I'll bet ya £20 "thimp" says the Stinger

Listening to this concert just three days after it took place is a new record for me. All thanks go Al Gore who created this interweb dealie and to Mr. Gore I say -- do you still think this whole www thing is gonna catch on? Really??

The Police -- July 20, 2007
Hersheypark Stadium
Hershey, Pennsylvania

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 To Me
Driven To Tears
Truth Hits Everybody
The Bed's Too Big Without You
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

Encores
King of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
Next To You

Just about two weeks ago I loved watching The Police on t.v. from Giants Stadium to close the Live Earth concerts. I knew I wanted to listen to a whole concert and tonight I finally did.

While their two hours or so on stage is pretty awesome, I'm not sure I'd really wanna go see them live. After a little thinkin' about it, I decided that maybe I'd pay $10 to see a stadium show... I'd pay as much as $25 for a night in Madison Square Garden or an arena show in England... maybe up to $35 for a show in somewhere much smaller like the Beacon Theater in NYC or Shephards Bush Empire or Royal Albert Hall in London... but I would pay $100 to see The Police at somewhere like The Ritz in NYC or Barrowlands in Glasgow. To me, to see them in a small club setting, that would be a thousand times better than amongst 30,000 or even 50 or 60,000 people in a stadium.

No matter what the setting, the music's still excellent! Not the best, methinks, but pretty freakin' sweet! Some of the complaints I have are -- this is essentially just a Greatest Hits kinda tour... for the most part. It's not like they have twenty studio albums of stuff to choose from but they could mix it up some. If I was goin' to see them live, if I had read the setlists of previous shows, it would take some of the fun out of going because they're puttin' on almost the same show every night. To me, that's lame but that's coming from a Deadhead who is used to never hearing the same show twice.

The band also should've released an EP of new tunes. Surely Sting and his bandmates each have unpublished material of their own that they could have worked into some new Police songs. They spent time rehearsing before the tour so they could've layed down some tracks and released new stuff. But nope, nothin' like that, okay, so that means they should dig deeper into their catalog for some more obscure stuff to mix into the setlist. Oh well.

What they do play, though, enters my ears as great music! They've toned down a bunch of songs, tunes that used to make people bounce off the walls but they're still able to kick butt up there. Other slower stuff picks up at times and Andy Summers, even though he's 64(!) years old, he's still able to play some incredible guitar. Sting and Stewart Copeland (each 55) keep on rockin' and at times better than ever. Still I want that older more punkish sound and that's why a smaller intimate venue might be able to better bring that out. I do give them a whole lotta credit for not cluttering up the stage with backup singers and exta musicians. These three guys can incredibly, all on their own, make these songs come alive. Can the Rolling Stones do that? Sometimes I wonder, without all the other guitar players and horns and singers, if the Stones can truly rock. I don't think so but maybe that's not fair since they're all between like 95 and 110 years old, I believe. A few less years on The Police means they can still rock like 40 year olds! Maybe not like 25 year olds but good stuff still and this was fun to listen to!

They can jam, too, which they do in Roxanne. Being arguably the most popular Police song ever, I would've been okay if they had not played it. Soon enough they're making this quite an interesting live Police tune, wandering away from the quick version of this song and entering into some territory that any Deadhead would appreciate. It doesn't last long but it's nice to hear. What started out in a pedestrian radio-friendly manner ended up being a pretty sweet long version of this beloved song. A great way to close the show (pre-encores.)

Unfortunately, not all is right in the world once again. During the encores, after whipping the crowd into a frenzy with So Lonely, they placed the (perhaps equally to Roxanne) popular Every Breath You Take. Why there? That wasn't the right choice. Shoulda been earlier in the show! And then they close the show with the very first track, Next To You, from their very first album? Just not right. They rocked that so hard but I can guarantee that 95% of everyone in the stadium that night didn't even know the song -- it's not on any of their earlier greatest hits albums. Curiously, they did release a 2-discer with more songs right at the beginning of this tour but how many rushed out to get or dload that when most Police fans already have a previous greatest hits album? Probably not many. Those who did probably already have so many other songs engrained in their memory and/or they haven't listened to these "new" tunes enough times to get to know them. But The Police played a bunch of these "new" songs and the crowd, while appreciative, was so clearly there for the greatest hits. Next To You also would've been better earlier in the show while So Lonely would be an ideal closer, wrapping things up on an incredibly high note.

So it was a mixed bag night. Could've been a better listening experience but still great, great music, fun to hear, I smiled a lot, I loved it!!! I'll wait awhile but, even though it'll be essentially the same setlist, I'm actually gonna listen to another show or two from this tour down the line (one of the shows with Spirits In The Material World.) Also down the line I might even buy the DVD should they release one. Good stuff that'll be so worth a release.

From SugarMegs.org
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