Peoria Illinoisan

One of the most hyped tours of the year kicked off a few days ago in Vancouver, Canada with the reunion of The Police. Having not toured in nearly 25 years, they were understandably a bit rusty and slightly out of sync.

This is how Reuter’s reported drummer Stewart Copelands reaction to the first show:

Copeland started the show off on the wrong foot, literally. He tripped as he took to the stage, and then banged his gong at the wrong time so that “the big pompous opening to the show is a damp squib.”

He did not hear Summers’ opening riff to “Message In a Bottle,” and Sting in turn misheard Copeland’s drum intro — “so we are half a bar out of sync with each other. Andy is in Idaho.”

They quickly recovered, but then Sting got his footwork wrong as he leapt into the air to signal the end to a shambolic version of their rat-race rant “Synchronicity II.”

“The mighty Sting momentarily looks like a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock,” Copeland reported.

“And so it goes, for song after song,” he wrote, with tunes such as “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic” and “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” reduced to ruin.

What I find interesting is this review of the same show:

The tour opener came off almost without a hitch, except for “King of Pain,” which sounded strange with Sting singing both lead and chorus, as Summer’s guitar seemed to drown out the vocals. [...] If you’re looking forward to the tour, expect to see all three band members in fine form. [...] The Police haven’t lost their magic touch whatsoever. Sting sounds amazing, Stewart Copeland has a ton of energy, and Andy Summers lets it all hang out on stage in what may be the best concert tour of 2007.

Notice the disparity between overly critical musician and the critic? I find that to be the good, and bad, of arena rock. I’d bet only a handful of fans noticed what Steward Copeland noticed. The crowd probably just jumped around and was happy to see The Police, whether the concert really sucked or not (and I doubt it did). Minor, and sometimes even major mistakes will be forgiven, if even noticed, in a large venue. It is refreshing to see that Stewart Copeland is still concerned about the music because they could be just another relic band on tour for the cash.

In my opinion, arena rock is more about the experience than the actual technical aspects of the music. I haven’t been to a large arena concert in quite some time, nor do I have much of a desire anymore. I guess my priorities have changed over the years. Besides, big name concerts mean traveling to Chicago, getting a hotel room, and paying $50-$200+ per ticket. I think I’ll just wait for the souvenir live album.

Check out the set list from the Vancouver concert; I gotta admit, it’s pretty enticing…

1. Message in a Bottle
2. Synchronicity II
3. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
4. Voices Inside My Head
5. When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around
6. Spirits in the Material World
7. Driven to Tears
8. Walking on the Moon
9. Truth Hits Everybody
10. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
11. Wrapped Around Your Finger
12. The Bed’s Too Big Without You
13. Murder by Numbers
14. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
15. Invisible Sun
16. Walking in Your Footsteps
17. Can’t Stand Losing You
18. Roxanne
19. King of Pain
20. So Lonely
21. Every Breath You Take
22. Next to You

If you’re wondering, they’re playing Wrigley Field on July 5. It’s sold out.

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 2nd, 2007 at 2:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.