Favorite Opening Act on a Police Tour

[giovanni]

I saw them with Graham Parker opening for The Police in Milano, 1982; not bad at all as opening act!
I missed the Gateshead show three weeks later with Lords of the New Church and U2 (I have the dvd of U2 in Gateshead, and it's great).

[secretjourneyranch]

A tie.

Elvis Costello was really great to see.
But UB40 was at the top of their game when they opened for the Police.

U2 sounds good on paper, but they were young and too scattered musically.

Fiction Plane was nothing to me.

[garyq]

Favorite?
Judgment aside..
Huey Lewis and the News Vancouver Aug 31 1982 (They played "do you believe", twice.)
Thompson Twins Vancouver Aug 31 1983
Fiction something Vancouver Reunion shows.

[luddite lady]

This is a great question.
I immensely enjoyed watching Elvis Costello opening during the last leg of Tourzilla. But all these years later, I still feel a little blown away when I remember seeing Talking Heads open for The Police in Toronto at the 1982 Police Picnic. There was a whole slew of opening acts (Flock of Seagulls, The Spoons, Joan Jett, The English Beat, etc.) in this festival style concert, but Talking Heads were a last minute addition. Their name didn't even make it on any of the flyers or posters. (It took me a long time to find enough evidence for Dietmar to accept this as truth and not just a figment of my imagination.) They were amazing!

[DirtyMartini]

Talking Heads. What a great last-minute bonus, llady.

[kimmy]

I can only say Fictionplane coz that is all I heard.... And I LOVE them...

However those who were at Cardiff on the last tour must remember this little girl wandering out onto the stage and muttering that the band weren't quite ready and just singing a song with her guitar....

Coco Sumner.... Now she was cool...


Kimmy

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Would consider whacking off digits with a meat cleaver if necessary to procure a time machine for the triple gig someone posted on Policewiki a while ago:

Fleshtones
Rockpile (feat. Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds)
The Police

Sigh. Those musta been the days.

As is: No way it's not Elvis. That said, I enjoyed the B-52s much more than I anticipated.

[stevel]

U2 at Gateshead in 82 - I was there.
The lords of the new church I remember Stiv Bators throwing himself in the crowd and nobody catching him..lol.. ..check out the track russian roulette
The Cramps
and my favourite ..actually The B52's at MSG bloody fantastic ..

[Any Other Day]

My vote for the B-52s.
Not only the best of the tour, but I'd have to say the best opening act I've ever seen. Opening acts almost universally fail in turning concert-goers' attention from their cell phones to the stage, but the B-52s had MSG rocking. One of the few times I have actually had fun during an opener, and not just spent the time hoping for the main act to get on the stage sooner. They were a wonderfully pleasant surprise; their energy kept increasing with each song, and by the end we were all on our feet and dancing.