The Police | 07.05.07 | Chicago, IL

Words by: Mark Miller :: Images by Rod Snyder

The Police :: 07.05.07 :: Wrigley Field :: Chicago, IL

Sting – The Police :: 07.19

The return of The Police – arguably the best rock band of the 1980’s – to Chicago marked the most exciting moment at Wrigley Field since Game 6 of the 2003 National League pennant series, the infamous “Steve Bartman” game the Cubs ultimately lost. Certainly the outcome on this evening with The Police was more pleasant for the thousands of Cubs fans in attendance.

A gorgeous summer night welcomed Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland back to the Windy City, a town where they are as popular as any in the world, for the first time in over 20 years. Opening band Fiction Plane had the unenviable task of playing for a barely full, barely interested Wrigley Field. FP did offer one novelty – bassist-vocalist Joe Sumner is Sting’s son. Sumner sounds like a Sting-Bono combo, and his genetics made FP a uniquely appropriate warm-up for The Police. Musically, FP combine rock, blues and some prog elements, and though some of their material sounded repetitive they do have potential. Perhaps FP should take more chances instead of settling on being an adequate opening act.

Stewart Copeland – The Police :: 07.19

The Police are certainly a band that had taken chances during their career, and reuniting may be the biggest risk of all. The band has always been regarded as one of those “perfect bands” in rock annals that broke up while they were still on top, never releasing a sub par album or coming back for lame tours without all the original members. There’s been much written in the press and blogs about the complaints of Stewart Copeland, who declared the opening night of the tour in Vancouver to be “unbelievably lame” and criticized both Sting and Summers for less than stellar performances.

Perhaps it’s fitting that Copeland commenced the proceedings by banging a large Chinese gong. While Sting is the most famous member of The Police, Copeland is probably the most popular. He certainly won over the crowd later in the show when he donned a Cubs jersey that read: COPELAND 07 (for the 2007 reunion tour). On the other hand, Andy Summers casts a disinterested demeanor onstage, a New Wave aloofness that contrasts sharply with Sting and Copeland’s genial personas.

Andy Summers – The Police :: 07.19

When the band opened with “Message in a Bottle,” Sting singing, “Just a castaway, an island lost at sea-oh,” the crowd erupted, and for a couple hours it was the Eighties again. It was immediately apparent this show was to be pure Police – no hired guns or unnamed musicians lurking in the shadows, so typical of many rock reunions in recent years. There weren’t even backup singers, which were utilized on the Synchronicity tour. At times, those backup singers were missed but it was refreshing to have just the triumvirate playing.

“Synchronicity II” was marred by weak opening guitar chords that failed to evoke the amazing studio track, though this is typical of the under-whelming Wrigley Field acoustics. Blame the woeful sound rather than any decline on Summers’ part. More memorable were the triple split screens that displayed each member playing individually.

Sting – The Police :: 07.19

“Voices in my Head” caught some off guard, but quickly segued into the more recognizable “When the World is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What’s Still Around.” Make that somewhat recognizable. Sting had a penchant for rearranging the vocal melodies of some Police classics that was occasionally off-putting. In fairness, perhaps Mr. Sumner was trying to reinvent the songs so the concert experience transcended the feeling of sitting around listening to a CD. However, some reinterpretations, such as “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” came off as tepid and uninspired.

In utter contrast, “Driven To Tears” was a highlight, exhibiting just how underrated a bassist Sting truly is. “Tears” was received as a head-scratcher by some but did sound much fuller than most of the more familiar material. “The Bed’s Too Big Without You” was a showcase for Copeland on the intricate rolls and fills.

Sting – The Police :: 07.19

Ironically, Sting drew the loudest booing of the evening when he announced that the last Police concert in Chicago was at old Comiskey Park, home of the cross-town rival Chicago White Sox. As it turns out, Sting’s claim was untrue. The Police’s last show in Chicago was part of the Amnesty International Conspiracy of Hope tour in 1986.

The high-energy of “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” juxtaposed with the low-key “Wrapped Around Your Finger,” another number that allowed Copeland to demonstrate his versatility on the bells and chimes. “Invisible Sun” was a mixed bag. While a welcome selection, this version had little of the album’s emotional power. The orange lighting was vivid and apt but the screen imagery of forlorn children meant little to the summertime party crowd. However, the video effects for “Walking In Your Footsteps” were spectacular, animated dinosaur fossils interacting with Sting served as the most visually arresting moment of the show. “Footstep’s” clever lyric of “Hey mighty brontosaurus, do you have a lesson for us?” was as fitting for 2007’s so-called War On Terror as it was during the Reagan Cold War era.

Sting & Summers – The Police :: 07.19

A seemingly spontaneous “Bonanza” jam segued into “Can’t Stand Losing You,” complete with a space jam, extended Summers soloing and a Sting-led sing-along, reviving the crowd after the mellow suite of songs.

“Roxanne,” their signature song and the one played for their inaugural reunion during the Grammy Awards, featured vibrant red lighting and Sting effectively hitting the song’s now legendary high notes. This Roxanne did divert from the Outlandos d’Amour version, with a dark jamming interlude and more audience accompaniment. Of course, at this point, the crowd would have joined in harmony with Sting if he sang a tax return.

Encore launched with “King of Pain,” and witnessing it live demonstrated the disparity between the sorrowful lyrics and the music’s upbeat tempo, with the crowd dancing in delight as Sting proclaimed, “I’ll always be King of Pain.” “So Lonely” continued their exploration of the early canon with more extended Summers’ leads and Sting rephrasing the “Welcome to this one-man show” as “Welcome to the Andy Summers/Stewart Copeland show” to pay tribute to his silent partners. That mega-hit of lite rock FM stations, “Every Breath You Take,” closed out the first encore. More irony here: couples in the crowd getting romantic during a song that’s essentially about a creepy stalker obsessed with an old flame.

Sting & Summers – The Police :: 07.19

For the second and final encore, the high energy “Next To You” ended the show with a sensory overload of lights and screen footage of the band from their late ’70s roots. Take from this review one piece of advice: it might be acceptable to show up late for The Police but don’t leave early and miss the ending.

As far as overall song selection, the Ghost In The Machine album was overlooked. Songs like “One World (Not Three),” “Secret Journey” and “Spirits In The Material World” are too powerful to be excluded from a legitimate setlist. With no new songs to offer, The Police reunion tour is, at best, largely an exercise in nostalgia. At its worst this is a “cash in at baseball stadiums” tour that has grossed over $100 million in the U.S. alone, giving the impression that this was about little else than money. Yet that would be too cynical a viewpoint. Ultimately, The Police’s astonishing catalog is more than worthy of being celebrated, performed live and, yes, even occasionally jammed out and rearranged. However, if The Police do continue into the future, they would be better served to play more intimate venues to ensure the integrity of the music. Leave the baseball stadiums to the Cubs and the Stones.

JamBase | Chicago
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