After several months of hype and a short performance at the
Grammys, the Police officially returned to the stage last Sunday. The trio’s
first concert performance since their brief reunion at the Rock and Roll Hall
of Fame in 2003 took place at Vancouver’s
GM Place
before an audience of fan-club ticket holders and featured a setlist composed
exclusively of material from their 1970s and 1980s heyday. The group has been
holed up in Vancouver
for the past few months rehearsing and rearranging material for its three-part
reunion tour.
The Police played 21
songs this Sunday, opening with on e of its biggest radio hits, “Message in a
Bottle.” The trio than jumped into “Synchronicity II” and “Don’t Stand So Close
to Me,” before offering each and every track off the group’s greatest hits
album, Every Breath You Take: The
Classics. The evening even included a song segue, connecting “Voices Inside
My Head” with Sting’s “When The World Is Running Down.” Other standout
selections included “Walking On The Moon,” a rearranged version of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” and a set-closing
version of “Roxanne.” The Police performed two different encores, the first
consisting of “King of Pain,” “So Lonely” and “Every Breath You Take” and the
second featuring “Next to You.” Playing without the extra musicians and horn
section which marked the Police’s live performances leading up to its mid-1980s
breakup, the group’s style remained loose, though, according to reports, some
of the trio’s rearranged numbers are still finding their live footing.
According to drummer Stewart Copeland, the group will stick to its chosen
setlist for most of its tour, with the exception of the upcoming Bonnaroo
appearance. “The fans want to go on that [improvisational] journey which is the
opposite of The Police thing,” Copeland says. “We’ll do a completely different
show at Bonnaroo if I have anything to do with it. We may play five songs for
half an hour each.”
The Police co-founder has experienced Bonnaroo firsthand,
having played with Oysterhead at the festival last summer. “[The Police] been
rehearsing for four months. With Oysterhead, we rehearsed for two days. I want
to do a completely different kind of show at Bonnaroo, where the mission is to
deconstruct the whole thing.”
In other news, the
Police have added a handful of additional arena dates to their fall tour. Most
notably, the group will celebrate Halloween with a show at New
York’s Madison
Square Garden.
The members of the Police have been known to get festive on special occasions.
Two years ago, Sting played a set of Police covers during a solo show as an
April Fool’s treat. As of press time, the Police have netted $1.77 million in
ticket sales alone.
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