On Last Night's Police Concert

Had some fun at Giants Stadium last night, watching Sting and the boys... Eric and I procured some tickets from the Best Buy business program.  We took our wives, although we ended up sitting in separate sections, as the tickets had to be bought two at a time.

Sting's kid's band was fairly boring as the first of two opening acts.  It was a trio just like the group that gave his pop his ride to stardom.  Their stuff sounded too much like B-sides from Sting's solo career to be enjoyable, though.  I enjoyed the next band, though - some Scottish trio called The Fratellis.  Interesting group - I think they named themselves after the family of bad guys in "The Goonies."  The drummer did look like he belonged chained in a back room somewhere.  Maybe that's the connection.  In any case, I liked their stuff - lots of odd changes in tempo and time signature.  Maybe I'll see if any of their stuff is downloadable.

Good show by the Police.  They opened with "Message in a Bottle," which is one of my favorite Police tunes when played uptempo liked they played it.  It's the perfect opening song for a Police show.  Other highlights included "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "Walking on the Moon," and "So Lonely."  They even played "King of Pain" as one of the encores - my favorite Police song of all time.

There were some lowlights, though.  "Don't Stand So Close to Me" was a hybrid version of the original version and the re-recorded version that left me wishing they would have picked one and stuck with it.  And, believe it or not, I didn't really dig the final encore, since I don't think I've ever heard the Police truly capture the original vibe of "Every Breath You Take" in a live situation.  It's almost like they try too hard - every live version I've ever heard of this song sounds overdone.

Probably the coolest number, though, was "Wrapped Around Your Finger," which featured Stewart Copeland standing up to play most of the tune on a variety of chimes and such hanging behind his kit.  He also had a timpani or two stashed back there (or maybe they were just really big floor toms).  Right when the tune picks back up, Copeland jumped back into his kit and played his ass off.

Glad I caught this one.  At least someone managed to pull off a reunion tour this summer...