I'll start off by saying I'm not a major Police fan - in fact, I like more of Sting's solo stuff, other than the major Police hits.

That said, I think The Police made a mistake last night. Here's why:

Everyone knows Roxanne and knows that The Police recorded it. With The Police apparently announcing a tour today, following on from The Grammys, I am no more inclined to buy tickets for a show than I was before their performance. It was fun to watch, and I certainly liked the style, but at the end of the song, I couldn't help thinking 'was that it?' No more than their one most famous song? Couldn't they have been given another three minutes for Don't Stand So Close To Me, or Message In A Bottle? If not, couldn't they have shortened their (fairly lengthy) version of Roxanne to remind us of some of their other songs?

When Simon & Garfunkel reunited to open the Grammys in 2003, they played only one song - The Sound of Silence. With that song, they made a political statement about the Iraq war just as the song had been during the Vietnam War - to perform another song, or a medley, would have taken away from that. But Roxanne? It's a great song, but it's far from a world statement. (Incidentally, I am a huge Paul Simon fan and a huge Simon & Garfunkel fan - seeing S&G in concert later on that year was great, but I was disappointed that Paul Simon's own (much larger) canon of work was only represented by two songs in the S&G tour - something I imagine happening with a Police tour too.)

As much as we rip on Prince for performing medleys, his opening to the Grammys in 2004 was a reminder to non-fans that, yes, he was the one who released Purple Rain, but look, he also released other hits - remember Let's Go Crazy? Remember 1999? Remember Baby, I'm A Star?

Perhaps this wasn't a mistake. Perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps The Police will announce a tour today, and every ticket will sell in a matter of minutes. But I won't be buying one.

booyah said:

totally agree with ya !!!!

i was looking forward to this . Like you - i wouldnt say i was a huge Police fan ... i had sychronicity ... and i do have some of Stings solo stuff ...

i was so looking forward to snchronicity ... or message in the bottle ... or ... anything BUT roxanne ....

i turned it on ... as they were in the first verse --- and i was ... ummm ..ewwww ... then ... when they DID NOTTIN ELSE >..

They definately should have given the band more time. I so wanted to hear "message in a bottle" or "every little thing she does is majic" or even "wrapped around your finger." I did love what I saw though.

I couldn't believe they only did Roxane. I mean really. You couldn't tell me they weren't going to segue into something else. I hate medleys but I would have even settled a dman medley. But to be the opening act I expected something a little more uptempo and crowd rousing and unexpected. Synchronicity 2 maybe. It seems like young acts get to do a bit of at least two songs these days with their performances so I expected and wanted more.

Well at least they didn't do Every Breath You Take.

Come on. y'all. When Prince ushered in his "comeback," he played "Purple Rain," his signature song. I would have loved to heard a little "Girls and Boys" myself.

But when you haven't been on the field for several seasons, you run your bread-and-butter play. You don't open up the offense in the preseason.

Sting has been good about digging deep into his songbook on his solo tours and I imagine The Police will be too!

i have always hated ROXANNE .... ugh ... boring ...

i didnt wanna hear PURPLE RAIN either .. but it was his signature song ... purrfect setting ... and everyone there who might have picked van halen or some other "has-been" to sing ---- IF they had to have Prince - wanted to hear Purple Rain ... enuf said .

SnidelyWhiplash said:

The problem is, many more people love "Roxanne," and consider it the Police's "Purple Rain," so to speak.

Although, like you, it's not my favorite Police song (I don't even think it's the best song on Outlandos D'Amour).

The difference lies in the performers, not the rationale. Prince is a better performer than all 3 Policemen put together. He's never rusty.

I disagree. It was an excellent tease. Like booyah, I'm more into Stng's solo stuff (early on) but since they've been so distant for so long hearing them on a single song makes me want more.

That's the rub between Prince & the Police: he's gone out and performed medleys ad nauseum, but no one has really heard the trio since RRHOF.

Interesting contrast with RHCP. Sound so fake and contrived; maybe they should take an indefinite layoff.

PFunkjazz said:

I agree. They haven't played together on such a big stage in nearly 25 years! When the tix go on sale I'm front row!

I kick myself for not seeing them on the Synchronicity tour.

I feel like I should add - I think it's entirely appropriate they did Roxanne. It's the 30th anniversary of Roxanne, which is why they reformed in the first place. I also think it's entirely approprite they do the hits, rather than obscure album tracks. The mistake I think they made is ONLY doing Roxanne, and not any other tracks in addition. How much of this was their decision and how much of it was out of their control I don't know.

It would be great if, at today's press conference, they performed a full set of songs, as well as take questions / make an announcement, so we have something other than just a one-song performance to see that they can still work together as a group.

Also...

As with Paul Simon, George Michael, Paul Weller etc., Sting's solo career has lasted much much longer than his work with his original band, and to a large extent overshadowed it. If this tour contained only Police songs, and no solo Sting songs, I think that would do great injustice to Sting's solo work, although I also think it's inevitable given that otherwise people would complain that Police songs would be ommitted... But Sting has been playing Police songs for the last 30 years anyway! You can go to a Sting show and half the set could be Police songs. But if you go to a Police show, will half the set be Sting songs? If my Simon & Garfunkel show is any example (which it may not be at all), no. Will The Police play John Dowland songs on lute? I doubt it.

How many of you would be thrilled if Prince and Andre Cymone put together a 94 East reunion tour, only playing songs from One Man Jam?

By the way, I'm not really as worked up about this as I seem...
[Edited 2/12/07 8:29am]

We'll disagree again. I don't really want to hear Sting solo songs on a Police tour. The group has an extensive enough catalog that they can get by without feeeding Sting's ego. I probably have no control over this, but I'd really just hear Police tunes, unique covers or something new for the trio.

PFunkjazz said:

I love Sting but I'm a huge fan of the Police and I want to hear Police songs. I've seen Sting before and if I wanted to hear more Sting songs, I'd go to another Sting concert. I don't mind one or two solos, sometimes it's nice to hear a group effort of solo material but in this case I want to hear and see them perform songs they've done together as a band.

They,of course,sounded great.I was disappointed to get only one track,though.I want more and more,but I am a lifelong Police fan.At first,I didn't want a new cd,but now I do.It may be interesting to hear all their influences come together again now.I'd especially like it if they strayed from pop territory and just made a strangely ecclectic album of songs.Well,not pop territory,but just worrying about charts.

Their drummer kicks ass.
And I coulda sworn I heard a riff from Driven To Tears at one point.

Well i do wish they had more time, I thought when there was that slight break in Roxanne, Sting was going to launch into another Police song, but, it was good to see them, and made me interested more about them touring. One thing i have heard is that tour and the shows will center around THE POLICE not Sting material, with possibly NO SOLO MATERIAL being performed, i think this is a perfect move and fans will love it more. The one thing i have always said is that Sting's solo work is nothing like the Police and thats a good thing, there should be a difference, thats why they were a band of 3 and not a band 1 leading the other 2.

YOutube link

http://youtube.com/watch?v=6sHXCs84iJc

this was a disappointing reunion debut.

roxanne was not a great choice of songs, even though i love the song. sting didn't put any energy into the "put on the red light!" parts. it just didn't make me care that they reunited.

sallysassalot said:

I thought they sounded great...

I understand the "Police-shows-should-only-contain-Police-songs" mentality, but do Sting tours only contain Sting songs? No, they contain Police songs too...

To go back to the Simon & Garfunkel example, I like S&G - I really do - but I far prefer Paul Simon solo. So I don't mind a S&G show only containing S&G songs, except that when I go see a Paul Simon solo show, he'd play half the same songs, at the expense of playing more of his solo stuff... I'm sure this is somewhat unavoidable, except in the case of someone like George Michael, who is probably just embarrassed about his Wham material.

What I'd like to see is a Police tour featuring only Police songs, but then Sting's next solo tour to ONLY feature Sting's solo songs... That would be interesting to me.

I have to check songlists, but I'm pretty sure the Police songs you hear in a Sting tour set are songs Sting wrote by himself. I don't think you get the collabs with Andy and/or Stewie.

As per S&G, was there a Garfunkel-written song Simon performs? Don't think so. Garfunkel pretty much has to do Simon songs cuz he doesn't have much of a catalog to draw from.

their apperance was so OVER hyped. people were expecting TOO much..& of course most were dis-apointed. I am a huge fan but was not happy they sung one song..& "roxanne" the most OVER-played song ever.
they should have at least done a medley of thier hits..I mean COME ON!

Ive kind of resented sting for breaking up the band WAY too soon..he was the one that wanted a solo career..i dont want to hear sting songs on the police tour.

I'm watching the press concert performance right now, and imho it's pretty apparent why they only did one song last night- They haven't rehearsed much yet. (but still sound pretty great!!)Comment was just made how they are doing this thing today like a "jam band", no set list!

sonic said:

According to the release there wont be any Sting songs in the show, though a set list is not known yet since the tour doesnt start till late May, they are focusing on all of their material not Stings.

Last night was amazing! It was just like the Police in '78, only boring!

Is there a tour itinerary yet? I know that it's reaching to hope that they'll come to Pittsburgh, but if U2 continues to grace us with their presence, why can't the Police?

Axchi696 said:

CNN just had a live feed of a press conference/tour kickoff. They announced general dates beginning in Canada in May(?). Tickets will less than $100. and thye are headlining the Bonaroo Festival in TN this summer. Bonaroo is really growing! Last year Radiohead were the headliners. Not bad for a field in TN.

Anyway, check cnn.com sounds like long tour sched.

Bonnaroo, here I come.

You can also check www.thepolicetour.com for details.