Review: The Police

(Photos by Rich Sugg, The Kansas City Star.)

If you attended the Police reunion show at Sprint Center on Tuesday, your reaction to it probably depends heavily on a few factors: where your seat was; what you paid for it; and whether you were ready for how the band treated about 20 of its greatest hits.

According to Sting, about 12,000 fans were in the arena, an official figure that looked pretty accurate. All the seats behind the stage were roped/curtained off; the rest of the place looked about 98 percent full. That's an accomplishment for a tour that charges fans $200-plus for seats that run the spectrum from great (floor) to average (like Row 13 in Section 107, where I was sitting). The upper-level seats weren't cheap, either ($100). So lots of money was spilled, which meant expectations were high.

Despite the high ticket prices, there weren't lots of frills. Video screens flanking the stage broadcast images of the band to fans in the upper-levels with seats aside the stage; a much larger screen behind drummer Stewart Copeland fed the same images to the rest of the crowd.

We saw lots of Sting, who looks closer to his age with his short, grizzled Iron John beard. Several times, the screen was split with a huge image of his singing head next to much smaller images of Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers (a visual metaphor?). A roving camera man walked behind Copeland, giving the crowd bird's-eye shots of his battered drum skins and bruised cymbals. We also got closeups of old, skilled hands playing stringed instruments.

There weren't many other effects or visual surprises: The video screens, somewhat randomly, flashed variations on those red digital figures on the cover of "Ghost in the Machine," and a row of six lights behind Copeland rose and dipped and changed intensity, altering the mood. Otherwise, this was a show primarily about a trio of powerful musicians and the songs that made them famous and wealthy.

Sting made an early appearance this evening, during the opening set by Elvis Costello and the Imposters: He joined Elvis in a swell version of "Alison." (I hoped they'd bookend that with a duet on "Roxanne," but no dice.)

I caught the last three songs of Costello's set, including "Alison." The sound for his performance was a little tinny, but if you've seen any of his shows at the Midland or Uptown theaters, you know he's not a true arena act. However, he did deliver one of the more raucous moments of the night, his call-to-arms closer, "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding."

The Police are a true arena act, but they would be better served if they had an arena-anthem like that one. The crowd this evening was wound up and ready for an explosive time; instead they got 100 minutes of performances -- a show that required more watching and listening (admiring, really) than it prompted unabandoned participation. Like the St. Louis show in July 2007, this one came off more like "Sting does the Police" than a true rendering of material from every Police album.

There were some sing-along moments: during "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger," but Sting doesn't write arena songs in the vein of Springsteen or Bon Jovi. So the sing-alongs didn't pack quite the same gusto. (I've noticed that even diehard Police fans don't know every word to even the most popular songs.)

The set list was great. It included the big hits and some favorite non-hits, like "Demolition Man" and "Driven to Tears." As advertised, the band took some of these songs on instrumental odysseys -- into the realm of fusion jazz and progressive rock. They kept the jams relatively short, but there were many of them.

"Wrapped" was especially epic: Copeland, the hardest working man on stage, jumped a couple of time from his massive drum kit to a bank of percussion instruments (timpani, a huge gong, tiny bells, vibes) behind him and back again.

And as he did all night, Summers fussed with both his rhythms and leads. His embroidery these days can be incredibly elegant or deceptively avant-garde. And he wore the coolest shoes: lime-green/black checkerboard Vans.

Sting remains the Sting he has always been: the charismatic center of a band loaded with talent and ego. He opend with a pretty, acoustic version of "Bring on the Night" then lit the fuse on a bomb: "Message in a Bottle."

He would deliver an adequate amount of stage chatter throughout the show, remembering the band's previous shows in Kansas City: the most recent one in 1983 and one way back in 1979 at One Block West. "Seven people were there," he said. He also emphatically enunciated his location: "Kansas City, Missouri," and once or twice he prompted the crowd to get a little louder.

The crowd was loud, in fits and starts, especially when there was room to open up and sing along, like during "De Do Do Do ..." and "Roxanne" and "So Lonely." When the music got a little too indulgent, however, people surrendered and took a seat.

At 100 minutes (and $200), I thought the show was a little brief. That included a five-minute break about halfway through. It doesn't include the long (nearly an hour) opening set by Elvis C., a headliner himself.

I know a lot of people in the place who were seeing the Police for the first time on Tuesday. Several of them said afterward that they'd wanted to hear the band sound more like it used to, the way it did back in '79. They delivered moments like that: during "Can't Stand Losing You" and the closer, "Next to You."

The new versions didn't bother me. I was prepared for the difference, which, admittedly, was profound during several songs. Plus I kept in mind all night that the second time I've seen this wonderful band would probably be the last.

| Timothy Finn, The Star 

Setlist: Bring on the Night; Message in a Bottle; Walking on the Moon; Demolition Man; Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down ...; Don't Stand So Close to Me; Driven to Tears; Hole in My Life; Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic; Wrapped Around Your Finger; De Do Do Do ...; Invisible Sun; Regatta de Blanc/Can't Stand Losing You; Roxanne; King of Pain; So Lonely; Every Breath You Take; Next To You.

Comments

[Dan]

He's still ... wrapped around her finger ...

bitter wont get anyone anywhere in life.

Is Tim's Police set list complete?

[Andy Gredell]

As an avid Police fan starting in 1979, overall I was very happy with the show, although I felt the slower renditions of their songs may be due to their age and/or the physical strains of tour life.

If anything however, sitting in Section 101 Row 22, I was most disappointed by the sound quality of Copeland's drums...I could not hear any of Copeland's middle range drum "pops" and wood block "snaps" so dear to my ears in Driven to Tears, Walking on the Moon, Voices..., or Running Down.

His drums really add the sparkle to all of the Police songs, bringing it all together and, at the same time, elevating the talents of the Sting and Sommers.

By the way, I also was very distracted by other people all around talking and texting cell phone messages. I even was hit in the back of the head several times by purse-wielding "bolsa brigade" of 8-10 middle age women who talked about everything except the concert the whole time...very inconsiderate.

[Sliv]

Really interesting reading the comments about the show. I didn't give a second thought to actually attending the show, especially for those ridiculous ticket prices. And that's from somebody who's seen Elvis 4 times and who was at that 1983 Kemper Arena show when The Police last played here (It was a pretty good show, but let's face it - The Police peaked artistically with REGATTA D'BLANC, even if it took ZENYATTA to break them into an act that can have otherwise sensible people paying through the nose to see them play the hits 25 years after). As somebody who was "Born In The Fifties," I'd still absolutely prefer to see 5 or 10 or 15 local shows with young/up and coming/interesting bands for more or less the same money total that folks shelled out for their night at the Sprint Center last night. Nonetheless, I'm jealous of you folks who went, and I'm glad it was a good time. No way I could've enjoyed myself for that kind of dough. Oh, and as somebody who's still going to club shows and hasn't seen arena rock for 20-odd years, the kid who thinks it's fine to act any old way just because it's a rock show is a selfish idiot. It's not just all about your joy, and nobody else cares whether you're having a good time, so stifle yourself, Mr. Free Expression, or somebody who actually came to the show to hear and see the band(s) will have Security toss your half-wit ask.

[Mark]

Great show, and the vocals on the Allison duet with Sting and Elvis Costello were fantastic. Copelands' great drumming grew on me throughout the show. "I Can't Stand Losing You" was my personal favorite. The video screen was excellent, even up in Section 202. We weren't text-messaging on our phones, that's how they pipe the sound up there. Seriously, it was actually too loud if anything, especially Elvis' bass drum, which sounded like "doom, doom" from beneath Mordor. I had to cover my ears it was that loud. I thought the Sprint Center was a great place to see a concert.

[Tim Finn]

Was my setlist complete? As far as I know it is/was. Was there something you heard I didn't?

[JimK]

Fortunately, we were in our seats well before showtime, but I could not believe it when Elvis started at 7:32 and more than half the arena was still empty. Needless to say, there was a constant stream of fans arriving late, which gets old fast if you're sitting in an aisle seat trying to enjoy the show. While I was thrilled to finally see Elvis, his sound was definitely not the best. Lyrics were muddy and the bass felt like it reverberated off the glass walls of the Sprint Center right into our chests! Sting joining him on stage for "Alison" was a real treat. I was disappointed that Elvis had not even left the stage after his closer, "(What's So Funny About) Peave, Love and Understanding" when they turned up the house lights. I, too, had seen The Police back at Kemper in 1983 and was amazed by how good they still sound. Speaking of, the sound quality was the cleanest I've heard at Sprint so far, and much better than Bon Jovi, whose vocals often got lost in the poor acoustics of the Sprint Center. My wife and I were amazed by Stewart Copeland's "wall of percussion" on "Wrapped Around Your Finger." That was the highlight for us, so I was glad to see others thought so, too. The show seemed a little short and the encores came too fast, but I thought the setlist was excellent. The only thing I would have added would have been a couple of the non-hits from "Synchronicity." Finally, with all of the talk about high ticket prices, it never ceases to amaze me how many folks spend a good portion of the show walking up and down the aisles making beer runs and sending text messages.

[L135F]

I for one was very sad that they didn't do "Synchronicity."

As far as people complaining about everyone texting and talking...it's a freakin ROCK concert. You know what I was pissed about?? All the LAAAAAME people who sat down the entire time in my section and glared at me for standing up and jamming out.
This isn't the ballet, people.

[Bill]

Just a couple of thoughts on the show:

Sting still has a great voice.

Stewart Copeland is amazing.

I wish they would have played Synchronicity.

The crowd energy was lackluster. The place just never got whipped into a frenzy. Could have been an age thing.

I have never seen so many pregnant women at a concert. Were they giving away free tickets at a lamaze class?

[RaiderHawk]

... they're all Sting's children

[astragal]

I really enjoyed the show, but the funniest thing to me was listening to the twenty-somethings behind me. After Elvis left the stage, one guy said to his buddy, "Dude, why didn't he play his one big hit?" His friend asked what he meant, and he said, "You know, 'Smoking Gun', dude." For reals!

[T Fisher]

I attended both the KC & St Louis shows. The wear & tear of touring shows. The St Louis show (last summer) was much better. I attribute much of that to the crowd. The KC crowd was dead. Sting appeared a bit annoyed by the ho-hum crowd. Perhaps KC has been without a venue for too long. Perhaps St Louis' Scott Trade Center has some of the ghosts from the old Keil giving it life.
Did Elvis even do a sound check?

[skeptic]

This was my first time at Sprint Center. I was up in the rafters, and I was surprised at how poor the audio/acoustics seemed to be. I gather that others didn't experience it that way, so maybe we were just in a bad spot, but I actually cannot recall a more disappointing concert (particularly so since it was the most expensive concert I've ever been to).

[UNCLE]

Dear Concert Rookies,

Enough already about the sound system.....all bands travel with their own lighting and sound companies (that explains all the big trucks). And if $59 is the most you've paid for a concert ticket, you haven't been to an arena show since the mid-1990s. By the way, gas is no longer $1.20 a gallon either.

Did Sting say his last KC show was in 1983? IMO, the 25 year wait for The Police was well worth it.

[Tom (Don't Buy from Scalpers)]

I saw the Police in Dallas at the American Airlines Center. Your comments about the Acoustics at Sprint Center were caused by their Sound Crew just like Dallas. Sting's solo shows are soooooo much better. After looking forward to this tour for so long, It was a horrible Dissapointment. They were too cheap to spring for the required backup musicians and vocalists. Consequently, They sounded a lot like their Warm Up Band in Dallas. (Fiction Plane). Which is Sting's Son's Garage Band.

Also explains why they did not attempt Syncronicity or some of the other hits we were looking forward too.

I hope they cashed in their reunion and Sting can get back to making new Exellent Music again. I would not walk across the street to see these guys again. (Incredibly high tickets prices given what they delivered.)

[jme]

Bill: I noticed the same thing about there being so many pregnant women at the show. Probably because the crowd was largely made up of 30somethings.

[John B.]

I was there in 1983. Fifth row center. UB40 opened for them. It was a great concert. This concert was better!
The sound and production values were excellent - especially compared to the muddy sounds from Elvis Costello. EC did a great job at the Uptown and I highly recommend seeing him in a smaller venue. Sting, Andy and Stewart played their hearts out and it was one of the best concerts that I have seen.

[Brandon]

People who actually want to see the Police perform with back-up singers aren't real Police fans.

[Kevin Triebsch]

Great review, Tim. Here's mine from November in Atlanta.
http://noearplugs.blogspot.com/2007/11/81-police-111707.html