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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
 Posted - 01/04/2007 : 11:42:01
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Just heard on CNN that the Police might be getting back together.
Any fans? |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 11:44:51
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Huge fan but only of very early Police.
I got some heaven in my head
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 11:48:03
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| Yeah, the earlier stuff is by far the best. I only got into the early stuff in the 90's after I got a box set. |
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Llamadance
> Teenager of the Year <
United Kingdom
2543 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 11:53:18
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did someone mention crimes against music?
Scratching the surface without a purpose won't accomplish anything new
Upload your Frank photos here - fb.net gallery
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mrgrieves1971
= Cult of Ray =
USA
544 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 12:20:37
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| They have always bored me. Even back when they were cool. Sorry. |
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fbc
-= Modulator =-
United Kingdom
4903 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 13:46:22
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| Me. Though I'm more a fan of this reunion. It might free up Lyle so he can be Frank's wing man, once again. |
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floop
= Wannabe Volunteer =
Mexico
15297 Posts |
Posted - 01/04/2007 : 13:55:38
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maybe he'll do a Staples Center© Police tour, like he did as Sting.
to me that was about as low as you can go |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 10:47:35
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Stuart Copeland is on the panel of that celebrity duets thing that's on at the moment. I always like a song he did, Strange Things Happen, that's used in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre II.
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Daisy Girl
~ Abstract Brain ~
Belize
5305 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 13:49:09
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| Cool what is this celeberity duets thing? I am gussing it might just be on your side of the pond. |
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Ziggy
* Dog in the Sand *
United Kingdom
2491 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 15:14:13
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| Yeah, it is. Be thankful! |
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The New Bolero
= Cult of Ray =
394 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:25:03
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| Who cares? I saw them many, many years ago in Chicago--they played with Joan Jett, The Fixx, Simple Minds and Flock of Seagulls. I got free tickets and just remember it as being a really long day. I think Joan Jett was the best and The Fixx were the worst--by far. |
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kathryn
~ Selkie Bride ~
Belgium
15320 Posts |
Posted - 01/05/2007 : 17:51:49
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quote:
Originally posted by The New Bolero
I think Joan Jett was the best
Oh, I bet. Awesome.
I got some heaven in my head
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two reelers
* Dog in the Sand *
Austria
1072 Posts |
Posted - 01/06/2007 : 07:55:40
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i think police are really great. from the band's perspective, they are somehow like the pixies - a talented and original songwriter, and all of them individual personalities & faboulous musicians (in particular an astonishing drummer). after the break-up, the songwriter started a long ans successfull solo-career...erm. just a thought that came to my mind.
my fav' record is "ghost in the machine" - and the song i like most on there is "invisible sun".
I joined the cult of Souled American / 'cause they are a damn' fine band |
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cassandra is
> Teenager of the Year <
France
4233 Posts |
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hammerhands
* Dog in the Sand *
Canada
1594 Posts |
Posted - 01/08/2007 : 05:09:27
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The Police are one of my favourite bands but I don't think I will ever pay to see them play the back catalogue.
I did see Sting around the time Branford Marsalis was with him, maybe just after, I liked that direction. I think being that famous (for being in a band) must be a burden, now you're never going to please anyone.
Invisible Sun is pretty wonderful and they are all very good musicians.
Some of their songs are very powerful for me. I made an association between a particular girl and Everything She Does Is Magic which always excites my memories. Walking On The Moon mellows me out where very few songs can by themselves change my mood (positively, lots of songs make me irritated and cause me rage or anger).
I've been trying to sing Roxanne for years, it's never better than Eddie Murphy.
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Useyourname
- FB Fan -
185 Posts |
Posted - 01/08/2007 : 07:52:36
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I think it wouldn't hurt Stew to make some extra buck, and get some more credit for being co-founder of The Police. He can't make music for video games forever, and I wasn't crazy about Oysterhead. I WAS crazy about the mash up of "Every Breath You Take" and the theme to Peter Gunn on The Sopranos.
Jimmy |
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HeywoodJablome
* Dog in the Sand *
USA
1485 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2007 : 09:48:13
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I'd like to be at the concert for Canary in a Coalmine and then be on my way.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________
"Well then I hate you...and I hate your ass face!" |
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IceCream
= Quote Accumulator =
USA
1850 Posts |
Posted - 01/10/2007 : 21:41:39
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The Police were great. They actually progressed as time went on. In that respect, they're like Fugazi.
"Tea in the Sahara" is one of my favorite songs. |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2007 : 19:38:44
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http://www.side-line.com/side-line_blog_comments.php?id=21279_0_45_0_C
The Police to record entire reunion tour ?
Posted on 08 Mar, 2007
While concert tickets for their reunion tour are going to be pretty expensive already it seems that the post punk act The Police have found another way to fill some financial gaps left and right. The band, which is to embark on a worldwide tour later this year, would have plans to produce and sell live concert recordings of each gig on their forthcoming tour. Concert goers would be informed the day itself via displays and via a special website that live recordings of the trio Sting, Andy Summers and Steward Copeland, are available for purchase of the night itself.
This move is not exactly new as several other band in the past have done this: Moby, The Pixies, Erasure, Dead Can Dance or yet Depeche Mode. It would however be the first time that such a large band like The Police would launch itself in such a very personal targetted endeavour. Not that they should be frightened of sales not going as planned, because even a smaller act like Dead Can Dance managed to sell out of all individual disc-sets and box-sets from the European leg of their late 2005 tour. Around 500 copies were pressed per show. A short estimate shows us that Sting and Co might well earn an extra 3.200.000 US$ by doing this (considering they would shift up to 120.000 copies during their tour, which according to me is a very reasonable guess). Add to this the various downloaded purchases and you are in for a very nice treat !
This new way of marketing (live) albums is obviously a way to get the listeners back closer to the bands and creating an I-was-there-to atmosphere. Also good to notice is that very company dealing with this kind of live CDs has completely abandonned the instant delivery on the night itself of the actual recordings on CD-R as it became soon clear that this often ended with unplayable CD's, sound problems and so on. Instead every in live concert recording is now being properly produced and shipped off to the fans who signed up for the service within 2 to 3 months after the actual gig took place.
And for those worrying that this would prevent them from having an 'official' release, the release of such live documents does not prevent a later more elaborated release as this now mostly happens in the more versatile DVD format holding a more cleaned up recording of one or more gig cuts.
In related news, here is the list of songs that The Police rehearsed in Vancouver:
1. World Running Down
2. Message
3. Driven to Tears
4. Walking on the Moon
5. Synchronicity II
6. Don't Stand
7. Magic
8. Footsteps
9. Tea in the Sahara
10. Deathwish
11. Demolition Man
12. De Do Do Do
13. Murder by Numbers
14. Spirits
15. Wrapped Around Your Finger
16. Invisible Sun
17. Bed's Too Big
18. One World
19. Bring On
20. King of Pain
21. Shadows in the Rain
22. Roxanne
23. So Lonely
24. Every Breath
25. Next to You
26. Can't Stand Losing You
For more news, check this The Police newspage. |
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two reelers
* Dog in the Sand *
Austria
1072 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 07:34:56
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that's a good setlist
but i'm afraid that the tickets will be very,very expensive....
I joined the cult of Souled American / 'cause they are a damn' fine band |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2007 : 01:24:15
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Tickets will be and are.. sold out. I do wish Canary In A Coal Mine was on the rehearsal list.
Oh, and I got tickets :)
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jeffamerica
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shineoftheever
> Teenager of the Year <
Canada
4307 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2007 : 22:44:47
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i got tickeys too, paid the stupid fanclub membership thingy. i've liked them for a long time, however i do find sting incredibly annoying. i hope they just play the music and don't talk between songs. i second canary in a coalmine.
The waxworks were an immensely eloquent dissertation on the wonderful ordinariness of mankind. |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 03/11/2007 : 23:13:10
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quote:
Originally posted by shineoftheever
i got tickeys too, paid the stupid fanclub membership thingy. i've liked them for a long time, however i do find sting incredibly annoying. i hope they just play the music and don't talk between songs. i second canary in a coalmine.
The waxworks were an immensely eloquent dissertation on the wonderful ordinariness of mankind.
Ditto. Sting is kind of a tool. If they do the songs anywhere close to how they did them on their live albums, I'll be happy. Word is that Sting likes to slow things down, which I think sucks - I like the high energy stuff. He can do his Tantra on his own time, not on my dime!
But in the live-rehearsal thing that they webcast, it looked very promising.
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jeffamerica
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2007 : 16:20:24
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Legacy in the material world
Despite a string of hits, band isn't often cited as a major influence
Amy O'Brian, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, May 28, 2007
THE POLICE
GM Place
Tonight, Wednesday
Sold out
It's a point of pride for bands to name music legends such as the Clash, Neil Young, the Pixies, Nirvana, Bob Marley and others as influences on their individual sound. Music geeks of varying tastes can mostly agree that those are worthy influences for any up-and-coming band.
But as highly anticipated as the Police's big reunion tour may be -- and as big a band as they may have been in the '80s -- when was the last time you heard anyone name them as an influence? When was the last time you saw a hipster sporting a Police T-shirt (and it wasn't meant to be ironic)? When was the last time a contemporary young band covered a Police tune as a tribute to the blond trio's legacy in the rock world?
Such occurrences are not commonplace among those who are serious about their music.
But why? The Police were one of the first bands to popularize the sounds of reggae (along with the Clash). Their sound had an infectious quality that sold out arenas and landed their albums in No. 1 spots. For a brief period in the early '80s they were the biggest band in the world. Yet aside from Sting and his successful solo career, the band virtually fell off everyone's radar by the late '80s.
Matt Hales, the voice and brains of the moody contemporary British pop act Aqualung, developed his musical skills playing Police covers in the attic with his brother. Yet in a recent interview, Hales wasn't exactly singing the praises of his former idols.
"I think that the reason why they seemed to leave no legacy ... I think it was just because they were not exactly for real," Hales said.
"They were kind of opportunists from the word go ... I think they were just kind of three impressive, forceful characters who just sort of fooled the world into thinking they should be the biggest band in the world."
Hales gives the Police credit for the brilliance they exhibited on their hit singles, but says a great deal of their success came from imitating other bands.
"It's sort of seems like they poached a lot from the genuine new wave and kind of passed it off as their idea," he says.
"I think [the Police] are a really odd, a really unique example of something that's so massive and then almost disappeared without a trace. I think it's because it was never really real."
Regardless of whether they were original or "real," the Police still managed to sell out shows all over the English-speaking world. But even back then, critics were wondering what all the fuss was about.
In 1982, the Vancouver Sun's rock critic Neal Hall also asked "Why?" when the Police showed up to play to a sold-out crowd of 16,000 people.
"After all, here they are, a British trio of fake blonds (they dyed their hair for a Wrigley's chewing gum ad, later deciding to keep it that way) that rose from obscurity to international stardom in 18 months," Hall wrote.
"Why are the Police the best new band of the '80s?"
His answer: "Simply because they are not the Beatles, they are not the Rolling Stones, and they're not the Kinks, J. Geils or any of the perennial oldie bands who dominate today's rock scene. Nor do they try to be.
"The Police are a new sound for a new generation. A generation weaned on the sounds of New Wave, punk reggae and electro-pop permutations."
And, as it happens, that generation is now of a certain
age where apparently $225 for a night of pure nostalgia is a no-brainer.
Just don't ask "Why?"
aobrian@png.canwest.com
- - -
You can now listen to every Vancouver Sun story on our new digital edition.
Free to full-week print subscribers or sign up for a 7-day free trial.
www.vancouversun.com/digital.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
Sting
Sun files |
Edited by - Carl on 05/28/2007 16:22:35 |
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Tiny Team Concerts
- FB Fan -
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - 05/28/2007 : 17:43:12
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A friend of mine recently hung out with Stewart at his home in California, and according to him, Stewart claimed that if all went as planned, when everything was said and done, his personal NET share of the expected profits from this reunion tour would amount to approximately $150 million.
And he has barely any stake in the publishing royalties of the band's songs.
Just think about that for a moment.
--
Tiny Team Concerts
"Good music for nice people" |
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shineoftheever
> Teenager of the Year <
Canada
4307 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 00:12:15
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i went to both shows (fanclub and tonights). tonight's was the same setlist as last night but much better, they seemed to work out a few kinks. some songs are still too stingified but they put on a good show. wish i paid less for tickets but at least i can say i was at the first police concerts in 20 plus years.
setlist:
message in a bottle
syncronicity II
don't stand close to me
voices in my head/when the world is running down
spirits in the material world
driven to tears
walking on the moon
truth hits everybody
every little thing she does is magic
wrapped around your finger
bed's to big without you
murder by numbers
de do do do de da da da
invisible sun
walking in your footsteps
can't stand losing you (with the eyo eyay eyayoo's from the beginnig of regatta de blanc thrown in the middle)
roxanne
encore 1
king of pain (sting totally messed it up)
so lonely
every breath you take
encore 2
next to you
The waxworks were an immensely eloquent dissertation on the wonderful ordinariness of mankind. |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 00:30:32
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quote:
Originally posted by Carl
Legacy in the material world
Despite a string of hits, band isn't often cited as a major influence
Amy O'Brian, Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, May 28, 2007
THE POLICE
GM Place
Tonight, Wednesday
Sold out
It's a point of pride for bands to name music legends such as the Clash, Neil Young, the Pixies, Nirvana, Bob Marley and others as influences on their individual sound. Music geeks of varying tastes can mostly agree that those are worthy influences for any up-and-coming band.
But as highly anticipated as the Police's big reunion tour may be -- and as big a band as they may have been in the '80s -- when was the last time you heard anyone name them as an influence? When was the last time you saw a hipster sporting a Police T-shirt (and it wasn't meant to be ironic)? When was the last time a contemporary young band covered a Police tune as a tribute to the blond trio's legacy in the rock world?
Such occurrences are not commonplace among those who are serious about their music.
But why? The Police were one of the first bands to popularize the sounds of reggae (along with the Clash). Their sound had an infectious quality that sold out arenas and landed their albums in No. 1 spots. For a brief period in the early '80s they were the biggest band in the world. Yet aside from Sting and his successful solo career, the band virtually fell off everyone's radar by the late '80s.
Matt Hales, the voice and brains of the moody contemporary British pop act Aqualung, developed his musical skills playing Police covers in the attic with his brother. Yet in a recent interview, Hales wasn't exactly singing the praises of his former idols.
"I think that the reason why they seemed to leave no legacy ... I think it was just because they were not exactly for real," Hales said.
"They were kind of opportunists from the word go ... I think they were just kind of three impressive, forceful characters who just sort of fooled the world into thinking they should be the biggest band in the world."
Hales gives the Police credit for the brilliance they exhibited on their hit singles, but says a great deal of their success came from imitating other bands.
"It's sort of seems like they poached a lot from the genuine new wave and kind of passed it off as their idea," he says.
"I think [the Police] are a really odd, a really unique example of something that's so massive and then almost disappeared without a trace. I think it's because it was never really real."
Regardless of whether they were original or "real," the Police still managed to sell out shows all over the English-speaking world. But even back then, critics were wondering what all the fuss was about.
In 1982, the Vancouver Sun's rock critic Neal Hall also asked "Why?" when the Police showed up to play to a sold-out crowd of 16,000 people.
"After all, here they are, a British trio of fake blonds (they dyed their hair for a Wrigley's chewing gum ad, later deciding to keep it that way) that rose from obscurity to international stardom in 18 months," Hall wrote.
"Why are the Police the best new band of the '80s?"
His answer: "Simply because they are not the Beatles, they are not the Rolling Stones, and they're not the Kinks, J. Geils or any of the perennial oldie bands who dominate today's rock scene. Nor do they try to be.
"The Police are a new sound for a new generation. A generation weaned on the sounds of New Wave, punk reggae and electro-pop permutations."
And, as it happens, that generation is now of a certain
age where apparently $225 for a night of pure nostalgia is a no-brainer.
Just don't ask "Why?"
aobrian@png.canwest.com
- - -
You can now listen to every Vancouver Sun story on our new digital edition.
Free to full-week print subscribers or sign up for a 7-day free trial.
www.vancouversun.com/digital.
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
Sting
Sun files
Wow, that's got to be about the most bitter, pointless article about a band I've ever read. Why not wait until after seeing the show to bash them? Guess she couldn't get tickets.
It's simple. People don't copy or cover the Police because it's pointless. They have a very unique sound.
I know the writer is quoting other sources, but why would someone know that they died their hair for a chewing gum ad, but not know that one of them is not British? And "almost disappeared without a trace"? Absurd. I hear a Police song on the radio, supermarket, sporting event, or what have you almost daily.
I really don't understand why people that don't like a band bother to write about them. So they can brag to their boss about how much hate mail they get? What's the point?
== jeffamerica == |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 05/29/2007 : 00:35:26
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And BTW, it's not "pure nostalgia" for me, or for the 5 other people I'm going with to the show. We were too young to see them live when they were a band.
I saw tons of young kids at Pixies reunion shows, and I bet they were thrilled at the chance to see what we all talked about for years.
I feel it's like that for me. I just hope the show doesn't suck (like the Simon and Garfunkel reunion kind of did). When I hear that they are rearranging all the songs to "make them fresh" and reinterpret them, I get a very bad feeling. I can't stand that crap. No one wants to hear "So Lonely" at half speed with horns and a didgeridoo.
== jeffamerica == |
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Tiny Team Concerts
- FB Fan -
USA
57 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2007 : 08:58:05
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Thought this was funny.
Police drummer rips band's "lame" concert
Fri Jun 1, 2007 7:09AM EDT
By Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The singer in the Police jumps like a "petulant pansy," the drummer is making a "complete hash," and who knows what the guitarist is doing?
Notes from a bitter critic? Actually, it's a disarmingly frank concert review from the aforementioned drummer of the newly reunited rock trio.
A philosophical Stewart Copeland unleashed his vitriol in a posting on his Web site on Thursday, a day after the band played its second show in Vancouver, the Canadian city where it began its first world tour in more than 20 years on Monday.
"This is unbelievably lame," Copeland wrote of Wednesday's show at the GM Place arena. "We are the mighty Police and we are totally at sea."
Most of the 20,000 fans at the venue might not have noticed a series of small flubs, but Copeland, singer/bassist Sting, and guitarist were painfully aware of them.
Copeland started the show off on the wrong foot, literally. He tripped as he took to the stage, and then banged his gong at the wrong time so that "the big pompous opening to the show is a damp squib."
He did not hear Summers' opening riff to "Message In a Bottle," and Sting in turn misheard Copeland's drum intro -- "so we are half a bar out of sync with each other. Andy is in Idaho."
They quickly recovered, but then Sting got his footwork wrong as he leapt into the air to signal the end to a shambolic version of their rat-race rant "Synchronicity II."
"The mighty Sting momentarily looks like a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock," Copeland reported.
"And so it goes, for song after song," he wrote, with tunes such as "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "Don't Stand So Close To Me" reduced to ruin.
"It usually takes about four or five shows in a tour before you get to the disaster gig. But we're The Police so we are a little ahead of schedule," he said.
Fortunately, no fists flew backstage as they did back in the Police's heyday. The threesome fell into each other's arms laughing hysterically, Copeland said.
"Screw it, it's only music. What are you gonna do? But maybe it's time to get out of Vancouver."
The band's next show is set for Saturday in Edmonton.
Reuters
--
Tiny Team Concerts
"Good music for nice people" |
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shineoftheever
> Teenager of the Year <
Canada
4307 Posts |
Posted - 06/01/2007 : 20:30:11
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not only that, they apparently skipped "truth hits everybody" which i thoguht was one of the best performed and most consistent song over the previous two nights.
The waxworks were an immensely eloquent dissertation on the wonderful ordinariness of mankind. |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 06/02/2007 : 00:02:42
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That blog was funny as hell. What's not so funny is that major news outlets were actually reporting it as "there's already animosity in the band" type of stuff when it's perfectly clear if you read the whole blog entry that it;s good natured ribbing.
But I'm not so impressed by the radio ads featuring clips from the show - it;s my worst fears. They are not even performing the songs anywhere close to how they go. I think it's going to be like fingernails on a chalkboard for me unfortunately.
At least The Fratellis are opening up. That should be fun.
== jeffamerica == |
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Carl
- A 'Fifth' Catholic -
Ireland
11546 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 07:00:30
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The Denver Post.
The Police are back on the beat
By Ricardo Baca
Denver Post Pop Music Critic
Article Last Updated: 06/07/2007 11:28:31 PM MDT
Can you imagine the bickering if Sting, Iggy Pop, Frank Black, Phil Collins, Neil Finn and J. Mascis sat down together for a cup of coffee?
To put it mildly, the frontmen from the Police, the Stooges, the Pixies, Genesis, Crowded House and Dinosaur Jr. all have dominating personalities.
Regardless, they could still agree on one thing: Reuniting a band, as all have done, is no easy matter.
"It's not an easy process," Black told The Denver Post when his band, the Pixies, reunited in 2004, "but it's kind of the same now as it was then - other than there's a certain lack of alcohol around now, so everyone is very clear-headed."
Lou Barlow, who was kicked out of Dinosaur Jr. in 1989 by frontman J. Mascis, takes a philosophical attitude. "I guess we just figured out a way to make it work," he said after the group reunited in 2006. "We're all still the same, but there's still a lot of water under the bridge."
So, as fans get ready to hear the Police Saturday and Sunday at the Pepsi Center, they should keep in mind that these late-life band reunions can be complicated. Keep these points in mind as you head to the Can:
1. This band first came together for a reason, i.e, a shared love of music. (1977)
2. This band broke up for a very different reason, i.e, mutual hatred. (1985)
3. This band is back together for a different reason, i.e, a shared love of money. (2007)
That said, sit back, relax and enjoy Stewart Copeland's precision percussion, Andy Summers' reggae-aping guitars and Sting's storied tenor and celebrated delivery. The shows have been getting great marks from everybody - except the band.
Copeland made headlines last week with a blog posting that tore apart his - and his bandmates' - performances in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the second night of the reunion tour.
"This is unbelievably lame," Copeland wrote. "We are the mighty Police, and we are totally at sea."
Suddenly the owners of the 1.77 million tickets already sold to this tour alone are questioning their purchases. (Tickets cost anywhere from $50-$225 at face value in Denver; they were going for twice that earlier this week on eBay.) Copeland's criticism continues at length. Some nuggets:
About Sting's stage presence: "The mighty Sting momentarily looks like a petulant pansy instead of the god of rock."
On some recent changes: "In rehearsal this afternoon we changed the keys of 'Every Little Thing' and 'Don't Stand So Close,' so needless to say, Andy and Sting are now on-stage in front of twenty thousand fans playing avant-garde twelve-tone hodgepodges of both tunes."
On the analysis: "It usually takes about four or five shows in a tour before you get to the disaster gig. But we're the Police, so we are a little ahead of schedule."
On the aftermath: "When we meet up back- stage for the first time after the set and before the encores, we fall into each other's arms laughing hysterically. ... It's only music. What are you gonna do?"
Once upon a time, this band was making music. Now this band is making money. And as refreshingly honest as Copeland's post is, it's also telling. "It's only music." Sure, because they got paid all the same.
There is nothing wrong with a reunion tour. There's not even anything wrong with a band doing it for the money, so long as the music is good and practiced. (Take notice, Police!) We've seen a lot of reunion shows in the past couple of years, and while the Pixies' energy was lacking and Dinosaur Jr.'s tones were questionable, they were still great shows that surpassed the levels of basic nostalgia.
This year's Coachella festival was a weekend of reunions, from Rage Against the Machine to the Jesus and Mary Chain, from Crowded House to Happy Mondays. Everywhere you turned, you were faced with 10-year-old band T-shirts.
But there was Hollywood starlet Scarlett Johansson onstage singing with the Reid brothers of the Jesus and Mary Chain, the group responsible for "Just Like Honey," the song that was the exclamation point at the end of "Lost in Translation." Crowded House played to a stacked Coachella crowd in anticipation of a North American tour that brings the band to Denver on Aug. 22 for a Fillmore gig.
The Police will headline the Bonnaroo festival later this month, and while they'll undoubtedly own the biggest tour grosses of the summer, there's another biggie reunion tour that will be sure to make a healthy chunk of change. Genesis made its world tour announcement a month ago, and that brings the band to Denver on Oct. 6 for a Pepsi Center show.
And on a much smaller level, but important nonetheless, Dinosaur Jr. plays Denver on June 16 at the Westword Music Showcase. The legendary rock band played two nights at the Fox last year, and the gigs were loud, epic and beautiful.
It was great to hear the music live, just as it will be brilliant to hear the Police live this weekend - regardless of the band's nasty squabbling or financial motivations.
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-954-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
| The Police
ROCK|Pepsi Center, 7:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday with Fiction Plane opening|$50-$225| ticketmaster.com, 303-830-8497
Fans can hear the reunited Police this weekend at the Pepsi Center. Tickets for both Saturday's and Sunday's concerts were still available at press time but get ready for sticker shock. (Getty Images / Jeff Vinnick)
Montreal Gazette.
Police reunion: cynical cash-grab or rebirth of cool
T'Cha Dunlevy, Gazette Music Critic
Published: Tuesday, July 24
The reunion tour is as antithetical to the spirit of rock'n'roll as it is an inherent part of it. Every band under the sun, invisible or otherwise, that once had a few hits feels within its rights to reunite. And fans feel compelled - even excited - to join them.
Isn't rock all about youth, uncontained spontaneous expression, and the essence of cool?
The Police were cool, once. From the release of the band's debut Outlandos d'Amour in 1978 to its breakup shortly after 1983's Syncronicity - five compact, action-packed years (with a brief, early-'80s lull) - the Police were the epitome of cool.
I was 9 or 10 when I first heard of the Police at the beginning of the '80s. Our family lived in small-town New Brunswick, and the cool kids up the street (a musical family, whose parents had built their sons a skateboarding half-pipe in the backyard - way cool) were fans.
Arriving in Montreal in 1982, I found the cool kids at my new school were also all about the Police. And Hall and Oates, for some reason. It was a funny yet complementary match: the Police's edgy, angular, atmospheric power pop with Hall and Oates' smooth Philly soul.
It highlights a defining characteristic about the Police, which made the band a hit with kids and grown-ups, and has grown-up kids giddy with excitement at the prospect of seeing three 50-plus-year-old guys hitting the stage one more time: the Police had great songs.
"There are no dead or down spots in Police music," drummer Stewart Copeland said in a May interview with CanWest News Service. "It's always good; we don't allow it to be anything but... Our MO, our means of conquest, is always the song - and we've got these songs that are such a perfect vehicle for our playing."
That perfectionism had the bandmates butting heads like old times in preparation for the current tour, a tour that most thought would never happen.
"It's not a democracy," guitarist Andy Summers told Rolling Stone last month, referring to his band. "It's an ego-cracy. We all have one."
Controlling the Police's clashing egos involved a compression of interpersonal tension and potentially explosive musicianship, and led to a sound that is at once intensely focused and bursting at the seams. A sound that could ride the pop charts while giving rock geeks something to geek out about.
The first song on Outlandos d'Amour is the punk-tinged Next to You. The next two - So Lonely and Roxanne - are near the top of the band's all-time hit list. At album's end come the silly blow-up doll ode Be My Girl - Sally, and the moody, swinging tangent Masoko Tanga.
In other words, depth. Each of the Police's five albums, despite their disparate tones, is a collection of unusual pop songs that consistently push up against the boundaries of the genre, while carrying it confidently forward.
A random sampling only scratches the surface, but here goes: the relentless drive and expansive arc of Message in a Bottle; Walking On the Moon's weightlessness; Don't Stand So Close to Me's ominous build and tempered release; Voices Inside My Head's (and Invisible Sun's) hypnotic pull; Behind My Camel and Secret Journey's esoteric dalliances.
Even the group's biggest concession to the mainstream, the Syncronicity album, while cashing in with Every Breath You Take, is awash in textural experimentation: see the anxious, two-part title track; the jazzy Oh My God and Murder By Numbers; the trippy reveries Wrapped Around Your Finger and Tea in the Sahara; and the wacko lark, Mother.
The Police imploded just in time. At the peak of their popularity, and straddling the line between artistic adventurousness and commercial cave-in, the band stopped before its creativity waned.
Just before. The 14-year-old me followed Sting onto his 1985 solo debut Dream of the Blue Turtles. But in 1987, my mother made the mistake of buying me the followup, ...Nothing Like the Sun. Sorry, mom. Sting wasn't cool anymore.
Which begs the question: Is Sting cool now? Does reuniting with his former bandmates give the tantric yoga master, lute-playing, adult-contemporary cheese-maker a day pass to the good old days?
Ditto for us. Do we get to return to a time when these three men formed the biggest - and best - band in rock? Let us venture a qualified yes, if only because there has been very little in the way of interruption in the band's hiatus of the last 23 years.
The Police have gotten together on a few isolated occasions, but by and large the band has been out of the picture, which makes that snapshot very easy (and appealing) to step back into.
Time ups the ante. There was a genuine euphoria in the room when the reunited Pixies took the stage at the CEPSUM a few years ago (another comeback that was never supposed to happen). Granted, Pixies were a more underground band, and the lapse had been just one decade, not two.
If the buzz over the Police's performance at the Grammys didn't convince you, how about next week's consecutive, nearly sold-out shows at the Bell Centre (and similar feats at arenas across the continent), the band's 30-minute sellout of its upcoming British tour, or the single hour it took for 79,000 tickets to its Sept. 29 appearance at Paris's Stade de France football stadium to disappear. The Police are bigger than they've ever been.
Which brings us back to the cool factor. In the same way your favourite indie band lost significant street cred when it was adopted by the masses, the Police's current resurgence as an overpriced, overhyped, Rolling Stones-style nostalgia act is rather distant from the gritty, DIY spirit of rock'n'roll.
It is equidistant from the band's own beginnings, from its original inspiration and the dynamic tension that spawned it; and we - you, me and everyone we know - are a far cry from the fresh-faced music fans that bought those albums in the first place.
Yet here we are, eager to take a trip in the time machine, to see if the convergence of three iconic musicians we used to worship, and a room full of like-minded disbelief-suspenders can again produce that old lovin' feeling.
Field reports have varied, from celebration of the band's faithfulness to the original material, to disappointment at deviations from it.
Copeland is apparently still an animal on the skins; Summers a solemn but effective mood-setter; and Sting the fearless leader, commended for his ever-youthful appearance and irrefutable charisma.
"At it's best, it is hypnotically mesmerising," said the Daily Telegraph's review of the band's first tour date in Vancouver at the end of May, "sucking you into a sonic and harmonic jigsaw of musical interaction before delivering you back to the comfort zone of the chorus. At its worst, or at least its most self-indulgent, it is baffling, and not only to the audience."
That sounds adventurous, at least - as though those old egos still have something to prove.
The Police perform Wednesday and Thursday at the Bell Centre. Tickets cost $59.50 to 225, available at Admission. Call 514-790-1245 or go to www.admission.com
tdunlevy@thegazette.canwest.com
5 Songs They Gotta Play
Roxanne: Off 1978's Outlandos d'Amour, the band's breakout single - a classic, reggae-inflected plea to a prostitute to turn off the red light.
Message in a Bottle: The group's first No. 1 hit in the U.K., off 1979's Reggatta de Blanc, is a soaring "S.O.S. to the world." Sting hits the high notes with pained conviction.
Don't Stand So Close to Me: Zenyetta Mondatta's brooding, is-it-autobiographical tale (Sting was a former school teacher) of an illicit student-teacher romance; the band's third No. 1 in the U.K.
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic: Off 1981's Ghost in the Machine. Check out the Caribbean influence in the chorus.
Every Breath You Take: Synchronicity's dumb, creepy stalker anthem is also annoyingly infectious. Nothing to be proud of: the song was sampled by Puff Daddy for his 1997 Notorious B.I.G. tribute I'll Be Missing You.
5 Songs It'd Be Cool to Hear
Fall Out: The band's first single, from 1977 - a punky, tuneful tear that predates Outlandos d'Amour.
On Any Other Day: Stewart Copeland's goofy story about a bad day ("My wife has burnt the scrambled eggs, the dog just bit my leg..."), off Reggatta de Blanc.
Shadows in the Rain: A reverb-drenched, jazz-informed head-trip, from Zenyatta Mondatta.
Hungry for You (j'aurais toujours faim de toi): Sting singing in French? They'd be stupid not to, in this city. Off Ghost in the Machine.
Mother: Andy Summers' wailing Psycho-style freakout, from Synchronicity.
© The Gazette (Montreal) 2007 |
Edited by - Carl on 07/26/2007 10:36:38 |
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Jefrey
= Cult of Ray =
USA
918 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2007 : 10:36:15
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The Pixies energy was lacking? Maybe it's because they couldn't breathe! I bet a lot of shows suck in Denver due to lack of oxygen.
== jeffamerica == |
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Police reunion rumors
