Wrapped Around Your Finger
At around 9pm, the Police (finally!) got off to a rocking start with "Message in a Bottle". A good, strong opening which was jazzed up with a stronger beat from its album version. In fact, several of the songs were literally "jazzed up" from their original versions - probably an influence of Summers technical brilliance and Sting's foray into jazz since the split. For instance, "Wrapped Around Your Finger" had an extended percussion intro which really brought on the mood.
I should mention that Copeland was making full use of his extended percussion kit throughout the show. In "Walking on the Moon" (a personal favorite), Sting did a pan-flute solo. It wasn't great, but it worked. "De Do Do Do..." was funky as always and hit the spot. On the other hand, "Every Breath You Take" - which had its last breath taken away from it several years ago, from being overplayed and over-covered by other musicians - fell flat.
All songs were longer than the album versions from the eighties - and this was not necessarily bad. Also, while normally the three have a backing band which plays the horns and additional guitars, on this tour all backing parts were written out - it was only the three of them performing on stage.
Invisible Sun
Ultimately, the concert was too short. They left after less than an hour of playing, and had to be drawn out thrice. Call me cheap, but paying over a hundred dollars for the ticket should be enough to have the band play two sets lasting forty-five minutes each (at least) plus one encore, if things are going well. The total playing time for this concert was under an hour and fifteen minutes, and that included all the time spent clapping to get them back on stage.
Article comments
1 - d alper
I am eager to see the Police when they come around the East Coast and have read the mixed reviews. They deserve a good listen, unfortunately this may be a one off affair (see, Cream) and therefore they need to maximize efficiency by allowing as many fans an opportunity to hear them live as possible, ergo-crappy venues to showcase their tunes. I really like their set list, they did put some thought into it, would dig hearing 'Canary' though, and interested in seeing how these three channel the much hyped inner tension into a coherent, energy filled show, thanks for the review.
2 - The Great Ganesha
yeah - setlist is pretty cool. and it looks like it's more or less the same at most of the shows. don't want to disappoint, but i don't think they've played 'canary' at all.
and i understand re. the venue.
the bottomline is, if you're a fan, you're going to go anyway...