The storms that rained down on Boston yesterday may have stopped by show time but the Police kept the tempest raging with a great set at Fenway Park. Visiting Boston for the first time since they played Foxboro Stadium on the Synchronicity Tour in 1984, the band wasted no time cranking up the tunes and getting the party started.
The band opened with a double shot of “Message in a Bottle” and “Synchronicity II,” both crisp and jittery. Bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Steward Copeland filled the venerable ball park with a joyous noise that had fans dancing and singing along.
The Police seemed out to prove that after a 23 year layoff they are still relevant. Songs like “Walking in Your Footsteps” morphed from icy electronics to double-time blues, and “Wrapped Around Your Finger” included a Middle Eastern flavor thanks to Copeland’s occasional trips to his well-stocked percussion set, which included a giant gong and exotic chimes.
Unfortunately “Roxanne,” one of the bands most well known songs, stretched into a languid and all too long jam and at times other songs seemed to veer into the jazzy rock that Sting has recorded as a solo artist. For example, the genius of “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” was in the uneasy mix of the sinister and the innocent, but last night smooth curves replaced the ominous edges of that song.
At the start of last night’s show the Police were like watching three separate energies skillfully bouncing off of each other but never really acknowledging each other. After the first hour of the show the band members started to play with each other rather than separately. The band played many of its classics including “Don’t Stand So Close To Me,” “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da,” “Invisible Sun,” “King of Pain,” “So Lonely,” and “Every Breath You Take.”
Last nights show was certainly full of energy even if it wasn’t the Police in their prime. I was fortunate enough to see the band on the Ghost In the Machine tour and a couple of times on the Synchronicity tour and last night’s shows brought that old Police magic back. The band play again tonight at Fenway Park as they continue their massively successful world tour.