Notwithstanding how much of a fan I am, it was definitely worth the extra $110 to see The Police for a second time on their ‘reunion tour’. I took in their July 25, 2007 show at the Bell Centre in Montreal (click here for that blog post), and last night’s opener of the third and final leg of their tour and career as The Police, here in Ottawa.

Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland looked and sounded very refreshed following a two month break. They opened with a ‘controlled’ version of Bring on The Night with Sting on acoustic guitar and bass pedals which gave the song a presence that could be felt in your rib cage. It wasn’t the whip-the-audience-into-a-frenzy start you’d expect from this tour. It was an entrance full of finesse. They saved the frenzy for their second number, a ripping version of Demolition Man. It was a one-two combination of songs they didn’t include in Montreal and both are very welcome additions to the set.

Sting seemed to enjoy himself much more last night than he did in Montreal. He moved about the stage more naturally and worked the arena with good banter, all in English (Sting has a history of fumbling through his French during previous appearances in Ottawa). He conducted the room through a few ’sing-alongs’ that were more reminiscent of their heyday than last year’s performance in Montreal. Andy also seemed more in place last night and worked the arena on several occassions; a bonus. Stewart is always fun to watch.

At one point Sting recalled a 1979 performance in a theatre here in Ottawa. I remember an article in the Ottawa Citizen (many years ago) with the original Barrymore’s owner about his biggest regret being the cancellation of an appearance by The Police during their first Canadian tour. The cancellation was on the grounds that they were a punk band and he was having bad experiences with the punk scene in his bar. I hereby announce my intention to find out if they did actually play Ottawa.

While there were a couple of weak moments in the show (Invisible Sun didn’t carry enough umph and Don’t Stand So Close To Me remains a near show killer on this tour) the concert was filled with musical highlights like Driven To Tears, Voice Inside My Head/When The World Is Running Down, Synchronicity II, Message In A Bottle, Can’t Stand Losing You, So Lonely and a great if not slightly-slower-than-it-should-be version of Hole In My Life. Noticeably absent was their reworked version of Walking In Your Footsteps and thankfully absent was their watered down version of Truth Hits Everybody.

The concert ended on a high with an edgier-than-Montreal version of Next To You. It was their second encore and, by all accounts, the beginning of the home stretch of all Police collaboration. Too bad, really. The record industry would get a great lift if they produced a new studio album. Of course, this tour was never supposed to happen so we can always hang on to that hope.

Thanks for the Ottawa show, boys! It was great to be able to see you in my hometown. Good luck with the rest of the tour and thanks for the music.

Eavesdrop on some of the conversation as four high-school friends travel to see The Police perform at the Bell Centre in Montreal.

Mark, Jay, Franc and Tom recall memories of The Police, being in bands, Loverboy on Good Rockin’ Tonight (with Terry David Mulligan), brushes with celebrity and going to concerts including Sting, Rolling Stones, The Who, Billy Idol and KISS. A post concert analysis takes place on the drive home.

This show qualifies as iTunes explicit.

 

 Roadtrip to see The Police [30:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

I waited twenty-five years to see The Police and it was worth every minute of the wait (though, it would have been amazing to see them perform during their original run). I have the photos, memories and the $40 t-shirt (I know, I know) to prove I was there — the July 25th show at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

It’s amazing that three people can create such incredible music. The degree of complexity, simplicity, depth of sound and open spaces is astounding. It’s no wonder The Police have cemented their place in music history and that people are flocking to their shows in amazing numbers and at record rates — makes you think that Sting, Stewart and Andy should seriously consider long term plans including another studio album and a supporting tour.

I was relieved to figure out that the critics of the tour have it all wrong. They have complained about reworked and experimental versions of the hits. Anyone who has seen The Police live, or has watched or listened to any of their live recordings between ‘78 and ‘84 will know very well that the band has always explored, experimented and reworked songs in their live act. In fact, Regatta De Blanc (the song) evolved out of the extension of live version of Can’t Stand Losing You. I will concede that Don’t Stand So Close To Me was a bit dull with the leveled vocal range, and that the smoothed-out singing in Truth Hits Everybody and Next To You took away from their edginess.

Stewart performed in a shirt that read “Leroy Coolbreeze”, the nickname of his brother, Ian, who was the booking agent for The Police (among others). Sadly, Ian lost his fight with skin cancer in May 2006. If those shirts were available for sale at the concert, I would have bought one.

I did the road trip to Montreal for the concert with three high school friends. During the drive to Montreal we recorded some of our thoughts about The Police and concerts. On the way home, we did an impromptu review of the concert. I’ll release some of that audio as a podcast on this site in the next few days.

Would I see The Police, again? Without a doubt.

Click here to see my photos from the concert.
Click here to see photos in the Flickr Police Reunion Tour 2007 group.

I grew up two doors down from Ian Froman who left Ottawa to study drums and music at the Berkeley School of Music in Boston. For many years he has been teaching at Berkeley and NYU, recording and touring. Among his credits are being a member of Forward Motion and supporting Miroslav Vitous.

Of all the bands of which Ian has been a part, Metalwood (with Chris Tarry on bass, Mike Murley on sax and Brad Turner on trumpet and keyboards) is a standout. After five amazing CDs and a couple of Juno Awards (1998 for Metalwood and 1999 for Metalwood 2), the band just kind of disappeared — even their website vanished. Because I had discovered them at the end of their run, I never had a chance to see them live. I sent a note to Ian asking him to contact me if he ever passed through Ottawa, again.

Ian’s note arrived almost two months ago; Metalwood would be performing at Greenfields Pub in Ottawa on June 20. I didn’t miss it. The band (with guest David Braid in place of Brad Turner who was unavailable for the gig) was incredible. You’d swear they’ve been playing together everyday since Chronic, their last studio album, which was released four years ago. The band was tight and energetic. Chris and Ian clearly enjoyed being on stage together, again.

Metalwood is apparently playing a number of shows across Canada during the next three weeks. If you are able, be sure to check them out.