The sound of The Police

I made my parents ballistic with the music I listened to and bashed out on my drumkit as a teenager. They often wondered aloud, with a snicker, whether I’d be listening to the same crap when I’m 40. I sometimes wondered the same thing.

I’m not quite 40 yet, but I am one of those old geezers that is ecstatic to hear that The Police have reunited and are hitting the road for the first time in nearly 25 years. I have to admit that I am fairly surprised that I still love The Police, as much as ever. Stewart Copeland is still by far my favorite drummer of all time.

I pretty much gave up on a reunion ever happening. I assumed it was for the best, considering their solo careers have produced some truly wretched and embarrassing music. However, seeing them play the Grammy’s and then reading this gave me a lot of hope…

The trio played a short set of material this morning, including “Message in a Bottle,” a medley of “Voices Inside My Head” and “When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What’s Still Around,” and “Can’t Stand Losing You,” which featured band members yelling out upcoming chord changes to one another. They also played their breakthrough hit, “Roxanne,” which they performed to open the Grammys last night.

Sting said the tour would be a stripped-down affair, with no backing vocalists or horn sections. “It’s going to be three guys on stage–that’s all,” he said. The setlist will consist entirely of material from the Police–none from Sting’s solo career, he later added.

They seem to be going back to their roots, playing the raw music live and improvised. To me they were never a rock band. They were a funk, punk, reggae, and jazz trio with pop hooks and catchy, clever lyrics. They were a white version of James Brown, Bob Marley, and Miles Davis. They were true musicians who knew how to play their asses off.

I was mostly interested in the bootlegs. My brother and I would hunt for bootlegs in the Village at places like Bleaker Bob’s and Second Coming. I amassed a great collection of records, cassettes, and even videos, that cost an absolute fortune. But it was worth it. Every performance was different. You could hear the music evolve with each tour – the jam in the middle of a track from one tour would evolve into a new song several albums later.

It’s taken a while, but now most of those bootlegs that I had are available as BitTorrents or even on YouTube. Plus, many others I had never heard or seen before.

It’s interesting to see the band vanish in the 80’s and reappear in the era of the world wide web. They announced their tour online, setting up an online fan club. I’m a pretty die hard Police fan, but there’s no fucking way I’m going to pay $100 to get “exclusive” video and advance ticket sales – tickets that will themselves cost $200+. Nevertheless, I’m sure there are plenty of people coughing that up – it’s a smart, if not shamelessly greedy, strategy. If they were really smart, they would sell copies of their shows online. That I might actually buy.

Here are some choice clips from YouTube:

On events, music @ 15/02/2007 | By Philip

6 Comments

  1.  Wayne | February 16, 2007 @ 5:48 am

    I’m wondering – who is going to pay 100-200$ to go see the Police in a basketball stadium? I guess there are millions of people from the 80s who had their albums and now have money to spend.

    Are they:
    -People that liked Synchronicity; nostalgic for all great pop of the 80s
    -People like you that were fans from the first album to last
    -Sting fans that will go see it because of Sting
    -Musician geeks that like really tight snare drums (you are included here also) or bleeding edge guitar pedals from 1978.

    Interesting collection of videos – there should be a page with all of them in chrono order. If anything else to chart the decline of 80s fashion – though to Stewart and Andy’s credit, they were never fashionable enough to fit the stereotype for bad 80s fashion.

  2.  Philip | February 17, 2007 @ 9:13 am

    I doubt many teens / young adults would be buying tickets. So it really would be all the geezers like me. I’d have a really hard time bringing myself to pay that much money to go see it. If I was convinced that they were in top form and playing good material I’d go for it.

    As far as seeing a band in a basketball stadium – I’ve seen some good shows in stadiums. It’s definitely not the best venue, but a great show can still be seen in those stadiums.

    If Miles Davis rose from the dead and played in those stadiums, in his top form, for $200 a ticket would you go?

  3.  Wayne | February 19, 2007 @ 6:21 am

    Yeah, I remember seeing shows in stadiums when I was younger and thinking they were very good. I wonder if I would think that now. Both in terms of my tastes in music have changed and after seeing a lot of -amazing- shows in small clubs, I’m spoiled.

    Obviously it depends where you are in the stadium. If the floor is open and you are in the front, it’s similar to seeing a show at a smaller venue. The other issue is the sound – stadiums are echo chambers.

    Regarding Miles – in his top form, meaning with his top bands, yes. Remember we saw him on his last tour at Academy of Music in Philadelphia? I’m not sure I would pay 200$ to see that show again. But I would never pay anything to sit on the second level of a stadium. Might as well wait for the live DVD.

  4.  Philip | February 19, 2007 @ 10:01 am

    The long tailer and realist/bootlegger in me agrees with the concept of “give the music away and sell the show” (http://www.longtail.com/the_long_tail/2007/01/give_away_the_m.html). I know that in the case of the Police it is guaranteed that there will be a concert DVD released. Therefore, the fidelity of that product will be much higher than the live show. The only incentive to see the show is:
    - to say and know “I was there”
    - to be part of and absorb the energy of a massive audience
    - audio fidelity aside, being in a big space with a massive sound is impressive and can be somewhat intoxicating

    Rationally speaking, the DVD is by far the superior long term, and even short term, investment. It’s cheaper, it’s better quality, and it lasts “forever”.

    Emotionally speaking, I am still drawn to being part of that social energy, having that personal, visceral experience and a lasting memory of the experience.

    So if the DVD were given away, or ‘podcasts’ from every show were given away, would I still have a reason to buy tickets to see it live?

    If I could expect that it would be a good performance, then I still find myself saying yes, I would go to see the live show.

    So if I’m going to “steal” all the digital content, maybe paying a premium for the live show is fair.

  5.  Wayne | February 20, 2007 @ 4:28 am

    Yeah it can assumed that every show will be “given away” … just not by the band ;)

    I understand the “massive audience” and energy point, having attended shows with 60,000 (or more?) at the old JFK stadium in Philadelphia. It’s incredible that that many people can so quickly converge on and then exit a space like that and nobody (usually) gets hurt. I get a sense some people like those types of events to see that they -are- part of a huge crowd, to affirm their tastes.

    The “say and know I was there” is something I don’t really get. It’s sort of like “knowing” I saw a big movie on opening night, or read the first edition hardcover. Of course I wasn’t the type to wear the concert t-shirt the next day to school to prove I was there.

  6.  turntable / as the table turns » Looking UP in 2008 | January 22, 2008 @ 4:29 pm

    [...] top it off, Emory and I conducted our own personal Amazing Race to see the Police in Auckland. We started with a ferry crossing, rushing to the airport, buying tickets, jumping on a [...]

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