I can't, I can't, I can't stand looking...

The Police: The Synchronicity Concert (DVD)

Pros: It sounds really, really good...

Cons: ...but you could hurt yourself (literally) if you watch it

The Bottom Line: The visual effects in this 1983 concert are decidedly annoying. The Police's excellent performance is largely ruined by Godley & Creme's experimentation.

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Getting tickets to a concert by The Police this year was not easy - with this being their first tour in over thirty years, demand was very high for their shows. And so, seeing a show by these megastars of the early eighties remains a rare event - even if you want to see a show in the comfort of your own home.

The Police's Synchronicity Concert DVD is the only complete concert widely released on DVD (there is a South Korean DVD of a Ghost in the Machine tour show, but it's not really "official"). Despite the band's enormous popularity during the earliest days of the rise of MTV, and despite the known existence of recorded shows from various tours, this 1983 show at the Atlanta Omni remains the only filmed performance by the band to be brought up to date using today's technology.

Directed by Godley & Creme, who also directed three of the videos from the Synchronicity album, the concert video is basically seventy-five minutes of visual experimentation using some common video tricks of the era. Video and MTV were still relatively new, and at this point, there weren't any stereotypes or expectations for what live performances should look like when filmed.

Godley and Creme used several cameras and a lot of video post-production editing to attempt to create a new look for concert films. Some of it works, some of it does not. Unfortunately, there are some moments where the director's work overwhelms the music, and with the rarity of concert videos by The Police, it leaves fans of the band like myself wishing for more concert videos where the music gets the lion's share of the attention...


Read the entire review at epinions.com

The Police World Tour: Dallas June 26, 2007

“Don’t ruin it for me…”

My wife was not happy with me as we left the American Airlines Center in Dallas last night. No sooner had we stepped out onto the rain-soaked plaza when I began verbally deconstructing the two hour concert we had just witnessed – the first and, quite possibly, the last show by The Police we will ever see.

“You always do this.”

I have to admit it – I had started writing this review in my head the instant Stewart Copeland jumped up onto his percussion platform and sounded the massive gong hanging behind his drum kit. I had begun trying to think of neat turns of phrase, new and different ways to describe this show even as it was unfolding in front of me.

“Just let me enjoy it for a while, OK?”

I quickly recognized that I was threatening to ruin her good mood. She was in high spirits that had not been dampened by the downpour that pelted us earlier that evening as we crossed the plaza from the railway station to the venue, that had not faltered even faced with vertigo induced by our eagle eye view from the top row of section 308, that had never wavered even against the onslaught of the overly friendly drunk couple who insisted on dancing badly and playing grabass in her face all night long – my wife had been looking forward to this concert for months, and she thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

She was not to be deterred from her mood by her idiot, analytical husband. So, I did the right thing and shut up.

Her immediate opinion of the concert was, of course, more accurate than mine – what matters most when going to see The Police during this world tour is to simply enjoy the fact that the trio has come back to play their hits for their fans. The bonus is that the band is playing the songs with new enthusiasm and new interpretations; why critics and some fans have decided that The Police (version 2007) is somehow inferior to The Police (version 1980) escapes me.

The band is playing the songs the fans want to hear, and they are re-inventing the songs a bit because they feel like it.

Got a problem with that?

I nearly did, but thankfully, my wife talked me out of it...

complete review available at epinions.com

The Police World Tour - my personal wishlist

-- originally published at Epinions.com --

The Police World Tour is one of the hottest concert tickets this year, if not in several years. This is a tour that a lot of people have been waiting to see happen for a very long time, myself included. I've been a rabid fan of the band, as well as Sting's solo career since I first heard them on the radio in 1979. And on June 26, 2007, I finally get to check "Attend a Concert by The Police" from my list of things to do before I die…

But what kind of concert will I see and hear? What will The Police decide to play?

The band only released five albums, a surprise to some when you consider just how huge the band's influence was, how popular their hits – especially those in the early eighties – became. Many people will want to hear a hit parade in this concert, and I'm sure that the band will oblige, but it's my hope that the band will want to play at least some of the more obscure music that us hardcore Police fans have come to love over the years.

It would not surprise me to see the band do a few medleys that at least touch on more obscure songs while moving between the more obvious hits. The band was known for some extended noodling on certain songs, giving Sting a chance to engage the crowd in singing "ee-oh-ee-oh-oh-oh" or other nonsense syllable phrases, and it would not surprise me to see him do it again.
Assuming the band will give a two and a half hour concert with a twenty minute break in the middle, my guess is that they could plan on playing anywhere from twenty five to thirty songs, some in their entirety, some quoted quickly in passing.

And so, I would like to offer two lists to the band for their consideration:

The Obvious and The Obscure

It's my hope that the band will perform a blend of music from both these lists, utilizing most, if not all of them, even if not a complete version of the song:

The Obvious
Here are fourteen hits and a couple other songs, in ascending album order, that I think stand a very good chance of being played at a Police concert near you…

Outlandos d'Amor

• Can't Stand Losing You
• Roxanne

Regatta de Blanc

• Message in a Bottle
• Walking on the Moon
• Regatta de Blanc*

Zenyatta Mondatta

• Don't Stand So Close to Me (NOT the '86 version)
• When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
• Bombs Away**

Ghost in the Machine

• Spirits in the Material World
• Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
• Invisible Sun

Synchronicity

• Synchroncity I
• Synchronicity II
• Every Breath You Take
• King of Pain
• Wrapped Around Your Finger

* Regatta de Blanc was an often used instrumental at Police concerts – excellent for crowd singalongs. ** Bombs Away may not be AS obvious a hit as the others, but given the current involvement of the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is VERY topical right now.

The Obscure
Here are thirteen other songs that I would like to hear played by The Police in concert, again in ascending album order…

ODA – Truth Hits Everybody
ODA – Next to You
RDB – Bring on the Night
RDB – Does Everyone Stare
ZM – Driven to Tears
ZM – Shadows in the Rain
GITM – One World (Not Three)
GITM – Rehumanize Yourself
GITM – Too Much Information
GITM – Secret Journey
SYNC – Murder by Numbers
SYNC – O My God
Bonus Track from Brimstone and Treacle soundtrack – I Burn For You

So those are the songs. And guess what? I've even got suggestions regarding song order for this concert.

Yep. Because I am just that obsessed over this band and this show.

I know. I am a sad, sad man.

The Tomato's Police Concert Playlist
I'll be sure to keep score at the actual show, and then we can come back and compare notes to see how I did. Please note that I am publishing this list before The Police have played any shows at all, so this one is all me.

1. Synchronicity I
2. Next to You / Truth Hits Everybody
3. The Bed's Too Big Without You / Can't Stand Losing You / Shadows in the Rain / Regatta de Blanc
4. One World (Not Three) / When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around / Bring on the Night
5. Too Much Information / Rehumanize Yourself
6. Driven to Tears / Bombs Away / Murder by Numbers
7. Invisible Sun / Walking on the Moon
8. Does Everyone Stare / O My God / Secret Journey
9. Wrapped Around Your Finger / King of Pain

Intermission

1. Synchronicity II
2. Spirits in the Material World / Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic

Encores

1. Don't Stand So Close to Me / Every Breath You Take
2. I Burn for You
3. Roxanne (acoustic) / Message in a Bottle (acoustic) / Roxanne (rock reprise)

There they are, my predictions and predilections for the show I've waited for all these years. Don't need to hear any of Sting's solo work, I've seen seven of his concert tours, and don't need to hear those songs again for a while yet (though it would not surprise me if Sting quotes Fragile during an encore, especially near the end with Message in a Bottle – a very popular encore during his solo tours)

Got any thoughts on the list? the order? medleys you'd like to suggest? I'd love to read your comments, and here's hoping that you have the chance to catch The Police on tour somewhere near you quite soon!