Annunciation | NOLA

The Police rocked!

This reunion tour isn't a stale, rehashing of old songs (well even if it was, it’s still the Police!). Because all three of them have continued to be working musicians, they are not like some bands on reunion tours where the playing and singing are not up to par. They reworked many of their hits, especially the intros, so you had to listen for a few second before picking up on which song it was. I was trying to recall all the songs they played when I discovered the set list in on their web site:

Message In A Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking On The Moon
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down
Don't Stand So Close
Driven To Tears
The Bed's Too Big Without You
Truth Hits Everybody
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking In Your Footsteps
Can't Stand Losing You
Roxanne
King of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
Next To You

The last 3 songs were the encores. Thank goodness they wrapped it up with "Next to You" since "EBYT" isn't in my top 10. Kristen commented the one song she wished they had played was "Spirits in the Material World." Because it was just the three of them, there was no one to play keyboards. Andy filled in the empty spot on guitar on several songs, though I did miss the keyboard on "ELTSDIM." Both Andy and Sting played the same instrument the whole night—no roadies running out between every song to hand them a new instrument. Sting’s bass looks like the first one he ever owned, with much of the finish worn off. Stewart had not only his sprawling drum kit, but also a whole menagerie of other percussion instruments on a rising platform behind him. At one point he popped up from his drums to dash back to the other stuff when he stumbled. There was a slight gasp from the audience. Stewart, always the comic, stood up, then did a mock fall, flailing his arms in the air before getting back to the task at hand, hardly missing a beat.


Our seats were directly left of the stage. We were pretty high up, but our view was unobstructed and there was also a screen above the stage. I love watching Stewart do his thing, flinging drumsticks everywhere. The guys looked like there were having fun and were very generous with the audience, not pretentious at all. I don’t think I sat still the whole time; a lot of the time it was one big sing-along. The opening band, Fiction Plane, is a 3 piece with Sting’s son on lead vocals and bass. They didn’t suck, but I’m not going to go buy their album either.

Hopefully they will do a DVD of the tour, it wouldn’t surprise me at all. I can’t believe I almost didn’t go. There were quite a number of people with tickets to sell outside, and the two seats in front of us stayed empty the whole night. I would probably be in a deep funk today if I hadn’t gone. If you missed it, you can still buy t-shirts on their website. I want one, but the lines were so long at the show so I’ll just order one. $35 for a t-shirt!?! Yowza!

Oh yeah,I didn't take the photos. They are from Stewart Copeland's website.