The Police Concert

these_go211 · Post by **these_go211** » Tue Jun 26, 2007 1:14 pm

i saw them a few weeks ago at the oakland coliseum. i had really high expectations and the police still exceeded them. i was incredibly impressed with copeland especially. that guy has not lost anything. the outdoor show though was filled with it's share of a lightshow and lasers, etc. but they added to the overall vibe instead of looking cheesy. overall it was a great experience.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 8:58 am

Holy fuck.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

MoreSpaceEcho · Post by **MoreSpaceEcho** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:40 am

care to elaborate?

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:41 pm

Back in Charlotte tomorrow night, will add more then. I am now convinced that unless you consider death a notch in the belt, these guys are the greatest rock band of all time. Run, don't walk to see this show. There will probably be scalpers outside the venue selling tickets for face value or less. Do yourself a favor and keep the night open.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 9:50 pm

Just fucking wow.

CG

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 8:58 pm

Anything good you've heard about the shows is true and anything bad you've heard has probably been silly griping.

Some of the songs were slower than the original tempos, but didn't really feel draggy. In fact, it was nice to see them performed with that much excitement at the correct tempos. Personally, I would have liked to have seen a couple of them a notch or two faster, but what the hell.

Some of them had different intros or arrangements. It's LIVE. They were really great and it was fun to try to figure out what song was coming next. When the live disc or DVD comes out, the intros will make sense and people will love it.

Some of them were in different keys. That's fine with me. Some of them had slight reharmonizations and that, to me, was also WAY cool.

It felt WAY more like a band than it ever did, in my opinion. Those guys are all badasses and they've all matured in different ways, but what was good about them then is still good about them.

Andy's love of the instrument is just CRAZY apparent. The guy is truly a master. Sounded great all night, although I could see his brain just not being able to get going during the solo in "So Lonely." It was the only semi-weak thing all night, but fuck, if I were the guy who played the solo on that tune during the Atlanta '83 show, I'd never play it again. He also made it okay to play whatever the hell he wanted by completely tearing up "Synchronicity II" at the top of the show.

I never really heard the sampled background vocals except during "Roxanne."

Stewart's percussion arrangements on "Wrapped Around Your Finger" and "Walking In Your Footsteps" were stupid-good.

The sound was really excellent for a baseball stadium, although being a damn drummer, I wanted a little more tom volume happening.

Fictionplane was an odd opening act for the Police.

They had tour programs. I haven't been to a show with tour programs since like 1987.

The stage and the lights looked great. It was weird spending as much time as I did watching the jumbo-trons. Man, concerts are different nowadays.

They pretty much played all the major hits except "Sprits In The Material World" (and if you consider "Fallout" a hit) and some nice, unexpected tunes.

The "Every Little Thing" intro was great.

There was not too much compression on the snare drum. Nice.

According to the tour program (and this was the first I'd heard about it) "during the course of the tour, the Police will be releasing an acoustic album of their material."

I sure hope that I can play with that kind of energy when I'm Andy Summers' age.

Christ.

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Sun Jul 08, 2007 9:59 pm

cgarges wrote:
I sure hope that I can play with that kind of energy when I'm Andy Summers' age.

Christ.

Holy shit I think about that all of the time. That guy has 30 yrs on me, so whenever I feel "too old to make guitar a priority", I just think of him. He's been an inspiration as a player for me since 1982.

My buddy was in Chicago for that show, so I can't wait to hear his reaction as well. A whole bunch my friends and my brother and I are going to the Philly show, and then the NYC show.

Can't wait. Thanks for the post, Chris!

Jeff

Johnny B · Post by **Johnny B** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 9:43 pm

cgarges wrote: I sure hope that I can play with that kind of energy when I'm Andy Summers' age.

No shit. I think tonight was the first (and probably last) time I've ever seen anyone his age do a split jump off a drum riser. Crazy.

Solo in "So Lonely" was ok tonight, but not brilliant. The ones in "When the World is Running Down..." and "Driven to Tears" were incredible, though.

They had the sampled backing vocals mixed down really low, if they were even using them for most of the show. The only ones I could hear most of the time, if anything, were Stewart's. The ones in "Roxanne" were audible, but really just enough to give the audience a cue to join in.

Stewart Copeland is still the man.

The whole thing with these guys, is that given the pop hits and all, it's easy to to forget that these guys are musicians. That's really what it comes down to. It's a great catalog in the first place, but they're all great players.

I thought "Every Breath You Take" would get the biggest response. Not even close. The Miami crowd was all about "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Don't Stand So Close to Me," "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" and "Can't Stand Losing You."

Anyway, thank you for talking me into going, Chris. I owe you a drink or something.

cgarges · Post by **cgarges** » Tue Jul 10, 2007 11:59 pm

Hey, no problem. Glad the show down there was good. The crowd in Chicago was way into "Every Little Thing." I know I was looking forward to it since they never really played that one live before. Was the Miami show inside or outside?

Chris Garges
Charlotte, NC

Johnny B · Post by **Johnny B** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:23 am

Outside. They played opposite home plate at Dolphin Stadium (also home to the Marlins for a couple more years). Originally, they were selling tickets in the same sections as for baseball and as the sections filled up, they opened more.

A lot of people were selling tickets out front, but people were still buying them at the box office as well.

tsw · Post by **tsw** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 6:28 am

Does Kanye West tell Sting he's going to get "killed in the hood"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9eDrsqCYCQ

foodforthemoon · Post by **foodforthemoon** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 9:43 am

ajb wrote:Does Kanye West tell Sting he's going to get "killed in the hood"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9eDrsqCYCQ

I believe he says 'You the only police good in the hood.' (sic) It gave me shivers. Actually, the kind of shivers that one gets immediately before emitting a jet of hot diarrhea

Jeff White · Post by **Jeff White** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:07 am

foodforthemoon wrote:
ajb wrote:Does Kanye West tell Sting he's going to get "killed in the hood"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y9eDrsqCYCQ
I believe he says 'You the only police good in the hood.' (sic) It gave me shivers. Actually, the kind of shivers that one gets immediately before emitting a jet of hot diarrhea

Yeah, that after the end of the Rock and Roll Hall o'Fame performance, with John Mayer, etc, I was pretty upset. I guess I should learn to loosen up, but the Police are definitely sacred territory to me. Had I seen Live Earth (uhhhg), I would have been pissed.

Jeff

myphx · Post by **myphx** » Wed Jul 11, 2007 11:36 pm

cgarges wrote:
Andy's love of the instrument is just CRAZY apparent. The guy is truly a master. Sounded great all night, although I could see his brain just not being able to get going during the solo in "So Lonely." It was the only semi-weak thing all night, but fuck, if I were the guy who played the solo on that tune during the Atlanta '83 show, I'd never play it again. He also made it okay to play whatever the hell he wanted by completely tearing up "Synchronicity II" at the top of the show.

I sure hope that I can play with that kind of energy when I'm Andy Summers' age.

......Have you heard Andy's CD "Earth+Sky" that came out in 2003?
Some pretty decent jazz fusion stuff on there!

foodforthemoon · Post by **foodforthemoon** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 7:24 am

ipressrecord wrote: Yeah, that after the end of the Rock and Roll Hall o'Fame performance, with John Mayer, etc, I was pretty upset. I guess I should learn to loosen up, but the Police are definitely sacred territory to me. Had I seen Live Earth (uhhhg), I would have been pissed.

Jeff

I saw them in STL on 7/2. As a result, they have moved into a more or less permanent state of reverence for me. Earlier this year, I read Andy's autobiography, and if anyone here hasn't read it, do. It's marvelous, and the bit about George Martin is worth the price of admission alone. Who knew all this time that Andy was actually the coolest one

?

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