In an interview with Australia’s TV3 yesterday, Sting said that The Police reunion tour is the antidote that both the band and fans needed put closure to the disintegration of the band twenty-four years ago.

I suppose the suggestion is that the tour fulfills Sting’s commitment to the band, and the band’s commitment to its fans.

On many levels I like the idea that the tour will put a bow on their career and we can all get on with our lives. Yet, part of me feels that the commercial music industry is no longer able to generate strong characters and music. Record companies have become more and more dependent on the acts of yesterday — the acts that can actually write, arrange, record and perform; bands like The Police, Genesis, U2, Bruce Springsteen, Van Halen (seeing a pattern here??) — to keep the industry alive. In that respect, The Police breathed new life into an otherwise quiet touring industry.

Which means that if The Police don’t go back to the studio after their reunion tour, the industry is living on borrowed time.