The Police @ Oakland Coliseum 06/13/07

[El Dingo]

DM is probably the only one of us that regularly attends stadium concerts. I had forgotten the glamour and excitement of paying $10.00 for a cup of beer and climbing narrow concrete steps to my seat 500 yards from the stage.

After a relatively fun set from Scottish alt-rockers, The Fratellis, we settled in our luxurious plastic seats and waited for the magic to happen.

Sting, Andy Summers and Stuart Copeland trotted onto the stage a few minutes before 9:00pm. Lights flashed, the audience roared and the band launched into 'Message in a Bottle'. Sting looked about 20 years younger than 57 in his sleeveless white t-shirt. His yoga-trained body glistened as he cavorted around the stage, fingers deftly plucking the strings of his bass guitar and generally wowing the crowd.

Stuarts drumming was nothing less than stunning. He was doing things live that I always thought were overdubs. He alternated between his standard drum kit and a percussion setup, throwing sticks to the crowd on a regular basis.

Andy Summers really likes wonky, experimental guitar sounds. He played live what he couldn't do in the studio for fear of alienating the listener. His solos were long, drawn out sections of squeaks and squonks. Very experimental, very interesting to hear in the context of top-40 hits.

They played most of their hits, although they skipped 'Synchronicity I' and 'Canary in a Coalmine', which I would have chosen over 'This Bed's Too Big Without You'.

It was a tight show and I was impressed how big 3 instruments could sound. I think my only complaint was more about the venue. Bad seats, overpriced food, and getting back to Bart was a human cattle-drive. I would also have liked to have seen a more elaborate stage. Flashing lights are pretty but I like giant props, fireballs and exploding drummers.

It was fun but I'd only go again if they played somewhere smaller, like my living room.

[Greg_phpbb3_import1]

I saw them play the US Festival (That was only a couple years ago, right) and then they promptly broke up. Grrr. They were awesome. I didn't get plastic seats, but I did get to stand in line for chicken for the entire performances of the B-52's and the Talking Heads.

Are we waiting for a new Police Album? I'm still a little ambivalent about the reunion. Sting stood firm in his belief that it was best to quit at the top. What prompted the change beside the poor performance of the Lute album?

[Drunk Monk]

I was in the dugout almost all night, just posing and watching the show. So was Mrs. Dm. It was very enjoyable. So many memories attached to those songs. It was the first time I saw them together.

Totally agree about Sting. He looks great. Must be all that yoga and tantric sex. I've seen Sting many times (he even opened for the Dead in Vegas once) and he was often to serious for me. I remember he was the first to come out with $50 sweatshirts and at the time, Dm was aghast. With the Police, he actually seemed to be having some fun.

Totally agree about Copeland. He's a phenomenal drummer, freaking all over the place, an amazing amount of energy output for an old dude. I had seen him before with Oysterhead (Claypool and Anastasio) at the Greek and was very impressed, but I'm pretty into Trey and enjoy Les, so I didn't focus on Stuart as much as I did with the Police.

Totally agree about Summers. They could have turned him up in the mix much more. I was delighted to hear them deviate from their pop standards, to really jam and reinterpret some of their tunes, and it seemed to me that most of that innovation was coming from Andy.

Totally disagree about the Bed's to Big Without You, which was the one tune I really wanted to hear because it's always been a personal favorite. I love the way the reggae baseline spilled over into that funky drum staccato stutter in Wednesday night's version, although I would have enjoyed it even more if they played it as a straight up traditional reggae version, which I've heard before in some live recording and really enjoyed.

Somewhat disagree about the stage. The minimalist approach worked for me. The Police are a titanic three piece. It's amazing that three guys could create such a huge sound. I thought the mix was a little rough, however. They didn't have the acoustics of McAfee nailed quite right and tried to compensate by upping the volume.

I train with this Hell's Angel who knows the tour manager. According to him, the Police plan to take this tour through South America and Europe, and then they will double back through the states and play smaller amphitheaters.

Oh, totally agree about the food. We got there late and the Rock Med veggie selection was already picked over. Mrs. Dm wasn't feeling well, so Dm was forced on a quest for something edible and reasonable. The best he could do was a $6.50 slice of Round Table cheese, cleverly shaped in an oval and cut into four pieces to give the illusion that it was a whole pie.

Dm was arguing that the Police was the biggest reggae band after Marley. Others scoffed, but when the show opened with Marley's Get up, Stand up, Dm felt vindicated.

Dm only did one call. Some dude tried to steal home at the end of the show. There was a dog pile of security on top of him by the time Dm got there. Dm did a little crowd control, then let the police take him away.

ED, where were you seated? Also, are you going to be at Roger Waters next Tuesday? If so, stop by Rock Med for old times sake.