After dining at the lovely Ristorante Luci, we went to see The Police concert at the Xcel Energy Center this week. Couldn’t justify the $225 tickets, but the $50 seats we had weren’t bad.
I had attended the last Twin Cities show of the band–the Synchronicity Tour at the Met Center in 1983. It was the first big concert I got to attend by myself and I remember being blown away by the energy and power of the performers and the great songs.
After reading some of the reviews of the shows from this tour, it sounded like the years had treated the band well and that they were playing with a lot of energy and passion (not just for a big payday). Unfortunately, that wasn’t the show we got to see on Tuesday night.
Two songs into the set, I was laughing at how little Sting and Andy Summers were moving around. When Sting did finally move from his mic stand, he took one leisurely stroll around the stage to wave at the people in back sections. That was about it for stage theatrics.
We watched the facial expressions of all three of them on the big screens and that provided some interesting moments. Stewart looked like he wanted to kill Sting for most of the show and Andy looked like an old English barrister who showed zero emotion–even during his excellent guitar solos. Stewart had all the old guy gear: black headband, wrist guards and what looked like braces on his feet. Sting was extremely pissed–then happy–at the sound board guys during Roxanne (which he sang the same way he’s been doing solo for 20 years).
As the locals papers mentioned in their reviews, the re-working of several songs fell flat. My biggest disappointment was Don’t Stand So Close To Me, which started off as the dark, foreboding song it was meant to be, but degraded when they got to the chorus, switched tempo and made it a happy, Calypso ditty. Bah.
I thought the show got better as it went along and I was happy they did multiple encores, but I would have been really mad if I had paid $450 for the chance to be there.
Set List (from Jon Bream’s Pop Life blog):
1. Message in a Bottle 2. Synchronicity II 3. Walking on the Moon 4. Voices in My Head/When the World Is Running Down 5. Don’t Stand So Close to Me 6. Driven to Tears 7. Truth Hits Everybody 8. Bed’s Too Big without You 9. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic 10. Wrapped around Your Finger 11. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da 12. Invisible Sun 13. Walking in Your Footsteps 14. Can’t Stand Losing You
Encores: 15. Roxanne 16. King of Pain 17. So Lonely 18. Every Breath You Take 19. Next to You
