They proceed to rip through "Synchronicity I" to start the show. Here the band's energy immediately wins you over. Surprisingly they slow things way down with the next song "Walking In Your Footsteps," which does, however, get a wonderfully ethereal and expanded update that easily outshines the original. Eight of the eleven Synchronicity album tracks are performed here, with the band wisely skipping such filler as "Mother" and "Miss Gradenko." They did however also leave out one of my favorites, "Murder By Numbers".
It didn't take long to start getting really annoyed at the directors for constantly jumping back and forth between the band and just about every person in the audience as they danced, sang, screamed, and basically just mugged obnoxiously for the camera. I personally would have preferred more coverage of Andy Summers brilliant guitar work, and Stewart Copeland's dazzling drumming, instead of just Sting and the audience.
To make matters worse, the directors also threw in every damn video special effect available to them back then. In case you got bored with the standard color video, they also gave you plenty of black and white, and various Synchronicity-inspired color schemes to keep you on your toes. Do you also like slow motion and swirling video effects? There's plenty of them too.
Still, if you can stand these director overindulgences, this DVD still does a pretty good job at capturing some vintage Police in their prime. Highlights include an absolutely ripping version of "Hole In My Life," one of the lesser known songs off their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour. "One World (Not Three)," one of the band's more reggae-inspired numbers, features some nice vocal work from the three female background singers, who were all — curiously — dressed in marching band uniforms. This also inspires Sting and Andy to dance about frantically together, all the while never flubbing a note on their instruments.
They close out the first set with a rousing extended version of "Can't Stand Losing You," — aided by a brilliant light show that was really cranked up a notch for the finale. Sting is apparently so pumped up here, he has to go bounce around for several seconds on the mini trampoline he kept up on stage behind him, occasionally visiting throughout the show.
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