The Police

Air Canada Centre
Toronto, Ontario
July 23, 2007

The irony in seeing the Police lies in that I was offered the ticket, $240 face value, for $150 by a COP. Yes people, the police, sold me my Police ticket!

We arrived just in time to get situated and down a beer. The opening act, Sting's son's band, had just finished 5 minutes before we showed up. The seats couldn't have been better. I was so close I could spit on Sting from where I was sitting. I've been a Police fan since I was a kid. Back in 1980 listening to "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Don't Stand So Close To Me" seemed like yesterday along with the Van Halens and the AC/DCs I was pounding into my brain around the same time. The tunes were so strong they stand the test of time with ease.

You just don't get music like this anymore. NOBODY makes music as good as this nor has the ability to pull it off like these guys did. Name me a new band that's as good as these guys were and I'll eat my fuckin hat. Well never mind "were".. Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers got together, plugged in and played as if they'd never been apart. When I saw them on the MTV music awards playing live for the first time I was blown away. I expected SOMETHING to go wrong.. how many bands can walk away for that long and NOT have something bugger up musically, even if just a minor mess up?

I didn't hear ANY fuck ups at all. Same with the show at the ACC. I don't recall a single glaring error. These guys are the real meal deal. I was never a fan of Sting's solo shit. It always just seemed so pretentious and conceited, as if poking at the layman on the street saying "you're just too stupid to listen to and/or enjoy MY solo efforts".. Fine. I'll rerun the Police til the cows come home then. Ignorance is bliss.

One cool thing I noticed was the Police had some pretty cool souvenir type stuff that was NOT incredibly over priced. Sure a lanyard for $15 is a bit steep yet affordable but a vintage poster for $10 and a plethora of buttons and little wee shit for a couple bucks each beats almost any merch table hands down. The show was just great. Sting looked completely relaxed, at home really, with what looked like a couple oversized cups of coffee he kept pulling from and his age old Fender bass worn by time, slung over his shoulder. He used the same bass for every song. Not one instrument change other than some little pipes he had strapped to the mic stand and pulled out for only one tune. Right from the first tune, "Message in a Bottle", to the last encore, the audience was on it's feet showing total respect for 3 of the best musicians ever assembled on a rock stage.

The stage itself was fairly meager; a couple cute effects with the lighting rig and a useful round stage layout with Stewarts massive percussion rig taking up a large part of the middle of the stage afforded the band exactly what they needed. An arena for PLAYING music, not so much SHOWING it. I thought I might need earplugs being so close but the superb sound didn't once pierce my concert damaged aural receptacles as had been done the week before at the Grady show in Brantford.

Before the show I thought to myself, are they gonna play all those killer songs, all my favourites, or are they gonna try and pull out all the obscure stuff? Are they gonna go on and on with Sting's shit, how about Stew's or Andy's? I didn't WANT to hear any of the new shit. I wanted to get a taste of THE POLICE. LIVE. And that's what I got. They played EVERY tune I wanted to hear. My only disappointment lies in the way they play my absolute favourite Police tune, "Don't Stand So Close To Me"... The live version always leaves me wishing they could pull it off just like studio but they make up for it with so many other tunes I can't really complain at all.

If you get the chance, even with a nosebleed seat, to see these guys, just do it. It's well worth the mucho deniero to see these three spirits in the material world.

The Police Official Web Site

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