The Police's New York, New York concert

August 1, 2007

Review by St. Echo.

Tour pics by St. Echo, click here!

First off, I was at the Philly show a couple of weeks ago, and the friend I was with saw them in Detroit the week before. As die hard Police fans, we both enjoyed those shows immensely...but make no mistake: this show was far superior. In Philly, Stewart lost the pocket on several occasions; Andy seemed tired and dragged the groove regularly. Don't get me wrong-it was still a great show, and the vast majority of the general public may not have caught these nuances, as we did from the front row. But the opposite rang true last night. Andy arguably stole the show. He played more solos, which were both longer and more substantial. Stewart was spot on. Sting sounded ever-so-slightly hoarse for the first couple of songs (in Philly he was FLAWLESS) but opened up perfectly thereafter. The set was the standard one-we were hoping for a jewel like 'Bring on the Night' or 'Murder By Numbers' (I'dve killed to see either) but they played it safe, no doubt keeping in mind the world press on hand sharpening their steely knives. Sting recanted their first CBGB gig in '78, and referred to NYC as 'home'. I also heard a handful of very American sounding pronunciations...it is obvious that the man has spent a great deal of time here over the decades. Last weekend I watched the Synchronicity DVD again, and compared. Aside from the corny duds and the cheesy production, the band was remarkably consistent across the decades. My seats last night were mid-floor, so the 'mystery backing vocals' were fairly invisible. (Not to be a spoiler, but there are a group of additional vocals designed to sound like crowd chants that come in periodically...but I forgive them as they are infrequent and reasonable well done.) It's hard to pick out highlights as there were so many. The semi-fumbling intro's to 'When the World is Running Down', 'Every Little Thing..' and 'Bed's Too Big...' were far more solid. We all danced and sang our behinds off. Hearing all 36,000 MSG attendees in unison was a huge thrill!