The Police reunion tour is making its way around the world. This weekend, Melbourne, Australia scored the gig. After all the anticipation, it was hard to leave the venue not feeling a bit empty.
The Police broke up after releasing one excellent album (Outlandos D'Amour), three very good albums (Regatta De Blanc, Zenyetta Mondatta and Synchronicity) and one okay one (Ghost In The Machine) but they finished before their time.They are now remembered mainly for the hits, not the albums. Had they stayed together they may have been The Beatles of the 80s, but they broke up before getting to the masterpiece.
The Police don't have a 'Sgt Pepper', an 'Exile On Main Street', a 'Dark Side of the Moon', a 'Hotel California' or even a 'Pet Sounds' in their catalogue. Their legacy is a great catalogue of radio friendly songs.
This was not a stadium show. It should have been in smaller venues and they should have played more (like The Eagles did). The size of venue was over the top for a band of this calibre.
40,000 fans witnessed The Police at last night's show at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The band certainly gave the fans the setlist that they wanted and Sting knew how to play to the crowd. Putting on an Aussie accent for Australia Day, Sting said "We've got 40,000 Australians here and that means 80 hands. Let's put those hands together".
The Melbourne show was on Australia Day, Australia's national holiday. "We don't have an Australia Day in England," he said later. "We have ungrateful day".
So onto the music... you cannot deny that this is a band with a rich catalogue of singles and they pretty much played them all. The only chart single missing was 1982's No. 50 hit 'Spirits In The Material World'.
What was the go with the backing vocals, though? Surely for a show this expensive, The Police could have coughed up for some real backing singers instead of resorting to taped vocals. That wasn't right.
The setlist has been consistent from show to show and the band pretty much stuck to the recorded versions. If there is going to be a new album, they certainly weren't roadtesting any songs (like the Eagles did on Farewell 1).
Maybe they should just level with the fans and call this 'The Retirement Fund World Tour'.
The setlist for Melbourne (and every other show) was:
Message in a Bottle (from Reggatta de Blanc, 1979) (No. 5)
Synchronicity II (from Synchronicity, 1983)
Walking On The Moon (from Reggatta de Blanc, 1979) (No. 9)
Voices Inside My Head (from Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980)
When The World Is Running Down (from Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980)
Don't Stand So Close To Me (from Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980) (No. 2)
Driven To Tears (from Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980)
Truth Hits Everybody (from Outlandos d'Amour, 1978)
Hole In My Life (from Outlandos d'Amour, 1978)
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic (from Ghost In The Machine, 1981)
Wrapped Around Your Finger (from Synchronicity, 1983) (No. 26)
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da (from Zenyatta Mondatta, 1980) (No. 6)
Invisible Sun (from Ghost In The Machine, 1981) (No. 89)
Walking In Your Footsteps (from Synchronicity, 1983)
Can't Stand Losing You (from Outlandos d'Amour, 1978) (No. 98)
Roxanne (from Outlandos d'Amour, 1978) (No. 34)
King Of Pain (from Synchronicity, 1983) (No. 44)
So Lonely (from Outlandos d'Amour, 1978) (No. 99)
Every Breath You Take (from Synchronicity, 1983) (No. 2)
Next To You (from Outlandos d'Amour, 1978)
The Police world-tour will continue through until July 5 when they play Rock In Rio in Madrid, Spain.
After Australia, they head to Asia for shows in Singapore, China and Japan.
They'll have an Hawaiian stop-over on February 16 and then after a 3 ?? month break, start the European tour in France on June 3.
2008 Tour Dates
17 Jan Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand
19 Jan Western Springs, Auckland, New Zealand
22 Jan Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
24 Jan Telstra Stadium, Sydney, Australia
26 Jan Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia
28 Jan Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, Australia
29 Jan Entertainment Centre, Adelaide, Australia
01 Feb Members Equity Stadium, Perth, Australia
02 Feb Members Equity Stadium, Perth, Australia
04 Feb National Indoor Stadium, Singapore
07 Feb Arena at the Venetian, Macau, China
10 Feb Kyocera Dome, Osaka, Japan
13 Feb Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
14 Feb Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan
16 Feb Blaisdell Center, Honolulu, USA
03 Jun Stade Velodrome, Marseilles, France
05 Jun SAP Arena, Mannheim, Germany
07 Jun TW Classic, Werchter, Belgium
08 Jun LTU Arena, Dusseldorf, Germany
11 Jun Valle Horvin, Oslo, Norway
13 Jun Landsstævnestadion, Haderslev, Denmark
15 Jun Isle of Wight Festival, Newport, UK
17 Jun MEN Arena, Manchester, UK
18 Jun MEN Arena, Manchester, UK
26 Jun Silesian Stadium, Chorzow, Poland
28 Jun Zentralstadion, Leipzig, Germany
02 Jul Estadio Ciudad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain
04 Jul BBK Live Festival (Kobetamendi), Bilbao, Spain
05 Jul Rock in Rio, Madrid, Spain
