The Police's Wellington, New Zealand concert

January 17, 2008

Review by Tom Sheehan.

The lights went down and the crowd stood up. The large cymbal rose as Stewart played and Andy began the familiar riff to get Message In A Bottle underway. I began to cry - I could not believe what I was seeing and hearing. It was a real moment. During Message the lights were low with only the back white lights and assorted spots on the band. Then straight into Synchronicity II. The light show blazed and blew me away. Andy was soaring as Sting sang and Stewart did what only he can. I kept feeling like this was a dream. Years of listening to these guys and then to see them, hear them, feel the music. I loved it. My favourites - Driven To Tears was unbelievable and So Lonely has always been a classic. But all of it was awesome. I loved the way they had reworked the songs. You could easily recognise most of them straight away and then there were deviations and developments within each. Andy was legendary - and this to me is the thing about these guys - they play so well together and each is a strongly talented individual. You could hear the singing and it was impressive to know that all that sound was made by three players. The camera work from the stage was great and you could see the band members clearly on the three screens directly behind them. There were 5 screens in front of us with another two behind us on the lighting towers. The light show was really well done and very slick. And then it was over. I wanted more and more and more. Hopefully there will be a tour DVD out some time this year. One Regatta De Blanc t-shirt later and we were back on the train heading home. Thanks to Sting, Andy and Stewart for a fantastic day. And thanks to Louise for the tickets !