Concert Review - The Police

The Police reunion in Seattle ranks as one of the best shows I have seen in years. Right out of the gate there was mass excitement – just seeing these three back onstage again was a real kick. The opener, Message in a Bottle was loaded with energy and was played for the most part just like the recording – high energy and with abandon. But with the second and third songs (Synchronicity II and Spirits in the Material World), it became apparent that the band was not going to play it by the book.

Basically, Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers re-worked their whole catalog for this tour, with mostly excellent results. They changed keys and tempos. They added solos, cut verses, and repeated musical sections. On some songs, they changed the key for the first two verses and choruses, only to jump up to the original key at the last minute, bringing the intensity up for the conclusion.

Copeland changed the beat in a number of songs. For example he played the choruses of Synchronicity II half time for the first line and double time for the second. A number of songs had new intros. They spliced songs together, extended the ends of some, the beginning of others.

Sting looked and sang fantastic. It was unreal how good he sounded. Copeland was a machine. As busy, frenetic and pummeling as ever. Summers was solid – I was really impressed with him because I sort of expected the least from him. But unlike the lone guitarists in other power trios like Rush, Queen, The Who, Zeppelin or Cream, Summers does not rely on layered effects or huge banks of amps to fill up the sound. He goes in the other direction, playing sparsely with a sharp, clean tone. He almost approached some of these songs like a jazz player. Really, the whole band was very minimalistic.

They made quiet songs rocking and rocking songs quiet. For example, Walking In Your Footsteps is a pretty quiet, droning track off of Synchronicity. But last night Copeland started the song on a percussion set up but moved quickly to full drum kit and laid a BEAT behind it after the first verse – made it very funky. And to the converse, they took a song like Truth Hits Everybody, which is a proto punk burner from their first album, and played it slow and in a lower key.

All in all, this was three mature musicians daring to play their catalog with a fresh approach. And good for them.

When I saw U2, they struggled to achieve the big sound they have on record. Many of the big songs like Vertigo suffered for it. The Police didn’t even bother to try. If a song had too many parts to cover from the recorded version, they just changed the songs. For example, songs like Spirits in the Material World, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic and King of Pain rely on piano or keyboards on record. The Police either rearranged the parts or had Summers play them with a clean guitar tone. There were a number of songs where I had no clue what they were playing until Sting sang (these were hit songs, not obscure rarities!). And as he has always done, Sting changed up how he sang the songs so even in that department it was fresh.

The three were having a blast – lots of smiles and interplay, musically and with onstage banter. This was also a good time to see the band. Because it was one of the first shows on the tour, they were still rusty in spots and there were a couple of flubs here and there, but the trade off was that they are so clearly on the ‘beginning of the tour’ high. The energy was great and they were clearly having the time of their lives onstage.

I don’t know if I am getting this across, but this was not Clapton’s bossanova version of Layla. This was not “The Police unplugged” (which I hear they are going to do for MTV by the way). This was a mature re-working of a vital and important body of work by three passionate, seasoned musicians not content to roll out rote versions of their many hits for a sold out reunion tour.

Purists might be pissed at this approach, as this was not a note for note rehash down memory lane. But I say too bad. I wish more bands did this with their songs. The Police are comfortable enough with their musicianship, repertoire and audience to totally re-work their entire catalog and bust it out in front of 20,000 people live.

Set List:
--Message in a Bottle
--Synchronicity II
--Spirits In The Material World
--Voices Inside My Head/When the World is Running Down
--Don't Stand So Close to Me
--Driven to Tears
--Walking on the Moon
--Truth Hits Everybody
--Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
--Wrapped Around Your Finger
--The Bed's Too Big Without You
--Murder By Numbers
--Dee Doo Doo Doo Dee Da Da Da
--Invisible Sun
--Walking In Your Footsteps
--Can't Stand Losing You/Regatta De Blanc
--Roxanne

encore one:
--King of Pain
--So Lonely

encore two:
--Every Breath You Take
--Next To You

Photo credit: Digg Doug