The Police started off their tour in Vancouver this week. Both concerts at the GM Place stadium were sold out and the group was rapturously received by their audience.
We went to the concert on Wednesday at GM Place and we both really enjoyed the whole experience. The warm-up group were Fiction Plane, fronted by Sting’s son Joe Sumner. They were quite loud and quite good too, so expect big things from them in a couple of years. A lot of the elite of Vancouver society missed Fiction Plane but ostentatiously greeted one another with big hugs and cuddles in the most expensive seating area just before The Police made their entrance. Starting with “Message in a Bottle” the threesome breezed through their set with great enthusiasm, only once briefly stumbling at the beginning of a song, which lead Sting to quip “It’s good to see we’re still slick”.
Sting had a great time smiling his way through the songs. His voice was strong and he looked great: fit, tanned, and muscular to boot. Andy Summers’ guitar work was excellent, though he was concentrating hard throughout. Only once did he register any great emotion on his face, when he expressed feigned peevishness when Sting sang the lyrics, “All dressed up and nowhere to go, Welcome to the Andy Summers’show” during “So Lonely”. Stewart Copeland was wonderful on the drums and percussion. He looked like a middle-aged jogger out for a run on a cold winter’s morning, but he didn’t miss a beat.
The crowd were great too, echoing back the lyrics when given the opportunity, especially during “Roxanne”, and “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da”. It was all fabulous fun and I have to say that I had forgotten how many catchy tunes The Police produced during their heyday. At least four times I said to myself, “O yes, they sang this song too”. All their classics were there and at times it was like a huge karaoke show, with people singing along “Every little thing she does is magic, magic , magic..” and “Don’t stand, don’t stand, don’t stand so close to me”. It wasn’t always obvious which song was going to be sung from some of the guitar introductions, but they got there in the end.
Highly recommended.