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The Police

AAC
Dallas, TX
06/26/2007
08:00 PM

Concert Review by Paul Ridenour

[Ed Brown's review follows and then photos]

I saw the Police during their Synchronicity Tour back in the 1980s and I have since seen Sting.  I am going to see them two nights in a row due to friend Ed Brown offered me a free VIP ticket for the first night which included free parking and free dinner.

Looking forward to seeing them since no one ever thought they would ever get back together again.

I am in Section 104 Row M (13) in the American Airlines Center which is the same section I saw Coldplay last year, but on the first row.

Ed Brown and I showed up early for dinner.  I normally put a camera in my wife's purse but since she is not going until tomorrow night, I knew I needed to meet someone with a purse.  Standing outside waiting for them to let us in for dinner, we met a lady who agreed to put my camera in her purse.  She said she had never done that before but I knew she would be alright.  Her name was Magil, and she called herself Lil, but everyone knew her as Nancey.  A very nice lady.  Nancey is from Kansas City and she never went to concerts as a teenager.  She cannot depend on her friends now about going to concerts so she decided that she would go by herself to all concerts the rest of her life, and to purchase the best seat available.  She ate dinner with us.  What a cool place!  We were looking out on Victory Park which reminded me of Times Square.  The food was great and we met a nice waitress named Arianna who is trying to work, raise a child, and go to college.  Nancey is a teacher but if I told you where, I'd have to kill you.  I told Nancey that I will post her review if she chooses to write one.

We were sitting there eating dinner, looking at Victory Park, and watching old Police videos on monitors when it dawned on us - "Can't believe we are fixing to see the Police!"

Nancey's seat was on the opposite side of ours in Section 121 Row R.

The opening band Fictionplane was good.  Lead singer and bassist Joe Sumner is Sting's son and he did sound like him a little bit.  Their music was pretty good.  All they need is a #1 hit song.

As a drummer and a huge Police fan, I was looking forward to seeing Stewart Copeland run the show and he did.  He is an awesome drummer.  I felt that Sting kind of fell apart during Don't Stand So Close To Me when he sang the same verse twice but Stewart kept the song going.  What struck me about this show is that just three guys pulled it off.  I expected three to four other musicians on stage and three backup singers.  These three guys just played rock-n-roll and did all of their hits like a rock concert, without all of the flash, fire, explosions, and lasers.  They were fantastic.  Sting played a beat up old Fender bass.  Unlike Paul McCartney and others who change their guitars after every song, Sting and Andy Summers played the same instruments all night.  Stewart's blue-sparkled Tama drums looked fantastic in all different colors of light. Stewart did some excellent percussion on King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger, and Walking On The Moon.  Some of you may remember that Stewart played the hi-hat on Peter Gabriel's Red Rain.

Most of the songs were slower than normal but that was fine. 

To me, the high points of the night were Invisible Sun and Roxanne.  The entire audience was in red lights during Roxanne until the end, when the lights went all white.

For guys who are in their mid 50's and Andy in his mid 60's, they could still jump around.  Sting looks like he works out while Stewart is skin and bones.  I was a bit surprised when 64 year-old Andy jumped off some high speakers onto the stage.

The concert was also refreshing in another area.  There was no "Shut Up and Sing" moment.

I am fairly certain that Nancey enjoyed the concert and Sting was on her side of the stage most of the night.

06/27/2007

The second night with my wife was probably even better than the first night.  We were in Section 123 Row V which was six rows from the back of the stage on the corner by Sting.  I enjoyed it because I got to see Stewart up close from behind.  I think the band played and sang better and Stewart seemed to very pleased with the band's performance.  Sting nailed Don't Stand So Close To Me.  I really like the song Can't Stand Losing You which was one I never really knew.  They did four encores.  The set list was a little different than the night before but basically the same.

I was surprised to see a sign when we walked in the front doors that read "Cameras with single flash allowed - No video recording."  Next time I will bring my 10.2 megapixel Nikon and 300mm lens.  The tickets said "No cameras/recorders."

The only bad part was that we were in the derelict section - weight-challenged Goth lesbian girls and some other major drunks.  Security came close to throwing some people out.

I am not 100% sure of the set list below but it is pretty much what you can expect.

Dallas Set List (Play List)