Ghost In The Machine: 1981/82

The Police return bigger... and better...

For once, bigger was also better. Almost exactly a year after their last visit to Detroit, The Police arrived with a few more frills, far more firepower, and a vastly larger audience Saturday night. In every way, their move to super-show status also brought more invigorating music-making.

The Police have assembled their career as carefully as their richly disciplined songs. Two years ago they were still touring in station wagons to play little clubs like Bookie's in Detroit, laying down a solid base of loyalty. When their records began to break into popularity they stepped cautiously up to medium-size halls.

Now, even with best sellers and critical raves on their side, they choose to play Cobo rather than the mega-stadiums such as Joe Louis. They have been ready for each step. To reach out to the 12,000 fans in Cobo, the trio hired on three horn players to augment most of the songs. The extra fabric supplied by the horns freed Sting and Andy Summers to move around the stage more, sending the energy closer to the balconies. 

Summers, an extraordinary guitarist who submerges his intricate playing in the rhythms and textures of the songs, could solo more, unleashing fierce cascades on 'Demolition Man'. Even the oldest songs were reworked for the new setting. 'Roxanne', their earliest hit, was opened up for more air and drama, not relying simply on the song's drive to reach up into that big hall.

Sting was in better voice than last year, drifting up to find the top notes in his hollow nasal cloud. Slim as that skinny stand-up bass he plays for the muddiest of their reggae tunes, he was channelling his enthusiasm and bounding out like a kid.

While expanding to fill Cobo, the Police also played tighter and closer to the hybrid reggae that is the core of their music.

Rock-show spectacles can be entertaining but the Police allow their audiences to see something more special the intense concentration they maintain to keep the interlocking rhythms geared together. 'Bring On the Night' is about as demanding a song as you're likely to hear on a rock stage, and yet the results are harmonious and subtle rather than flashy.

They did not take the audience's attention for granted as they might in small places. Sting led lots of singalongs, the audience la-ta-taaing the chorus of 'De Do Do Do' and several others. 

The craftsmanship and fidelity of this band to their ideas as well as to their techniques are invigorating. If any outfit ever earned success in the big time, it's the Police. 

The Go-Gos, a female band that Sting favours, were well received as the opening act. They dressed like extras from Grease and played fairly minimal rock with unquestioned enthusiasm.

(c) The Windsor Star

The Police come out in full force at Cobo...

The Police are proof that less is more. The three reggae-rockers filled Cobo Hall Saturday night with more enticing music than many ten-piece rock units could have produced in a week.

To be sure, their sound was embellished by the hot horn work from the brass section (Marvin Daniels, Darryl Dixon and Dave Watson). But the Police themselves ably fomented the rock and roll riot that left the crowd howling for more.

They set the hot, fast mood at the beginning of the set with crowd pleasers such as 'Spirits in the Material World' and 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'. And while Sting's (Gordon Sumner) vocals sounded a bit pinched during 'Magic', his voice mellowed like 12-year-old Scotch by the end of the night.

From that fast start they only got hotter. The crowd was up and dancing throughout 'De Do Do Do De Da Da Da', and Stewart Copeland held forth with throbbing thuds on his drums.

Sting reminisced with the crowd about the band's previous Detroit appearances at Bookies and the From the start, the band only got Masonic Temple and revelled in the fact that now the boys could fill Cobo.

After the chatter, the horn section took off into a wild introduction to 'Demolition Man' followed by an extra-terrestrial solo by guitarist Andy Summers!

'Shadows in the Rain', one of the band's more obscure and moody numbers, emerged as one of the highlights of the evening. Sting's throbbing, reggae bass and soaring vocals paired with the synthetic fog curling from behind the drums and spotlight rotating on a crystal ball had one looking for shadows.

A raucous, rowdy version of 'Roxanne', featuring a wicked duet between Copeland and Sting, finished the set, but that was not the end of the party. During the multiple encores the trio shone with their vocal harmonies on 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' and Summers wild guitar on 'I Can't Stand Losin' You'.

(c) Detroit Free Press by Maryann George