THE POLICE Vancouver / May 28 show

[phaty]

[quote="cpriddims"]Sounds like a good suggestion would be for everyone to have a beverage or two (or ten for some) before seeing the show. Perhaps to loosen up for the new arrangements and block out some of the type-a analysis that's been going on here (and starting to ruin some vibes!).

The setlist is only going to get better, performance wise, pacing-wise, order-wise. Our boys are going to tweek it. They always have.

The crowd response is going to get even better, especially when they hit the US (sorry Vancouver). Wait until the American diehard crowds (who can't afford the airfare and Vancouver sky high taxes) get there. Let's remember it was America who first whole-heartedly embraced the Police. (not trying to be patriotic or anything)

Perhaps the people not sure of what they are seeing and not completely blown away are over-analyzing what they see at the show, instead of loosening up and just taking the music as it comes, in whatever form it comes.

I just hope the show has some loud and aggressive moments. I can handle anything else that happens with the music. I am just glad they got back together for us all to see. They are allowed their liberties with the music. Especially after all these years. We can at least give them that!

And by the frickin way..."Murder by Numbers" is one of the most brilliant Police songs ever, especially from a musician's standpoint not to mention the witty tongue-in-cheek lyrics. I hope that you all can recognize that so no more bitchin. Screw pleasing the "Stadium Audience." What exactly is a stadium audience and when did this enter as a category? Anyway, If they play "Murder" at Bonnaroo or Tampa I am going to be totally mesmerized and completely satisfied.

Maybe we should just shut up, loosen up, listen up, and dig the hell out of what we've been waiting the last twenty years for ![/quote]

I would like to totally subscribe to this statement!
This whole overanalizing gets on my nerves. But then again this is what forums are for - having and opinion. I just think I will stop reading too many more "reviews" - it is way to long until they come to my part of the woods and until then I might be a Genesis fan ... oh help me Lord!

[sockii]

I'm listening to the recording of the 5/28 show (off Dime) right now, and hot damn!!! Amazing what a difference one night can make. Everything sounds so much tighter and the tempos are definitely headed in the right direction.

Much of what I wasn't sold on listening to the 5/27 show sound much better to me here. I can't wait to hear how good I'm sure they'll be sounding once a few more shows are under their belts.

Not going to overanalyze but may have a few more comments to add later on...

[Jose]

Only when I finished to heard and watch the EPK POLICE Live video trailer with good sound and image... I am totally satisfied of what THE POLICE did with their new sound... is like the boys fit an smoking into the simplicity of POLICE music... the changes aren't dramatically, they only fit the appropiate chord, beat or voice line to make at the same time complex and charming each songs... without the sophistification from progressive rock boys wearing long pants instead of shorts... I respect any period of THE POLICE , I adore any style they did in the past, but at the same time I adore what they re-invented themselves nowadays... is great to heard what the experience is translated into a new proposal of rock for wearing past punky-reggae-rocky songs... In fact, wasn't a crime of what they do with their old hits and songs... if you heard clearly at past recordings you discover a rock band that makes a new music infected with fusion from punk to jazz, from reggae to country, from tango to calypso... from arabic to european... The Police was simple and at the same time complex music...and that is what they do today... the only difference is that today they wear long pants instead of shorts and gray painting instead of blonde :wink:

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="sockii"]I'm listening to the recording of the 5/28 show (off Dime) right now, and hot damn!!! Amazing what a difference one night can make. Everything sounds so much tighter and the tempos are definitely headed in the right direction. [/quote]

Precisely.

And seriously, folks -- let's remember that The Police have now played a grand total of ONE full-on show so far.

[Divemistress of the Dark]

Those pesky Europeans, conspiring to see The Police this fall after they've had many months of practice...

Of course I'm just kidding, but I'm glad to hear you guys continue to think things are moving in the right direction.

[Jose]

I want to say backing vocals from Andy are totally cool... his tune voice give THE POLICE backing vocals (chorus) a great dimenssion...also is superb what Sting sandg at the end of "Synchronicity II" La, la, ri, la, la..... 8)

[GinaSuperCat]

I’m posting this for those who weren’t there and are interested in reading reports [there are several, from the pm’s and emails I’ve been getting <grin>]: we were just short of beaten to promise to do so before leaving <grin>; its far easier for those who don’t want to read reports to ignore them than it is for those who want to read them to read what’s not posted.

Disclaimer: READ ONLY IF YOU WANT TO <cackle> ALSO, IT’S SUPER LONG AND I’M TOO TIRED TO EDIT IT <grin>

***

Mercury Rising took some of us on a grand tour of Vancouver’s various terrains; we walked along the beach with a beautiful view of downtown, we walked across a suspension bridge and down a few trails, we saw an awesome dam, we visited the Squamish reserve where the Police were practicing weeks before. It was meditative and recharging: just perfect since I was wondering how I was going to be able to go completely crazy again at the show tonight!

I stop and get a coffee on the way to the stadium an hour before our meeting time and I just sat there and watched all the different kinds of people who were queuing up for the 6:30 door opening, chatting with people they knew, chatting with people they did not know until right then, people buying shirts and other things, people uncontainably excited to see the Police for the first time, people uncontainably excited to see them again almost a quarter of a decade later, people taking their kids, raised on the Police, to the show as the ultimate dream family outing, people sporting all imaginable styles, etc. Someone I don’t know from some random news outlet wants to interview me but I kindly decline: I just want to watch for the moment.

***
On opening night, this is the time to come out swinging and: yeah, they did just that <grin> They brought it on, seriously: tour is going to absolutely smoke even further on down the line.

Message in a Bottle was just incredible…Sting hams it up with what I shall call the Sting Shimmy…I’m sure you’ll see it…It’s kinda like a traveling knee-knocking thing but done gracefully, not cloddingly—it’s Sting, after all <grin>

Synchronicity II lights it up, the bass drum just convulses my whole body on ‘+ 1’…the textures blend really well on it thus far…

CSLY/Regatta ROCKS so freaking HARD they way they are doing it...by the time they get to Regatta, I am just about to enter near-Earth-orbit...I don’t know how you couldn’t go nuts, honestly, Regatta is pitch perfect <grin>

Spirits…I have thought about this a lot…I think that it’s lost some of its wicked tight groove in the newer version. I am trying to listen to what the new versions are doing, adding, communicating rather than just comparing them with the ones we know by heart, but either this is one attachment that I'm not ready to let go [it was the first video by the Police I remember seeing <grin>) or it has traded in some of that stripped-down raw groove that I just adore in the process…

ELTSDIM: it’s more syncopated than the studio version, giving it a different feel that seems to require an especially open ear…I think it less about “being slowed down” and more about this shift in feel…

Beds Too Big Without You just inscribes that wicked solid groove into you at the cellular level…it has a heaviness that just inundates you <grin>

Re. Murder: See below for why I can’t really assess this song…My guess, fwiw, is that perhaps another song or two may rotate into this slot…Murder is a great song but it’s a bit more unusual than the others on the undeniable ‘hit list’ <grin> I have come to understand that concerts usually incorporate a ‘sitter’ of some sort…and, no, I’m not being cheeky about Police fans not being spring chickens…it’s just kinda developed as a convention. Heh, I felt like I was the only one still standing and grooving to this one in the whole arena, at least from my section…Murder is odd/syncopation at Synchronicity’s best <MEOW!>

De Do was much more enjoyable this night, and I especially like the way it ends with just Stewart on the cymbals...it's sorta like a live-version of a studio fade, in a way…Stewart is just making me love Footsteps and King of Pain, and much has already been said about them (FUKIN RAWK)…and the Stewart-Kid-In-a-Candy-Store-Percussion-Show is worth the price of admission alone, but these new reworkings are breathing new life into these songs, at least in my view.they are making me double-take on the potential of what I’ve heard a hundred times <grin>

There are a few sings-alongs: Walking on the Moon is really a highlight tonight, it seems to be a more extended version and there are two sing-alongs (eyoyoyo) on this alone…Of course Roxanne includes a sing-along, but I keep wanting to sing it like Stewart and Andy used to (following Sting with a short Rox/ann/O instead of matching Sting’s timing with Rox/ANN/o), so I am like the only one singing it that way <grin> I end up liking these moments more (live, that is…on video…<groan>…it’s unquestionably a type of “you gotta be there” moment), especially once I realize that a super cat is singing while Andy Stewart and Sting back her (and thousands of others…the sound waves are all there reverberating off one another <grin>

I am almost in tears during So Lonely when there is no “this is Stewart Copeland’s show”…as I was crouching in preparation for the loudest yelp <grin> but tonight it was Andy Summer’s show, and that was truly amazing…Andy’s guitar on Truth Hits is more raw than the previous night in a way that really suits the slower version, he just jams out silly during Voices/World, madly pawing the frets with both palms…its attains a higher level of all-outness <grin> However, a truly Andy Summer's show would have to include BotN <Cheshire grin>

***

We’ve all seen videos of the Police shows, but the visceral experience of seeing them live is hard to capture…Sting’s bass lines just feel like they pump through your blood, something eminently pleasing but that you can feel rhythmically kicking its way into your system, while Stewart’s kit drumming hits like artillery fire but, like, in the good way <grin> [he was recoiling his left stick so far back up over its head for the legendary <crack> on the snare it’s a wonder how he only broke a stick or two]…Andy’s guitar like a magnetic field of constantly shifting polarities and intensities just enveloping you…

I am really enjoying the re-workings of the songs for several reasons: instead of seeing one personality or style predominate, you really get all three coming through strongly at different points. Andy, Sting, and Stewart fans all get great opportunities to scream like teenieboppers at different moments, which is great <grin>. Sometimes the predominance of Sting's style prevails (perhaps in an arrangement familiar with his solo version), sometimes it's clearly a Stewart style (if it hits you like a truck, or physically forces your body to start grooving, it’s Stewart), other times pure Andy (sign: when you feel like you may be slipping into an adjacent dimension)...I screamed my head off when Sting sang "welcome to Stewart Copeland's show" on FC night but I think the verse "welcome to this three man show" from the second is *almost* as exciting in how it seems to really characterize the overall tone. Sting’s actively effacing the ‘front man’ thing in some ways… Sting shouts out for Andy “the legendary Andy Summers” and, at which point I scream my head off: “The world’s greatest drummer, Stewart Copeland!” (Both arms up, jumps up on seat for a sec, screams YEAH! WOOO!)

Stewart is getting major love whenever he stands up, goes to the rack, bangs the gong, runs across stage, throws two perfectly good sticks aside insouciantly, makes it from the rack back to the kit in under 4 to resume perfectly at 1, says anything, or otherwise hams it up <grin>...There are lot's of opportunities to declare your enthusiasm for Stewart (as with the others...)…he just steals the show here and there <grin> But Mr. Stewart “I was born ‘in the pocket’” Copeland still lays down grooves like he was 24, you know he can drive that train to the end of the line, but in these shows he’s been stripping it down a bit to the essential components: he’s tip top (as she says to the choir)!. <grin>

Also the tempo tinkering is making the songs more kinetic than before, even when they are significantly slowed down from previous versions…there’s something interesting to me about this, the fact that something that starts slower and either oscillates between different ones (ELTSDIM) or starts slower and reaches the speed of sound (Next to You)…there’s something so much more exciting about that locomotive ending in the context of the slower tempo preceding it, rather than the steady bpm fest of the earlier version (not counting the Stewart-effect of end bpm vs. beginning <grin>)…there’s more movement in the tempo and dynamics shifts than a steady/static rocket tempo…

The only thing disappointing in comparison with the first night was the major difference in atmosphere, which has nothing to do with the Police. Last night was exhilarating in the sense that approximately ten times more people were there…the Police deserve that magnitude of a cheering audience and even more, surely…but, unfortunately, that also brings with it exponentially more nonsense. Welcome back to stadium/arena rock after a few years of clubs and other cozy musical environs, SuperCat: I see it as “leveling up" for Bonnaroo <grin> Normally, who cares unless it’s you that’s getting hauled off, but last night some asswipes further back in my section (I was in the second row on level 1, mere feet from the floor) decided to try and run *through the middle* (ie. not down the aisle) of the section by plowing between us over the tops of armrests, to try and get on the floor…This happened not once but two fucking times, the second resulting in my shoulder getting rammed and some girl’s flip-flop-wearing foot to be crushed before the two runners made it to the floor and at least 1 was taken down by security and carted off. The first rush attempt was in the middle of Driven to Tears…a song I don’t want to be distracted during, actually how about don't fuck with me during a Police concert at all, but I thought better than to start punching, which was my first inclination. The second attempt with ensuing security debacle and questioning pretty much ruined the first three minutes of Murder by Numbers…Only one song ruined, I told myself to drop it and forget it immediately, I didn’t get thrown out of a concert…let alone their first show of the tour…

Some things only bother you as much as you let them…I completely ejected this from my mind for the show…but, nonetheless, I am thinking to upgrade my tickets for the floor for future shows…I do not stop dancing/ jerking/ screaming/ cheering/ moving/ etc. for the entire show…but that night virtually my whole section was sitting for at least half of the concert, which is perfectly cool (people should enjoy concerts as they want) but I felt a bit self-conscious about them being stuck with the Kinetic Kat in front of them…I may’ve felt bad once or twice, but it sure as hell didn’t stop me. <grin> It slowly dawns on me: the first taste of the 'floor experience' from the FC show was only 50$, now when I come knocking for more, the price for a fix has handily gone up five-fold…brilliant, really <grin>

PostScript: Returning to the Planet Earth

This is just a random end note about today, the day I head back. Sorry for the length of all this and either ignore it or thanks for indulging me or both. Truth be told it’s either write about the Police in this state of residual high or face the reality of getting cracking on my work, something I’d rather put off until tomorrow (cues theme music to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly or maybe, better, High Noon)

As I left the SkyTrain station and wait to cross the street a fellow stops next to me, still looking forward says out of the side of his mouth “1200 Angels have arrived. You are one of them. [he thinks for a second before deciding] You are the Angel of Desire" It’s just the type of thing that burns itself into your brain, a winner of the off-the-wall award…like the time I was told, by a barista in a café, that my aura is yellow and that’s both rare and very good <grin> I feel like I’m in my own dream world or Fellini film and nothing that’s happening around me disconfirms that.

I aimlessly wander around downtown Vancouver, killing some time before my shuttle takes me to Seattle later that afternoon…I walk down one of the major shopping streets, I sip a coffee or two, I wander down to the periphery of Chinatown, I look at some books, and for the first time this weekend I actually start to feel hungry. I look at some menus and choose the “Next Noodle Bar.” After having not been very hungry at all for the past four days (too jacked on my own excitement), the small plates of dumplings, salad with ginger and cranberry, and fresh sliced papaya are like bite-sized nirvana. I feel it rush color to my cheeks as I open my fortune cookie…It reads: “now is the time.” I sip my tea thinking about all the ways that could be: it’s great to be alive, don’t ever cash out the present for the future, don’t second guess yourself and let opportunities slip by: act, hey, perhaps it means something will happen, perhaps Stewart will walk down the other side of the street and I can smile to myself knowing that all this may have been real after all…I glance at the clock, at first just seeing it as an object without signification then my eyes snap to sharp focus…lost in thought about all the figurative meanings, I miss the obvious literal one staring me in the face: now is the time to catch your damn shuttle! In that second, I’m back on Earth <grin>

[Divemistress of the Dark]

That was wonderful, gsc.

[blueboy]

If anyone has a problem reading other people's opinions about a specific performance, written on a fan based forum, in a thread about that specific show....why are you reading it? There are plenty of other threads.

I personally enjoy some intelligent discussion about each person's experience. It is actually quite interesting to read that people's perceptions can be very different, depending on their own expectations, and also their location in the venue, or the other people's reactions in their particular section.

On Sunday I saw the show more from the front and was at stage level which was perfect. On Monday I was right beside the stage on Sting's side and felt much closer, so my impression was totally different. I thought Sunday was very relaxed and they really hit the mark when playing together on several songs. On Monday, I don't know if I was just seeing and hearing the show in a more critical way or what, but I felt that it didn't have the same "relaxed swagger" (for lack of a better phrase). It was still GREAT. But I was so personally wrapped in their performance that I overreact to little screwups as if I made them myself...when in reality, nobody else would even notice.

After seeing some of the youtube videos from Monday, I'm starting to wonder if I was just imagining things, as most of the clips sounded really good. I'm hoping to get a hold of the audio for Monday's show and have a listen.

I'm starting to go through Police Mania withdrawal already though...and I almost coughed up for tonight's show (they should be on stage right about now), but I need to give my ears (and wallet) a break.

One thing is for sure....the final DVD of this tour will be amazing!

[Wait and See]

I just listened to it, and my observation is that Don't Stand, almost single-handedly, is dragging the show down. The first four songs were very solid, but then Don't Stand hit, and it was like BAM...there goes the energy. They moved it, so they've got to be aware it's an issue. Truth Hits is also massacred...if they just played those two songs closer to the originals, and ditched Murder by Numbers in favor of Bring on the Night, it would improve the whole concert dramatically. There are also several songs, Invisible Sun among them, that they just need to play faster.

To my ears, it started out well, but then it kind of dropped, and didn't start to get back on solid footing until Can't Stand Losing You...and I blame Don't Stand as the primary culprit, with Truth Hits and Murder close behind. I should probably thrown in Next to You, too. Same Story as Truth Hits. Crank that baby, and people will go nuts. As it is..."eh"... That is until Stewart's burst of insanity at the end. Play the whole thing that way.

The final point, which may be like getting blood from a stone, is that while a lot of the changes they've made to the arrangements are good, it would be a big help if Sting would sing the original melodies (especially the choruses) instead of changing them (usually to something mellow). I'm talking about World Running Down, King of Pain, and several others. You can change a lot of things, but changing the melody takes the crowd out of the excitement and turns them into passive listeners.

Just some constructive criticism. Most of it is great, but I think the few issues I mentioned are cramping their show.

[cpriddims]

Now let's just all calm down. I really am a nice guy!

Don't get me wrong. I do appreciate the reporting going on about the shows. Maybe you're right. I probably need to take some of the reports more with a grain of salt or not read them. Some are great and very positive, but some are too self-serving and opinionated for me ("I think they should do this" etc) and that's where I seem to take some offense when we are talking about my boys (our boys that is).

But if everyone is entitled to post their reports and opinions on a show, the rest of us are entitled to post a reaction to what we read, right?

It may help if I try not to post too late at night. That can make my posts seem grumpier I guess. Sorry about that.

[DirtyMartini]

[quote="Wait and See"]You can change a lot of things, but changing the melody takes the crowd out of the excitement and turns them into passive listeners.[/quote]

Heh. For me, I'd say that I don't think it's the melody change as much as the rhythm/patterns/pacing that does it. The audience can pick up a new melody in seconds (and can even just sing the old one), but when the lyric phrasing changes every time, they can't grab on to it. Like you said, it blocks the audience from being able to stay actively engaged.

(Warning: analysis ahead. Turn away if you don't want to hear it.)

E.g.,
The one bit of "CSLY" that I did not like both nights was the final verse -- which is mildly annoying personally cuz that's my favorite part, but more importantly, in terms of dramatic performance, it jerked the audience out of the huge build-up that had preceded it. Instead of

I guess this is our last goodbye
And you don't care, so I won't cry
But you'll be sorry when I'm dead
And all this guilt will be on your head

Sting sang

I guess this is our last goodbye
(2 measures)
And you dont care, so I won't cry
(2 measures)
But you'll be sorry when I'm dead
(2 measures)
And all this guilt will be on your head

Dramatically, it totally fucks up the intensity. But worse than that, it fucks up the audience's involvement at the worst moment possible. You can hear the audience on the boot go on to "and you don't care" during Sting's pause -- which is the kind of thing that makes you (as an audience member) feel like a bit of a moron cuz you screwed up. Which jerks you right out of the momentum that has built up and suddenly alienates you from your personal involvement in the moment. For 4 minutes you've been chugging along; you're juiced up and raring to go; you and Stingo are about to hit the big climax together; and then suddenly Urp? -- at the worst moment possible -- you're out of synch.

It's not important to the grand scheme of the world or anything -- but in terms of theater, it breaks that connection and rips the audience out of the trance that they have just so happily come under.


BTW, lovely post, GSC.

[sockii]

[quote="DirtyMartini"]
Heh. For me, I'd say that I don't think it's the melody change as much as the rhythm/patterns/pacing that does it. The audience can pick up a new melody in seconds (and can even just sing the old one), but when the lyric phrasing changes every time, they can't grab on to it. Like you said, it blocks the audience from being able to stay actively engaged.[/quote]

I totally agree with this--and see, this is also why I love listening to audience bootlegs. I may not have "been there" in person but listening to the vibe, the sing-alongs, the chatter on the recordings I've heard, one can very clearly sense when the audience is with it and when they're not. And from what I've heard, what was throwing people the most was when they were ready to sing along at a particular point and were thrown off by the changes in Sting's phrasing - holding back on a line, or rushing through it. All of a sudden the folks that were singing and whistling along happily seem to get very confused and quiet. It's not so much the melodies -- when THAT'S all that change people seemed to have no problem going with it -- but when the expected vocal phrasing is altered too much.

On CSLY...

[quote]Dramatically, it totally fucks up the intensity. But worse than that, it fucks up the audience's involvement at the worst moment possible. You can hear the audience on the boot go on to "and you don't care" during Sting's pause -- which is the kind of thing that makes you (as an audience member) feel like a bit of a moron cuz you screwed up.[/quote]

Exactly, exactly. Just what I was saying.

Anyway, just to no doubt repeat myself - I LOVE that they are gutsy enough to switch things up, I hope they don't stop and just keeping working at it until it all gels beautifully (as I'm sure it will). There's just such a great...I don't know, "organic" vibe to this whole thing, "disasters" and moments of brilliance and all. Any criticisms I've voiced are all to be taken with the grain of salt that I'm so excited by all of this, to me it's like nitpicking Titian because I don't think he blurred his edges on a painting perfectly or maybe had a slightly sloppy glaze on a small corner of fabric. 99.9% of people out there may not notice a thing, but we're all crazy enough to pay attention to every single note.

[DirtyMartini]

Amen, sockii.

Sorry to not reference your earlier post about phrasing again -- I can't remember which thread it was in. (They're all starting to blend together.) All props to you are intended.

[Wait and See]

DM & sockii --

I know what you you're saying--there are times when the audience is singing the original melody, and you could almost say Sting is harmonizing on top of it, and it kind of works in that sense...but that's only the case if the audience is singing along in the first place. I think if you change it too much, the people who know it will stop singing and start listening, and the people who only kind of vaguely remember some of the songs won't recognize them at all.

In most cases, the original melody is simply much better, like the difference between the original chorus of "World Running Down" and the way Sting has been singing recently.

There's something else I'm talking about too, though. I'll try not to get too esoteric...but the human voice is kind of like a guitar amp in a sense...in that when you turn up the volume on an amp (particularly a tube amp), it doesn't just get louder-- the tone changes. In the case of a guitar, the result is varying degrees of distortion. A singing voice works in a similar way when you sing in a higher register. Sting's "greatness" as a singer is not in some kind of Frank-Sinatra-style jazz phrasing, which seems to be what he's been going for for some time, but in his range, and the SOUND of his voice, especially when he sings higher notes.

I'll use "Don't Stand" as an example, since it's the one I think is suffering the most in the early shows. On the record, you have this sort of foreboding intro, and he sings the first verse about where he's singing it now, down low, which adds to the atmosphere. Then you get the sudden *crack crack* of the snare and it kicks into the chorus, which is sung a lot higher, and then the second verse is an octave (maybe two) up from the first verse, which creates a totally different vibe. When he sings "temptation, frustration, so bad it makes him cry", the way he's singing it conveys the emotions the words are describing, like an actor acting out a line of dialog. When you take that away (as he's been doing), you lose the whole impact of the song.

Another example is the chorus of Roxanne on the record, where he's wailing out "put on the red light". The way he sings it conveys sonically the emotion of the lyrics.

When he sings something in a mellowed-out, "shoo-be-do" kind of way and plays around with the phrasing, it sort of conveys the message "I'm bored with this song and you should be too"--which is probably not far from the pose he adopted toward the Police for many years. Now that he's back, he needs to be de-programmed. Maybe they should take one of their days off and shut themselves in a room with old concert recordings, just to remind themselves of how they used to do it.

Anyway, like I said-- the range you sing something in has an effect on the tone of your voice--so whatever it is you're singing, the louder and higher you sing it, the more intensity and "excitement" you communicate to the audience. To go back the guitar example, if Eddie Van Halen played a show at low volume with no effects, it would not sound the same at all, and people would want their money back. Vocals work the same way.