See "The Police" play live when they reunite

Done this. It was great. Few words necessary. Truly wonderful.

J.

adding this to my other 43things – not least because they postponed the gig!!!

...was great! I had such a good time. I was dancing so much and singing along to all the songs I knew, which turned out to be quite a few. It seemed they did the same show others have already written down, and it would be impossible for me to write down the set list 5 days later with my sister’s wedding and the dokumenta12 in between.
But my impression was that they really enjoyed playing together and the crowd had a 1 1/2 hours concert worth their money.
My favourite was of course King of Pain, since they didn’t play Bring on the Night.

Today, I will see them. It is so exciting. This is maybe the longest lasting goal I’ve ever had finally accomplished, as I said about ten years ago that if these three men should ever play together again, I want to be there.
And tonight, I will be able to tick it off the list. The strange thing is that it seems so unreal that I am not sure I really want it to be over. I can’t look forward to it anymore. But I still am right now, and I think I will have a great time.

Awesome. Just fucking awesome.

I was really looking forward to see The Police. they were a great band back in the day but they broke up before I was eight, and I didn’t have the opportunity to see them live. Plus one of my favourite bands was opening for them: Sloan. Things were looking good.

Unfortunately, Sloan’s opening set was NOT very good. I was really disappointed: it sounded like they hadn’t rehearsed until a few days before the show. At one point, they were noticeably out of time with each other. I guess they’re better at playing smaller venues than they are stadiums.

Then, enter The Police. Overall, a good show: a lot of the numbers were down-tempo, which bothered me a little, but I guess the guys were showing their influences, or their ages, or both on their sleeves. The crowd around me was kind of a let-down: my then-fiancée and I were the only ones within a four-person radius that were dancing. The rest were all sitting down and barely tapping their feet. However, they hooked the crowd back in with “Roxanne” (a good song but still overrated, I think), and then kept it at that level for the rest of the show. A good concert that I was happy to go to, and a great birthday present. Something I’d never thought I’d see, and am glad I did.

I can’t even describe the feeling I had as they started out with message in a bottle…I was just standing there (well, jumping in place, really) thinking, “I cannot believe this happening…hearnig message in a bottle live was not supposed to happen in my lifetime.” Can’t stand losing you was AWESOME, as was invisible sun. I felt sometimes things were a little anemic in comparison to the originals, just because these jazz musicians were really emphasizing the jazz/jam parts of certain songs that 25 years ago were really fresh and new sounding because they just had a TASTE of that, but it was still brilliant. and they played so lonely…my word, as they ended, I was thinking “I will just CRY if they don’t play so lonely.” But they did. Truly wonderful…I wish I could do it again.

Yes, it’s finally here! Tomorrow night we get to see The Police, and if that’s not good enough, Sloan is opening for them! I’ve loved Sloan for a long time, probably seen them six or seven times live now, so to have them open for The Police is sweet pop-rock icing on a delicious pop-rock cake. The only thing that’s making me a little worried is that there might be a thunderstorm tomorrow night, which could put a damper on things, but as soon as I focus on getting to see THE MOTHERLOVIN’ POLICE it gets put in perspective.

Can’t wait!

Fortunately we got in touch with Norm in time to drop Isak off and get there for the tail end of the opening band (Fiction Plane).

The show was truly great. They were energetic and fresh without a trace of the old bitterness. The sound and lights were excellent, our seats (high behind the stage) were so much better than I’d anticipated, and the band was bang on brilliant. They seemed joyful to be playing and so appreciative of the crowd, who was going nuts. There was singing. There was dancing. There were lighters.

It wasn’t like one of those “dusty band gives it another go after 20-some years and churns out a few old hits before throwing a bunch of new half-ass songs at you” shows. Not that I thought it would be. A lot of the songs had been re-tooled, but in a good way (although if you’re a total purist about your music, this might throw you a bit). It was nostalgic yet new. Satisfying.

So now I’ve been there. And done that. And bought the t-shirt (actually it was a ridiculously pricy wife-beater and Markus bought it for me, but I love it. I pulled a Flashdance in my seat and wore it during the show).

Go. If you can go… go! It was worth the heft in the tag. Really.

A friend is coming to fetch the second pair of tickets from us and then we’re off!! The reviews from Monday night were great.

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/arts/story.html?id=d670b44c-d72e-440b-9afd-5770877b46ad