by GinaSuperCat on 19 Jun 2007 14:31
Okies, SuperCat finally rested up and except for a major allergic reaction I had to some new after sun lotion I got yesterday, all is back to normal!
I'll post this in parts: there's from the Police first then some of the other shows I saw second, just in case it's of interest to anyone!
Cataroo 2007
Outdoor venue: Bonnaroo outdoor sound system rocks harder than any one I’ve heard, its unbelievable how clear and excellent the sound is back at camp, making it guilt and panic free to run back and refill water, etc. Having a blanket and your own territory staked out with your pals is unbelievably cool and being able to dance, etc! there is the dust, the heat, and the direct blazing sun, too, but seeing the Police at an outdoor festival is really exciting since its not much different in atmosphere since when they headlined festivals in previous tours!
It surely was great to meet up with Divemistress, Mr. DiveMistress and Cpriddims at Roo—going to any concert, but especially to see the Police, in good company is half the fun, really <grin> We had been camping out all day in the main stage area and we start to get really excited…cpriddims goes back the with flag <insert his story here!> and after some of us take shifts to eat and use the facilities we all finally meet back up at camp before the show. Hubby is looking like a bandit because he had to buy a bandana (he ends up with a dark blue Steal Your Face one, best he could find, haha) and tie it over his nose and mouth because the dust is sooo bad…I end up calling him the canino bandito for the rest of the weekend since in our demented world he is Sweet Dog and I am Super Cat…well, anyways, do I ever manage not to digress?
The gong and the subsequent opening notes to Message are met with a deafening roar across the field…I have terrible amateurish cell-phone footage as evidence <grin> and it seems like everyone in a mile radius is singing along! I do have to say this…the Police outside is a different feel and I can sense that right away, for obvious reasons your body isn’t inundated with the music as with a closed venue. The sound at Bonnaroo is *freaking unbelievable* but it’s not immersive in the way indoor venues are, as when I was in Vancouver, but the fact that you can dance on your own declared blanket-demarcated patch of land is pure joy! It envelops you moreso than it streams into you/through you like an electrical current...that's the main difference between outdoor and indoor. People are throwing thousands upon thousands of glow bracelets, necklaces, sticks, etc. and inflatable balls are afloat and the Police are seemingly met with a full-on, whole-hearted Roo welcome! Message blazes into the night sky, piercing through the ambiguous haze that surrounds Bonnaroo.
Synchronicity II rocks heavy hard tonight, this is becoming one of my favorites on the list thus far. No one can say that the Police is jazzed out or this is Police lite when they hear this one, particularly from Bonnaroo…this is the opposite of lite, it’s the real deal…I am airborne for at least half the song! You feel the energy streaming and pounding from the stage, it feels somewhat like that old Memorex ad…the only thing that would have made it more perfect (besides more volume...this song can't get too loud <grin>) is if Stewart had let out that wooohooo in the last rehearsal clip <grin> It’s ok, we did it for him!
Andy sounds great tonight, especially on Bed’s Too Big with a part of the jam in the middle a bit different from before and Wrapped, another version that is just really taking to its new form well, Stewart’s percussion is just entrancing, Andy’s guitar sails above the incantation, there is something burning beneath it’s cool surface.
De Do Do (a song I used to not be wild about) is really starting to sound great, I take notice of how much I am really starting to like this even above the studio version…it’s really coming together much groovier than when I heard it in Vancouver. And there’s a really good sing along to this one!
CSLY/Regatta is one of the highlights of the evening…CPriddims and I run up closer, the result of an on-the-spot decision, for this one like two kids, and it really rocks hard. We were up by the mixing area and everyone around us is just starting to freak out…punching arms into the sky, dancing, jerking to the beat, singing, etc. The energy just exponentially multiplies on this number. Sting has a sing along, varying the eyo-eya-eyayo for the first several goes around and we are all singing…it’s like a game of Simon but Police-style, hahah…Regatta builds not once but twice with two full crescendos, which is a super-bonus since we get to do it all again! Roxanne starts and right before we head back to camp the guy behind me wants me to throw my red glow bracelet during the opening chords (I am wearing a red, yellow, and blue glow bracelets courtesy of the dollar store <grin>) so I give it to him to throw, clearly disappointing him. I’m a Bonna-newbie so I hope my Roo transgressions are forgiven!
King of Pain: another version I am liking better than in Synchronicity mainly in part to the Stewart Percussion Show that it now invariably signifies. Just a note, Sting has brought back “that’s my soul up there” for this show, something that kinda delighted me since it was dropped out in the Vancouver shows.
The order is noticeably different for this show, Walking and Driven are moved up, Voices and World moved down, Wrapped moved up, etc. Some songs are not on the list tonight (Murder, Spirits, Don’t Stand, Invisible Sun) so I don’t think anyone can say it’s static. I imagine set-list changes will be more emergent or even glacial than of the sea-change variety with how tight they have always wanted their live shows to be but I see this as pretty significant revision in and of itself if not an indication of more movement to come. Tinkering is taking place. Several loose ends and jangling threads from Vancouver have been tied and clipped...this tight ship is steaming ahead...
They rocked Roo hard and were, in my opinion, met with an awesome energetic packed crowd, much more than the turn-out for Tool. I have to say, having only played 1hr 45 min. that I was expecting them to return after NTY: in part because they were slated for another 45 min., in part because of the jam comments from before Bonnaroo, in part because of the songs that dropped off the list for this show perhaps leaving room for something else, and in part since Sting ended with a rather cryptic “see you all later” or something to that effect…[sorry my usually sharp memory isn’t clear on this one].
It did not help that the jumbos, for some strange reason, showed the title screen “Police 9:00-11:30” that usually announce the upcoming act not once but two times *after* they left leading me to think that that wasn’t it…we stuck around with a bit of consternation, wondering what would happen. The stage wasn’t being taken down and someone shouted “the Police are coming back” but at Bonnaroo you quickly learn to be prepared to take what you hear with a grain of salt! So it was kinda a confusing and ambiguous final note, perhaps only because I made it one, but you know what’s so excellent about Roo? There’s always something else just ready to get started a few dusty metres away. Off in the distance, the Flaming Lips are performing their own soundcheck by hammering out Sabbath’s War Pigs…<grin> We hear confirmation that Elvis indeed has left the building so we stop speculating about whether there’d be a guest appearance etc. and continue with our night, for which we will rock on another 5 or so hours!
Last edited by
GinaSuperCat on 19 Jun 2007 15:24, edited 2 times in total.
MMMMEEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWW!!!!