Seattle June 7

[Mercury Rising]

Okay... so I decide to drive down to Seattle for yet another gig - my 4th one - what an addict!
Tonight I find an excellent seat way in the back but dead centre, a real change from the other 3 shows where it felt like I was sitting on the stage. I can hear the proper mix now, more details. Finally I see the whole stage set-up from floor to ceiling and I'm able to see the band as 3 instead of one at a time. This became very important as the concert progressed... the whole lighting, video and graphics package is quite nice - very sleek and simple but it packs a punch. On a side note I thought that Water Aid was not given the attention it deserves, much more could be done with this.... much, much more.

So... on with the show!

Fiction Plane: still finding their groove, Joe sounds better and each song is starting to stand on its own, love the drummer - he rocks! They seem to be having more fun too!

Set List and comments as follows:
It's an 8:45pm start (this is 15 min earlier than usual I think)
Wow - I finally saw the big gong entry Stewart (was hard to see this whole thing before as I was too close)

1. MESSAGE
the usual...
2. SYNCH II
The legendary Andy rocks out! Sliding on the strings and going into full guitar god mode - wow!
3. SPIRITS
such a sparse rendition, I get into the visuals (not a good sign)
4. VOICES/WORLD
Stewart is focused and steady and rarely changes this mode through the first set, lots of fun though and Andy has another killer solo (so glad I can finally hear him now!)
5. DON'T STAND
the whole thing melts into a slow soup, I wonder if Stewart is dying to speed this one up? Sting steps on his pedal and just about blasts the bass through the roof -with the flowing lights and slow tempo I feel like I'm in an aquarium, in slow motion, and the bass is a big whale trying to cough up a note
6. DRIVEN TO TEARS
a few mishaps here, Andy gets a glare from Sting
7. WALKING ON THE MOON
a nice new variation on the bass, groovy
8. TRUTH HITS
I catch on to a new trend... I think the video operators are on to something here - every time there's a mistake on stage and they've got a full-face close up on screen suddenly they shift down to the instrument so as not to reveal the facial expressions of shock and confusion - hoping to conceal the error from the audience.... hmmm....
9. EVERY LITTLE THING
this song does it every time, whether good or bad, the audience lept up to their feet again - the perennial audience favourite, magic, magic, magic
10. WRAPPED AROUND
want to see more video here of Stewart, he's the star of this one (and all the rest too, of course!)
11. BED'S TOO BIG
woooo, big energy drop - people start walking out, sitting down and talking, Sting notices after a while and starts the clapping routine, then Stewart kicks in with intensity (sounds like he's using a double kick without one - brilliant as usual)
12. DE DO DO DO
not much here, but Andy is hilarious
13. INVISIBLE SUN
Andy's new strumming variation is wicked, the rest is, well....zzzzzzz
14. FOOTSTEPS
Sting and Andy almost plant one on each other, I can only imagine what's going on in Stewart's head... what the???
15. CAN'T STAND LOSING
by now Andy is doing one-handed push ups while using the other hand to play guitar - legendary (I'm not kidding!)
16. ROXANNE
there's that bass pedal again.... bad feedback, but the song stands tall

I was waiting for Stewart's sprint around the stage - no luck.

17. KING OF PAIN - Encore 1
18. SO LONELY - Stewart seems to really love to sing along with this one, and Andy has another great solo (but did he end up one notch up?)

19. EVERY BREATH - Encore 2
Sting accepts a flower from the audience, offers it to Andy on bended knee, who then passes it to Stewart where it finds it's fateful end

20. NEXT TO YOU - Encore 3
the big blowout - full lighting effects, monster drums and crazy cheers from the audience, a fitting end, awesome, fantastic, what a rush

Words I heard outside as we exited the building, "sizzling", "fantastic", "well worth it".... but I keep thinking about the effort required to put this show on. This is going to be a long, long tour, night after night the band has to satisfy everyone's high standards, a tough job even for them I think. Good luck, safe journey and see you again in November!

[Duke]

11. BED'S TOO BIG
woooo, big energy drop - people start walking out, sitting down and talking, Sting notices after a while and starts the clapping routine, then Stewart kicks in with intensity (sounds like he's using a double kick without one - brilliant as usual) <<

Sad. This song should almost be the highlight of the show. Lot's of room here to have some fun and get out there.

Thanks for the review though.

[Philip]

I just wanted to post the same as Duke.

Is it not exagerating when you say ? :
"
woooo, big energy drop - people start walking out, sitting down and talking, Sting notices after a while and starts the clapping routine"

[Wait and See]

Did you say bass pedals?:o

Can you give some specifics on what the arrangement of Don't Stand So Close to Me was like? Has it changed any from Vancouver?

[batitude]

[quote="Duke"]11. BED'S TOO BIG
woooo, big energy drop - people start walking out, sitting down and talking, Sting notices after a while and starts the clapping routine, then Stewart kicks in with intensity (sounds like he's using a double kick without one - brilliant as usual) <<

Sad. This song should almost be the highlight of the show. Lot's of room here to have some fun and get out there.

Thanks for the review though.[/quote]

Stewart does play with a Tama Iron Cobra double kick pedal if that's what you were refferring to. I never used a double kick but I know a lot of drummers that have dumped the extra Bass Drum in favor of this. I've liked Stewars use of it during the tour.

[GinaSuperCat]

Thanks for the thorough and thoughtful report, Mercury Rising!! Sounds like it was great fun and Andy is really getting into the rockstar guitarist thing WoooOooo! And, heh, would it really be a Police concert is Sting didn't make a face when some strange sound came out of Andy's guitar, I'd be pressed to say no! <grin> I can't imagine pouring your heart and every ounce of your energy into a few hours, waking up and doing the whole f'in thing again...to paraphrase Stewart (in talking about the Foos), they're making this rock and roll thing look an awful lot like hard work!

Re: pedal, yes Stewart has been using a double bass pedal on the one drum, he used to say double bass screwed up his playing but in the more recent years has been listening to a lot of metal, has gotten into double-bass playing, and now uses the Iron Cobra Power Glide double pedal...I really, really want one of these because I'm pretty much a three-limbed drummer (hats are really cheap and sound not so good) and I think it would be a great way to get the left foot <dead-foot, really!> to wake up!

[Spec A!]

To bounce off topic on Gina's last comment- I'm sure you drum along in the car like me, and every other drummer out there. Hands bashing the steering wheel in all sorts of places, but what are your feet doing? Well for me, I drive a manual so both stay busy for the most part, but we all know the right foot has primary stop and go duty, auto or manual trans. That leaves your left some free time to do what? Just rest there?!?! Hell no!! Use this precious down time to build up your left foot- start playing the kick parts with your left! Honest to God it helped me become a little more fluid with my double Iron Cobra. Just wanted to throw that out there in case you weren't already doing so.

[blueseattle]

What happened to the flower?

[DirtyMartini]

Thanks for the report, Merc!

BTW, I LOVE this:

[quote="Mercury Rising"]
with the flowing lights and slow tempo I feel like I'm in an aquarium, in slow motion, and the bass is a big whale trying to cough up a note
[/quote]


[quote="Spec A!"]Use this precious down time to build up your left foot- start playing the kick parts with your left! [/quote]

But as always, boys and girls, safety first.
And stay away from the brown acid.

[Jennythenipper]

Nice review, felt like I was there. I feel your pain with muddy sound in a stadium. The uneven quality of the sound is one the reasons I've more or less quit going to shows in big arenas. My seats are dead center about halfway back on the floor, so I have a good feeling that i may hear a decent mix.

As for the cameramen pulling away when they are glaring at each other, what are they thinking? That is half the fun of seeing the live show, watching the communication. Besides, I think half the time Sting is deliberately mugging away. If they wanted to conceal their mistakes by not reacting I'm sure they all have enough experience to do that, but it sorta makes you feel like you're in on it, when they highlight their goof ups.

I swear to god if someone sits down and starts yammering away in front of me during "Beds too Big" I'm going to wallop them. I hate that. A few years ago I was at a Dylan concert where he opened for one of the former members of the grateful dead. All these deadheads were just yammering away hogging up space at the front of the stage when Dylan was playing. I kinda turned into one of those cartoons where the steam comes out of your ears. Not good.

[Bearmeister]

I was at the 2nd Seattle show and your review was pretty much spot on.

I would mention that it took about half the set for the mix to get dialed in. You may not have noticed from your vantage in back center. But several around us (stage right about half way up) were all shaking our heads. Funny because this was after all the second night in Seattle! Sting's bass notes were indistinguishable and Stewart's drum work was almost non-existent except for the kick and hi-hats. Andy's guitar would surge at times and lacked volume level uniformity. I have to admit this dampened my enjoyment.

But the second half of the night more than made up for it.

Overall the night had great energy except for a few zzzz moments noted above. You can feel it on the YouTube stuff.

Still great after all these years! Go see them!

[georgygirl]

[quote]Okay... so I decide to drive down to Seattle for yet another gig - my 4th one - what an addict!
[/quote]

After all, you are a very lucky addict!