert I've ever attended where I knew (and sang) pretty much every word to each song...honestly, only "hole in My Life" and "Driven to Tears" gave me some trouble...and I still knew much of the latter.

They opened with a somewhat stripped down version of "Bring On the Night" which was pretty cool...then rolled right into "Message in a Bottle" with full force. Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland proceeded to weave quite a collection of great Police classics ("Walking On the Moon", "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da", "Can't Stand Losing You","Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", "Don't Stand So Close to Me", a VERY cool version of "Wrapped Around Your Finger", a sort-of jazzed up "When the World is Running Down...", "Invisible Sun", and encores "Roxanne", "King of Pain, "So Lonely", "Every Breath You Take", and ending with "Next to You".

My favorite songs of the night? Well, I always love "Message in a Bottle", which they played basically unaltered, but I really liked what they did to "Wrapped Around Your Finger" and "King of Pain", in which drummer Stewart Copeland would go behind the drum set and play with all kinds of cool percussion and sound gadgets, often tossing his sticks in the air mid-song and running back to his drum set to rock. Also special was "So Lonely", which basically became a jam session showcasing Andy Summer's underrated guitar skills.

My only dissapointments? Well:
****I wish they played "Synchronicity II" and "Walking in Your Footsteps" instead of, say, "hole in My Life" and maybe the closer, "Next to You"...but those are small complaints and bands almost NEVER play every song you want to hear.
****It was hot as CRUD... In fact, Missy once had to leave our seats to go get air...

Overall, a fun evening. My wife Missy, when asked how she liked it, gave an "it was fine", but she is not the Police fan I am...so I rephrased: "Ok, did you like the 4 or 5 songs you new ahead of time?" "Oh yeah, they were great!" I know she especially was surprised by "Don't Stand So Close to Me", as she likes songs that are a story (even ones about, ahem, "a teacher-student relationship") and "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic", a song she knew and liked but though it was from just Sting, not The Police...

I'm sure I missed a song in there somewhere...