Review of

“The Police”

At: The NIA, Birmingham

On: Wednesday 05/09/07

By: Gaby

As far as concerts go this was a rather boring and disappointing show for many reasons of which I shall now elaborate:

For many readers a review of “The Police” might seem a bit unlikely for me here in a Rock Review site but their music did add a bit of a soundtrack to my teenage years and yes, I had seen them once before at Milton Keynes Bowel in 1979 at the height of their fame. With their catchy punk, reggae, rock, jazz infusions being fresh, innovative and exciting at the time, this was both a fun band to listen to and go and see and was definitely on most people’s play lists at the time.

But essentially this is where the problem lies. As musical nostalgia goes, this was an ok show and it was good to hear all the old songs again, however on this particular reunion road show the songs and the performances lacked the drive, energy and passion that propelled The Police at an earlier time to their pop/rock superstardom.

The performances were flat and at times bordering on downright tediousness.

Sting gave a predictably good vocal performance whilst his bass was somewhat over blown on much of the first four to five songs of their set. Any Summers, though a good guitarist was not brilliant and at times I really wondered what he did that was so fantastic that justified a number of solo spots. It is here that perhaps my “rock ears” are much more accustomed to some really brilliant guitar solos that perhaps the “wonders” of Andy Summers don’t quite hit the spot for me. Stuart Copeland gave a good Drum performance though once again somewhat boring and samey at times.

All their old hits were here from their opening with “Message in a Bottle” to “Don’t stand so close to me”. Every Breath You Take” and , Roxanne and by the time they got to Da Do Do whatever I think I might have dosed off for a bit.

There was little stage craft/presence on display as Sting and Andy trudged there way like old gits (which I guess they are) back and forth across the stage (when they could be bothered) and addressed the audience on only a couple of occasions with precious little in the way of  production and spectacle for an event of “such magnitude”and over blown hype!

In all it pretty much looked and sounded like a live CD recording of their greatest hits. Entertaining at times but certainly not all that memorable. Instead of sounding fresh and vibrant the music sounded old and dated.

It’s at times such as this that I wonder if bands such as “The Police” should ever reform after going out on such a high in their younger years and for me it made me wish I never went along this time to see them but rather hold the memory in check of that rainy, muddy gig I went to all those years ago.

One can’t but feel that perhaps for aging performers such as these such a reunion/come back tour is not much more than a bank balance top-up before retirement and as an audience you can’t but feel that perhaps you might just have been had.

The biggest disappointment I had with this show was their general lack of passion and enthusiasm. It showed and it was felt. What could have been brilliant was rather depressing.

Take a tip from me and buy the greatest hits CD. You will get more pleasure remembering them they way they were rather than how they are now and as for “The Police”, well it’s time to put your feet up boys and really call it a day once and for all – Please!

Ps: And as for their support band – who were they again?