The Police's London, England concert

September 8, 2007

Review by Ian VE.

What a disappointment! I’ve been a fan since The Police first appeared and had high expectations of the much hyped comeback tour. But, unfortunately, this concert didn’t even come close. I expect a big performance from a band that was once the world’s biggest and this wasn’t it. If you see other legendary bands, e.g. The Rolling Stones, you get something worth writing about, but not it seems with The Police. The guys were all good individually but they weren’t playing as a band – too much history perhaps. Summers seemed to wander a bit in his solos. Sting’s embellishments to the original vocals were utterly superfluous. Copeland was the man of the match – his drumming is inspired and joyful. The set list was a bizarre choice (they may have played When the World is Running Down, but I can’t remember and don’t really care that much now). They played too many obscure numbers for a show like this. Thank God they didn’t try to offer any new material. They never really had the audience in their grip and every time they did they lost it on the next number. People were milling around all the time and talking throughout. Many left before the show was over. When you’re paying that much for a ticket you have the right to expect a special show – oh dear, they couldn’t even do that. Why were the speakers hanging in front of the screens! The visuals were uninspired and dull. I hope for other’s sake this was a one-off duffer, but from the other reviews I’ve read that isn’t the case. What a waste of money.