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Inasmuch as I am now the same age my father was when the Police released their last studio album, what better time, then, to see the Police in concert, with Elvis Costello opening?
I went with my brother to the second show at Red Rocks. Elvis Costello played a good, short set with “the Imposters” as backers. Highlights included “Alison” with Sting on vocals, and an excellent rendition of “(What’s so Funny ’bout) Peace, Love and Understanding” for the closing number.
The Police played a great couple of sets, featuring just the three of them on stage. They played terrifically well.
Unless I’m mistaken (I didn’t take notes) the first set focused on the solid middle three albums, opening with “Message in a Bottle,” while the second set consisted entirely of songs from Outlandos d’Amour and Synchronicity. They were so evidently having an excellent time (especially Stewart Copeland, who grinned hugely after pretty much every song) that the brooding stuff (“King of Pain,” say) came off pretty insincerely. The brisker material went extremely well: “Every Little Thing She Does,” “De Do-Do-Do,” and especially “So Lonely,” “Can’t Stand Losing You” (with “Reggatta de Blanc” in the middle), “Demolition Man,” and the closer, “Next to You.” They did everything at a high tempo—and volume, with Copeland’s signature cracks being palpable.
In all, a rare example of people who not only had their heyday during the Reagan administration and are still flogging the same material, but who sound even better now.
The Edge of the American West 
54 comments
July 23, 2008 at 9:39 am
ari
The idea that Elvis Costello is opening for anyone, much less the The Police, makes me want to cry. Which isn’t to say that I don’t like The Police; I do (though Sting’s narcissism sets my teeth on edge). Still, we’re talking about Elvis Costello.
July 23, 2008 at 9:41 am
ari
Also, one of the first big concerts I ever saw was The Police with the GoGos opening.
July 23, 2008 at 10:30 am
Luke
Wait, wait… they sound better now? I don’t see how that’s possible if they are shorn of their brooding, punk energy and fronted by the enchantment of the 45,000 sun salutations Sting has done since Shea/1984.
July 23, 2008 at 10:30 am
Luke
(not that I have anything against sun salutations)
July 23, 2008 at 10:52 am
Neddy Merrill
I’m not strongly anti-Elvis but I’m militantly opposed to being too strongly pro-Elvis. I’m not sure why this is. Maybe Ari and I can write up a grant proposal.
July 23, 2008 at 11:16 am
SomeCallMeTim
Wait, wait… they sound better now? I don’t see how that’s possible
Our ability to hear decreases pretty rapidly as we age, if I recall correctly.
July 23, 2008 at 12:54 pm
hubs
Interesting. I thought the tempo knob was turned way down on nearly every song.
July 23, 2008 at 1:12 pm
neocynic
I like the Police fine, even though I tormented my Police-fan friend through the eighties about how wimpy they were. I can’t imagine paying their going ticket prices to see anything short of a miracle, though. And it would have to be a good miracle–not one of those normal ones.
July 23, 2008 at 1:22 pm
eric
It wasn’t the punky broodingness that was absent, it was the concentrated angstiness I associate with _Synchronicity_.
As for tempo, hubs, that may indeed have something to do with age. But I thought they sped through a number of songs that are actually pretty deliberate on the studio tracks.
July 23, 2008 at 2:02 pm
Zach
I must say, after spending nearly a third of what I do on my monthly mortgage to see the Police with a few friends in Boston earlier in the tour (Sting’s son’s band opened up for god’s sake, a band on which I can’t fairly comment because I refused to even leave the bar until I’d been assured they were off of the stage) I was uncomfortably reminded of Jim and Cindy Walsh (that’s right, Brandon and Brenda’s folks on BH 90210) getting all dolled up to see the Rolling Stones, to their children’s mild shame. Sure, the guys sounded fine (Eric, I really can’t agree with better) but it left me feeling old and mildly embarrassed–both for myself and the band. I miss CBGBs…and I wish Elvis Costello was the opening band.
July 23, 2008 at 2:09 pm
urbino
In all, a rare example of people who not only had their heyday during the Reagan administration and are still flogging the same material, but who sound even better now.
Even rarer in this day and age: people who can actually play and sing their own material live.
July 23, 2008 at 2:12 pm
eric
You know why I thought they sounded better, Zach? I liked the stripped-down instrumentation, as against the synthesizers and horns more prominent in their latter days of studio recordings.
July 23, 2008 at 2:20 pm
neocynic
I always thought the most compelling element of the Police was their punk approach to New Wave and Reggae. Punk became irrelevant some time ago (I can appreciate some hardcore through the eighties, but no punk since Green Day opened up shop) because its primary target swallowed it. Now the Police are really just nostalgia to me, and I can’t get too worked up over that.
July 23, 2008 at 2:49 pm
eric
neocynic, you’re taking a sophisticated approach to pop music. Which I’m too much a rube to do. I mean, I expect going to see Bobby Short do Gershwin tunes at the Carlyle was an exercise in nostalgia, too. But I _liked_ it.
July 23, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Zach
Fair enough Eric, but I tried to forget that Synchronicity ever came out from the very first time I heard it. I did appreciate them dipping into their earlier material for the most part on this tour, they were just never meant to be an arena band. Neocynic nails it, nostalgia, it’s hard to overlook all the terrible water under the Police bridge–really Sting’s bridge to be honest–since 1980s. I’d have been happier seeing a Specials reunion tour.
July 23, 2008 at 3:32 pm
potchkeh
The idea that Elvis Costello is opening for anyone, much less the The Police, makes me want to cry.
Last year he opened for several Dylan shows, one of which I saw. Just him, solo. Magnificent. Nothing to cry about. This, however, is indeed a very disturbing development.
July 23, 2008 at 3:40 pm
Luke
Gotta say, I liked a lot of Sting’s earlier solo work, especially the stuff featuing Branford Marsalis-Kenny Kirkland-Omar Hakim. Maintained some of the deep groove that he had brought to The Police.
The Police were so driven by their youth, Copeland’s insanity, and that late-70s syncretic moment in rock that I can’t see how listening to them live now could pack the same vital energy. I’ve seen some of the live footage placed up against a live show from 1981 or so… same music, different band.
July 23, 2008 at 3:50 pm
neocynic
neocynic, you’re taking a sophisticated approach to pop music. Which I’m too much a rube to do.
I’m framing that, because I usually spend all of my time on this blog agog at the intellects at work, and I can only flail around with lame jokes to compensate.
Also:
They were so evidently having an excellent time (especially Stewart Copeland, who grinned hugely after pretty much every song) that the brooding stuff (“King of Pain,” say) came off pretty insincerely.
In every interview I’ve seen with Copeland in the last twenty years he’s looked like somebody shot his puppy when the Police split, and he never got over it. I can only imagine his glee at this reunion. He’s a hell of a drummer, too. I’m actually really happy for him.
July 23, 2008 at 4:54 pm
ben wolfson
Even rarer in this day and age: people who can actually play and sing their own material live.
Har har har and all, but also not true.
July 23, 2008 at 4:55 pm
neocynic
Are they not singing and/or playing their own material?
July 23, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Brad
I would just like to say that in honor of this thread, I am listening to Peanuts by the Police.
I swear, Sting was kidnapped by aliens sometime around 1983.
July 23, 2008 at 6:01 pm
ac
The recent story about Sting frequenting brothels retroactively ruined “Roxanne” for me. No solo Sting weirdness had managed to touch the earlier work until that point; not The Soul Cages; not the jazzy-worldy mumbo jumbo; not even that video with line-dancing aliens; but the retroactive lack of fictionalizing did.
July 23, 2008 at 6:02 pm
matt w
Not even the lutes?
July 23, 2008 at 6:07 pm
matt w
I also maintain that a close reading of “Secret Journey” reveals that Sting was always kind of an ass. Not that it isn’t a great song!
July 23, 2008 at 6:11 pm
ac
He should have been denied a lute license.
July 23, 2008 at 8:43 pm
eric
So, my flight was delayed an hour, which gave me some time to think further random thoughts:
(1) Elvis C. vs. The Police: I still have Elvis Costello in rotation on my iPod; my Police collection never made the transition to CD, let alone mp3.
(2) Of course it was an exercise in nostalgia; they haven’t had a new album in twenty-five years—you knew that going in, Zach;
(3) On getting “dolled up”: I was relieved to see there were no dumb costumes, a la the Synchronicity tour (Sting did have a Metropolitan Police shield (with the ER in the middle) on his bass strap, and Andy Summers had a guitar strap saying, “My God, They’ve Killed Kenny!” with appropriate illustrations)
(4) Further to (2), Elvis Costello didn’t play anything later than his 1985 hits collection—i.e., not even “Veronica,” which was on the charts when I was in college, and I quite liked;
(5) Sting’s solo career showed him indulging the respective vices characteristic of Lennon and McCartney—earnest politics and the determination to bury perfectly good pop hooks under ridiculous instrumentation. We might reasonably believe that Summers and Copeland exerted enormous salutary influence in terms of channeling his talents in productive directions.
(6) Are you kidding me? There’s another delay?
(7) The best concert I ever went to was Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, off of Let Me Up, I’ve Had Enough, so around 1987. It was good because they are an excellent band (Stan Lynch is an extremely capable rock-n-roll drummer) and they were relaxed and enjoying themselves. Roger McGuinn came on for a few Byrds numbers. About two-thirds of the way through the band simply started asking the audience for requests—non-Heartbreakers songs—and they did a couple, including “Do You Wanna Dance.”
Although seeing the Dead Milkmen in a dive bar was also pretty fun.
July 23, 2008 at 9:05 pm
ari
I saw X play with The Replacements in a tiny soft-seat theater (a converted movie house) on the West Side of Cleveland in, oh, 1983? That was the best show ever. The Replacements did The Battle Hymn of the Republic as their encore — seated. And Exene, for whom I brought flowers, gave me an autograph and a kiss (I still haven’t washed that cheek — or that cheek). Billy Zoom, who since turns out to be a crazed racist, gave me his guitar pick. And DJ Bonebrake gave me his sticks. John Doe avoided my gaze, probably because he was jealous that Exene was so into me.
I also saw REM play in a tiny club in Cleveland around the same time, but perhaps a bit later than that. And, more recently, I saw Gang of Four in a small club — again in Cleveland. Oh, finally, I saw the Violent Femmes when they were touring in support of their first album. What year was that? I really don’t know. Probably 1984(ish) or ’85. Anyway, they played in Finney Chapel (yes, named for Charles Grandison Finney), which is one of the great venues to see live music in the United States. One of the audience members screamed out, between songs, “Are you feminists?” And Gordon Gano, who I don’t think had yet embraced Jesus Christ as his lord and savior, shouted back: “No. We’re female separatists.” Finally, I saw Marcus Roberts play Snug Harbor in NOLA when I was down there doing research for my dissertation. It was the second show, which usually doesn’t start in that venue until midnight or so. Around 1:30(ish), the whole Marsalis clan got up on stage with Roberts. Actually, I don’t think what’s-his-name was there. But certainly Jason, the youngest brother, along with Wynton, Delefayo, and their father, Ellis, made the scene. That was pretty great also. I’m sure I’m forgetting others. But the newspaper research that’s making my head hurt is calling out to me.
I hope you get home soon. Safe travels.
July 23, 2008 at 9:25 pm
ben wolfson
neocynic: no, I meant it’s not rare.
July 23, 2008 at 9:28 pm
ben wolfson
I wonder how often I’ve read that X anecdote now.
Eric: I find it somewhat baffling that anyone has ever taken Tom Petty seriously.
Sting gets some cred from me for having played a hurdy-gurdy during some awards show or other; I think the Oscars.
July 23, 2008 at 9:30 pm
ari
I wonder how often I’ve read that X anecdote now.
I’m old, Ben; I’m prone to repeating myself. Maybe I should run for president.
July 23, 2008 at 9:31 pm
ari
Also, just because you weren’t born yet in the early 80s doesn’t mean that you have to be bitter that you missed many of the great bands.
July 23, 2008 at 10:15 pm
eric
Eric: I find it somewhat baffling that anyone has ever taken Tom Petty seriously.
I find this a baffling comment. I enjoyed listening to the Heartbreakers cover a Bobby Freeman song. Does this amount to an argument for taking them seriously? I suppose this is similar to neocynic’s comment, above. Guys, you want to think seriously about pop music, power to you. I don’t.
Not long ago someone explained to me that the Sex Pistols were superior to the Clash because Joe Strummer was middle class, and therefore the rebellious posture was inauthentic. I mean, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand the argument, but I just don’t care to have that kind of argument about what is, you know, rock and roll.
July 23, 2008 at 10:17 pm
ben wolfson
By “take seriously” I meant “listen to voluntarily”.
July 23, 2008 at 10:22 pm
eric
Ah, well, these are very different things, as I’m sure you know. And inasmuch as I can’t imagine anyone would voluntarily listen to much of the music you program on your radio show, I think we can safely say we have differing tastes in this department.
July 23, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Vance Maverick
Eric, the kind of argument you quote from “someone” above doesn’t have much to do with taking music seriously. To Ben’s formulation of “listen to voluntarily” I would add “with full attention”.
Then afterwards one can make arguments about the music, as a way of grappling with the experience (or thinking about making more music) — but the arguments are necessarily pretty far from what one does while listening to the actual sound of “Tommy Gun” or what have you.
July 24, 2008 at 6:26 am
eric
Vance, the argument about the Clash was in response to what I thought Ben was saying, not what his clarification made evident he was saying.
If you want me to make an argument about why one should listen to Tom Petty with full attention, I could do that: I would say that at least his earlier output has a certain interest, musical and lyrical, in giving expression to a New South outlook.
But as you say, that’s very different from what one actually does while listening to the music—or indeed from why one might actually listen to the music.
My point in bringing up TP & the HB was to say, this is a reason one might enjoy a concert—to piggyback on urbino’s comment, it’s not actually all that common to find a good rock and roll band capable of just playing music extremely well, live. Pop music is, as we all know, largely the product of studio engineering. And just as there’s something worthwhile, still, about live theater—even in this advanced age of cinema—there’s something worthwhile, still, about live music.
But that something is necessarily an appreciation more of craftsmanship than of art, I think; a band that performs well live might not have significance or relevance but might play music rather well, and with joy. Hence, too, my observation about Bobby Short—there’s little that’s more irrelevant or insignificant than Tin Pan Alley music played today (or ten years ago or whenever it was) but that doesn’t stop it from being an extraordinarily worthwhile aesthetic experience.
July 24, 2008 at 6:50 am
Hiram
I saw the Police in 1983 and while I love their music I almost fell asleep during the concert. Perhaps they’ve picked it up in their old age. That said, I recently saw Costello open for Dylan and he stole the show. Enjoy.
July 24, 2008 at 7:54 am
Vance Maverick
I can buy that, Eric. I would underline only the subjectivity of the judgment, not only of “craftsmanship” but of the “art” level — we’re always finding that some neglected figure is more rewarding than we thought.
July 24, 2008 at 8:29 am
silbey
If anybody breaks out footnotes, I’m going home.
July 24, 2008 at 12:31 pm
ben wolfson
And inasmuch as I can’t imagine anyone would voluntarily listen to much of the music you program on your radio show
So are you saying that … you’ve listened to it? (Maybe ari made you?)
I admit I’m only familiar with Tom Petty’s radio hits, but they’re all so blah and obvious. “Well I won’t back down, / no I won’t back down / you could stand me up at the gates of hell / but I won’t back down / Gonna stand my ground, won’t be turned around” … cram it with walnuts, pal. (It’s not just the inanity of the lyrics, though they’re plenty inane; the music is totally generic and not even worthy of being Dad Rock, and the delivery of the vocals is completely artless, and not in that good buttsex way. Like if someone had to jog him every few words to get him going again.)
July 24, 2008 at 12:34 pm
ari
I’ve tried to make Eric do things, Ben. My efforts have been fruitless.
July 24, 2008 at 12:50 pm
neocynic
and the delivery of the vocals is completely artless, and not in that good buttsex way.
It looks like English, but I’ll be damned if I can make any sense of it . . .
July 24, 2008 at 12:56 pm
eric
Is it worth pointing out that condemning Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers on the basis of your dislike of Tom Petty’s blah solo radio hits is approximately identical to condemning the Police on the basis of your dislike of Sting’s blah solo radio hits?
July 24, 2008 at 12:58 pm
ben wolfson
Probably?
July 24, 2008 at 1:07 pm
bitchphd
I like Tom Petty.
July 24, 2008 at 1:10 pm
eric
Probably?
OK, consider it pointed out.
July 24, 2008 at 1:23 pm
Josh
Is anyone here really going to seriously make the argument that “American Girl” isn’t a great song?
Yeah, not a lot of the rest of the Heartbreakers’ or Petty’s solo stuff lives up to that standard. Neither does much other music.
July 24, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Josh
we’re always finding that some neglected figure is more rewarding than we thought
That’s because nobody ever talks about the neglected figure they realized was justifiably ignored. (This comment brought to you by the Girls Vs. Boys album my iPod just kicked up on shuffle. I didn’t like it at the time I bought it, even though I felt like I should; 10 years later, nope, it still doesn’t work.)
July 24, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Walt
“American Girl” is even a good song?
July 24, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Josh
I can’t help it that you’re dead inside, Walt.
July 24, 2008 at 3:03 pm
ben wolfson
It’s no “Tecumseh Valley”, that’s for sure.
July 24, 2008 at 4:12 pm
bitchphd
No, but Southern Accent and Don’t Come Around Here No More are.
July 24, 2008 at 4:46 pm
neocynic
Yoikes. “Don’t Come Around Here No More” makes me want to stab myself in the neck. I like “Refugee” quite a bit. I’ll have to look up “Southern Accent”–if I’ve heard it, I didn’t catch the title.
For the most part, though, Petty seems to me a Dylan wannabe without inspiration.
July 31, 2008 at 9:09 am
George Michael « The Edge of the American West
[…] current events by Neddy Merrill I was going to write this up as a sort of parody of Eric’s Police review but on re-inspection his post doesn’t really give me anything sufficiently ridiculous […]