STEWART COPELAND

Okay, so I've had 8 months to digest Tourzilla. I've been watching the Certifiable DVD and also been listening to Certifiable and various bootlegs.

I've also seen a couple of different videos of the Synchronicity Tour as well as having attended one show in 1983. I can honestly say that after much deliberation, I think that The Police played a better concert(s) on the Reunion Tour than on the Synch Tour.

I realize this is a subjective matter, but I'd like to know what you guys think.

Tourzilla or Synch... which one?

Tourzilla, no question.

I never saw the Synch tour in person, but I know that I never listen to the bootlegs. I've tried. I know there's some brilliant playing in there. But I can't do it: I'm allergic to the horns and the doo-wop girls.

Musically I'll take Tourzilla over the Synch (didn't dig the backing vocals) and Ghost (abhored the horns) tours. That being said I was fortunate enough to see the Synch tour and I have to say that the energy of that tour wasn't matched by Tourzilla (from my personal perspective at least). As big as Tourzilla was I think we tend to forget that the Synch tour was the zenith of the Police. They were an actual phenomenon at that moment. This is the album that knocked Thriller out of the #1 slot for crissakes. The tour was breaking records The Who set the previous couple of years. They were IT. A lot of this has to do with youth of course. The boys were younger and the crowds were younger. The crowds at the show I saw on Tourzilla were great but it was nothing like the crowd in Austin back in '83 - I know that sounds like an old guy talking - there was just a vibe, a buzz about this being the BIGGEST BAND IN THE WORLD on the BIGGEST TOUR IN THE WORLD right NOW. As much as I'd like to think I went into Tourzilla with the same sort of abandon I did back then I'd be lying if I said I did. With age comes perspective and I ended up thinking too much about it. In other words, no matter how hard I tried it was very difficult to live in the moment. Probably because I kept saying to myself, "Hey, live in the moment!" Anyway, I've babbled enough. I loved Tourzilla and I listen to those boots and Certifiable almost daily but the overall "feel" I had at the show in '83 can never be beat.

Never saw Synchronicity tour but there was too much that wasn't Stewart, Andy and Sting. Horns, keyboards, back up singers. Not the Police. Cna barely listen to the recordings of that tour.

Was happy that it was just the Boys in Tourzilla and voted for that.

That said, the energy of the Police back in the day was something that wasn't there to the same degree in 2007-08 when the Boys were middle aged men. The energey is even more appearant in the c.1979 concerts.

Of course I have much less enegery now than I did in 1979 or 1983 so I can't complain too much.

Tourzilla Hands Down...

Yeah, I went to the 83 Synch Concert in Oakland. I was not a fan of "The girls" Sorry. That was a distraction for alot of people.

However....The Synch Whites on STEWART.....OMG...That is another subject all its own...

Tee hee

[quote="irishrose1969"]
However....The Synch Whites on STEWART.....OMG...That is another subject all its own...

Tee hee [/quote]

Yeah-huh. . . *stares off into space for a minute*


My vote's for Tourzilla for a few reasons, not the least of which is the fact that they seemed to enjoy playing together! I know I've said this before (probably because it really bothered me), but when I saw 'em in '84 it could have been 3 guys on 3 separate stages (well, 4 if you give a stage to the doo-wop girls). NO interaction.

After twenty-something Synch gigs and 30 reunion gigs, the setlist is what
nudges the Synch tour ahead in my mind -

The excitement of Synch I to kick things off, they way they cooked during Oh My God , and the excitement of One World with the Andy and Sting running-in-place comedy are indelible in my memory, and the varied solos in Invisible Sun and the superior way they did Spirits and Dont Stand make Synch better over all to me...

I was very relieved not to see any annoying chirping budgies on the reunion tour - they were were SO annoying, and Miles used to make
them wear stupid outfits too! I missed how loudly if not so precisely
Stewpots used to sing during So Lonely , who by the way was the one most consistently relentless on BOTH tours!

I thought this long and hard. I have seen both tours, and, while I had a wonderful time and much better seating at Tourzilla, seeing your favorite band at their apex (and their gorgeousness, which was unreal at the time) in your 20s for the first time does NOT equate seeing them together again in your mature years, with nostalgic feelings and amazed at their skills - technical and showmanship galore.

I thought that Tourzilla brought up more awareness of how good they are, how much have they meant to all of us during these 25 years, and the discovery of a faithful, dedicated, crazy community you are part of.

But when I recall the first notes of Synch1, the primary colors light shooting everywhere and the absolute, amazing tightness of the sound, Stewart jumping OVER the drumkit in his green basketball uniform, my heart jumps in my throat to this day.

So it's 1984 for me.

I know there were doo-wop girls, but weren't the horns on the GITM tour?

Yup, Chops were the brass section on the GITM tour-they
were pretty annoying as well, to me ...

[quote="Pre-Legacy A152"]Yup, Chops were the brass section on the GITM tour-they
were pretty annoying as well, to me ...[/quote]

I hated 'em. If it's all sax on the album, why hire sax, trumpet and trombone? Plus--learn the friggin' parts!!!!

[quote="nathanarizona"]I loved Tourzilla and I listen to those boots and Certifiable almost daily but the overall "feel" I had at the show in '83 can never be beat.[/quote]

I can totally get that.

And there's definitely a question of what exactly "better" refers to: the music only, the whole vibe, the overall experience . . .


[quote="thedaner"]I know there were doo-wop girls, but weren't the horns on the GITM tour?[/quote]

You're totally right, Dane. I conflate the two cuz I'm allergic to the GitM boots, too. My mistake.

I enjoyed the Synch tour because they were at their commercial peak and still playing their asses off, but I voted for Tourzilla simply because they're better musicians and despite the obvious "Sting-ness" of the show they really did interact a lot more this time around. They proved that they can still do it as everyone suspected (because there wasn't a member that was off running a farm for the past 20 years and had to try and get their chops back) and it was a better ending for the band than the fractious times of '83-'86

I also forgot to mention..in 83 at the Oakland Show..my first concert EVER. I was very Contact High...as everyone around me was smoking up around me in enclosed glass.

So the distraction factor went up right from the get go.

I loved my first show! It was awesome.

The magic of Tourzilla and the connection we have thru the net and meeting each other makes it that much more amazing.

I Love You Guys and Gals