Police Dazzle and Collar two sellouts...
If anyone had doubts about the existence of an ad hoc Police Benevolent Association in Northern California - and the makings of such a coalition have been around for years - then the weekend's back-to-back sell-outs in the Cow Palace ought to dispel them.
In this case, though, the support focused not on the city's finest but on The Police, which happens to be one of the most exciting and musically rewarding rock bands to exit England since the '60s.
For this is a band able to synthesize elements of reggae, jazz, rock, rhythm-and-blues and such unique-to-itself features as lead vocalist Sting's charismatic presence and incredible singing voice into a totally distinctive, compellingly attractive sound.
Maybe that sounds like a tall order for what is basically a trio, but upending stereotypes comes under the category of old business for singer/bassist Sting (a.k.a. Gordon Matthew Sumner), drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers.
Cresting the 'new wave' that surged out of England's punk rock pool a few years ago and cresting the pop charts ever since this stylish band has been demonstrating as well that there's as much variety in new-wave punk as there is in such other, only slightly broader classifications as rock and pop.
And if this bends totally out of shape the neat little frame we writing types would like to place around the punk picture, it only proves anew the futility of trying to fit any music into categories.
Suffice to say that, since 'Roxanne' heralded their coming in 1978, The Police have been regular residents of the singles and album charts not only in the United States but in Canada, Japan, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and in nine European countries besides their native Britain. They won the Rolling Stone Critics Poll as the best new artist of the year in 1980, and they've just won the same poll's Band of the Year honours for 1981. Two of their first three albums went gold last year, and the third, 'Zenyatta Mondatta', went platinum. (Their fourth, out only since last fall and the impetus for the current tour, is probably on its way.)
The most distinctive thing about The Police is Sting's quirky, high-end vocal line. His voice is unique and, flatly, fabulous a high shouter with the smooth feel of silver.
But there are other distinctions, less obvious. Copeland's work, on a percussion layout that includes some unusual tubular drums, is simultaneously unobtrusive and insistent; it often sets off at a trot that never flags despite excursions into a two-beat sock here, a reggae-morphic polyrhythm there.
Sting's bass work, sometimes on a stand-up instrument and sometimes on a fretted wonder with a squared body and no visible string-tightening keys, lays down a bubbling bass line that adds subtle offbeats to the percussive mix. And Summers when he's not adding offbeat keyboard chords is an outstanding guitar soloist who seems instead to prefer adding textural and rhythmic excitement to the ensemble sound.
Friday night, in the first of their Cow Palace pair, The Police brought two saxes and a trumpet onstage as backup for a set that ran longer than an hour and a half and embraced 17 songs. A few of these folded one tune into another ('Give Her a Gun' inside 'Can't Stand Losing You', for instance), and most were generous, ever-developing treatments that went beyond their album versions.
There were at least half a dozen tunes from their new 'Ghost in the Machine' album, whose release spawned the tour that'll keep the Police on the road through March, including the one already climbing the singles charts called 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'. But mixed with these was a mini-anthology of earlier Police hits - 'Roxanne', 'Message in a Bottle', 'Walking on the Moon', 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' and 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da'.
The sell-out crowd, some 14,000, that turned out for all this was overwhelmingly young mostly high school through late 20s and middle-class, meaning well-dressed, well-behaved, non-freaky types. They cheered with enough force to drown out a fusillade of firecrackers when The Police made its first exit, and their cheers continued without let up until the band returned, four minutes later, for the first of what proved to be two encore sets.
Beyond some effective lighting and the old mirrored ball trick, here turning and flashing refracted beams from a low angle behind the stage, there wasn't much added - or needed - in the way of visual excitement.
Launching the evening, and paving the way for all this with some excitement of its own, were San Francisco's The Fleshtones, a stylish and invigorating band in its own right.
In one new wrinkle the speakers were suspended high above the stage, making for clearer sightlines from behind and beside it. It was a thoughtful touch, for the crowd filled every seat in the Cow Palace - save the few immediately behind the stage that were roped off - and spilled onto the arena's concrete floor by the thousands.
(c) The Sacramento Bee by John V. Hurst
The Police: fine theater, too...
The Cow Palace performance by The Police last night must rank as among the most fascinating and worthwhile "rock"-based concerts to have played the aging Daly City barn.
The Police are three Britishers - bassist-singer-prime composer Sting (Gordon Sumner), drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers; the Cow Palace performance also included a synthesizer player (and one-tune bassist) and a two-sax, one-flugelhorn backup trio of South Jersey blacks who call themselves Chops Horns.
The Police first hit the boards in Birmingham in 1977 and haven't looked back since. Originally strongly punk, then reggae oriented, The Police (especially when Sting became the dominant member) have been charting a course into a generally unknown area for "rock"-based groups.
The lyrics, sung as a restrained shout by Sting, have vivid literary references and strong political advocacy. If melodic content is limited, the urgency of the instrumental performance comes close to making up for it.
Last night The Police began with their oldish 'Message In a Bottle', moved into the slower 'Every Little Thing She Does', and finally hit their stride on 'Spirits In The Material World'. the first cut on their immensely popular current A&M album.
As the 90-minute show progressed the group ran down most of their better known recorded hits, things like 'Walking On The Moon', 'Hurts To Be With You', 'Bring On The Night', 'Roxanne', 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da' and the more current 'One World (Not Three)' and 'Demolition Man'.
And, there was 'Shadows In The Rain', the evening's masterpiece. Of the 14 or 15 numbers, this was the crowning achievement.
Beginning with a melancholy "thump, thump; twang. twang," the lengthy rendition built gradually on the dirge like meter established by all three instrumentalists. Smoke emerged, and eerie lighting effects sprayed the stage from top and rear. Sting sang (or, better, chanted) the lyric lines as Summers guitar augmented Sting's strong bass line and Copeland's drums sounded remarkably like a great jazzman such as Max Roach might be on the sticks.
It was elegant music, utilizing electronic devices admirably; it was also exceptionally well staged in a subdued yet most impressive way. When over, the audience (quite young, many quite noisy at first) realized they'd just shared an experience with some very talented musicians.
Perhaps significantly, there was an ovation - of applause, not much cheering or whistling.
The Police work tightly as a unit. Although Sting is the only singer, the principal actor (he's got his share of film credits) and the spotlighted sex symbol he defers graciously to the playing of his colleagues including the guys in Chops Horns.
The unity of a Police performance is impressive. Some call their projection "cosmic," or "positive," "loose, but cerebral" (I heard that one in the men's room) and "ethereal" - I'd go along, but better, I think, is to realize that The Police are moving into an art-rock field that leans on jazz improvisation on the one hand and the poetic lyrics of Sting on the other
They slip and slide through modulations and tempo accelerations that would floor most rock (or even jazz) ensembles; they use the thick 2nd and 4th beat (the "slap" or "back beat") to kick up heels all over an auditorium - too bad, indeed, that there was no room to shake-a-leg, The Police are a grand bunch to dance to.
Unquestionably. The Police are also hypnotic in the droning meters, in Sting's compelling delivery, in the lyric content and in the spare yet impressive staging.
I'd like to have heard the lyrics more clearly last night - but most in the crowd knew them all anyway. I'd like to have had less congestion, complaining and shoving around the hall, but I guess that's the price of a band's success. I liked the idea of occasionally floodlighting the whole arena, then cutting back to dim stage lighting.
And I felt for the "Fleshtones" band that began the evening with a noisy bit of club-rock that made us all realize (later on) just how unusual is the Police approach.
(c) San Francisco Examiner by Philip Elwood
The Police Conjure Up 'Magic' for Their Fans...
No new rock band in the past few years quite struck the public fancy as much as the Police have.
Graduating at the top of the class of 1979, courtesy the hit single, 'Roxanne', the trio went on to score one massive international hit after another with a highly musical blend of reggae and new-wave rock stylings.
Most of the fans who crowded into either of the two sold-out Police concerts at the Cow Palace over the weekend were undoubtedly making the band's acquaintance in concert for the first time, since the group's two previous Bay Area performances preceded the huge worldwide success of 'Zenyatta Mondatta', their third album and original home of hit singles 'Da Da Da Da' and 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'.
Consequently, the relative pandemonium that attended the band's performance could have been expected, even if the more-than-90-minute show itself left something to be desired.
The Police depend on a canny musicality supplied by rounded, thumping lines from bassist Sting and the rainbow of sounds produced by guitarist Andy Summers, practically a one-man orchestra by himself. With bits of rhythmic sensibilities ingeniously borrowed from Jamaican reggae, the Police can strike some mighty grooves, such as the snaking, insinuating beat that makes 'Da Da Da Da' throb so effectively.
Unfortunately, not all of the band's grooves proved equally interesting, as the Police plodded through many dense, far less rewarding pieces for much of the concert. The musicianship of the trio was consistently impressive the band tied together complex spirals of sound with supple ease but the end results were not uniformly enticing.
Many of the Police's songs sounded quite alike, a similarity only underlined by the inventive structure of the tunes, one that is unusual to most rock bands, but common, apparently, to this one. Lead vocalist Sting too frequently resorted to leading the crowd in ersätz African chants, making him sound like a kind of Esperanto evangelist.
Because of the abrupt, dramatic changes that the band employs, often four or five times during the course of just one song, some tunes displayed the strengths and weaknesses of the Police simultaneously For instance, the most recent smash, 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic', boasts a popping, burning rhythmic arrangement under the chorus, and then veers suddenly into an utterly different feel on the verse, soggy and cloudy without the verve and drive that make fingers snap along with the chorus.
But all this is definitely a minority opinion! The audience roared with delight throughout the Friday concert, the edges of the crowd filled with sweaty, dancing bodies. One particularly ecstatic fan strode out of the hall at end of the concert broadcasting his approval for any and all to hear:
"That settles the issue," he proclaimed. "The Police are the best rock band in the world."
(c) San Francisco Chronicle by Joel Selvin
The Police leave them clapping and swaying...
A capacity crowd swayed, clapped and sang along as the Police put on an inspired show here at the Cow Palace Friday.
One of the best bands to emerge during the new wave explosion in Britain, it proved to be just as exciting in concert as on record.
The reggae-influenced trio lead vocalist/ bassist Sting, lead guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland kept the show moving at a fast pace. From the opening song, 'Message in the Bottle', to the multiple encores (which included 'Don't Stand So Close to Me'), the group played one song after another in rapid-fire fashion.
"It's great to be back in the United States of America," enthused Sting between songs. No doubt it was especially considering how their lot had improved since first touring this country.
Playing to 14,706 responsive Northern California fans, most of whom were on their feet from the beginning of the set to the end, in a large venue like the Cow Palace was a big step up from the small clubs, such as the UC Davis Coffee House, the Police performed at in 1980. And they most certainly earned it.
Since first hitting the charts with 'Roxanne' in 1979, the Police have continued to improve and expand the range of their material. The annoying repetitiveness of the tunes on their first two albums, 'Outlandos d'Amour' and 'Regatta de Blanc', was replaced on the third and fourth releases, 'Zenyatta Mondatta' and 'Ghost in the Machine', respectively, with an impressive diversity.
While the group's distinctive style characterized by Sting's forceful vocals and Summers' spare guitar-playing has not changed, the songs have become catchier and more melodic. Though not quite pop, they have the pleasant quality of making the listener want to sing along.
And the crowd Friday found that impulse hard to resist. On songs like 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da', 'Everything She Does Is Magic' and 'Demolition Man', you could hear a chorus of voices chanting the lyrics.
The band, augmented by a horn section and a keyboardist, encouraged this, too. On 'Walking on the Moon', Sting paused to let the audience supply the refrain of "eee-000." At strategic moments during the song, the house lights were turned on, which brought added excitement. And the chorus of 'One World' - "One world is enough for all of us" was left completely to the fans midway through.
All this helped make the evening a genuine event instead of simply a concert. The crowd, ranging in age from late 20s to preteens, certainly got its money's worth.
(c) The Sacramento Union by Mick Martin
Police lock up Cow Palace fans...
The Cow Palace is too big a hall in which to get intimate with the three-man English-American rock band Police. But more than most larger bands, the Police had no trouble filling the huge arena with magnificent sound and music in two advance sell-outs (29,000 Police fans) Friday and Saturday.
They easily lived up to their reputation as one of rock's most exciting and inventive bands. Launched during the late-'70s punk revolution in England, the Police seemed out-of-place with their reliance on catchy tunes steeped in melody, backed by an insistent dance-beat that owed as much to reggae's syncopation as it Just the three of us: Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers hammer did to rock. out a full, rounded sound.
The high-pitched vocals by bassist Sting (Gordon Sumner) are instantly recognizable, and fit in with drummer Stewart Copeland's always-inventive percussion work and the guitar playing of Andy Summers, who manages to run his instrument through enough electronic effects and synthesizers to create the illusion of a full orchestra.
They quickly picked up a big Bay Area following, aided by an exciting 1979 local debut at UC-Berkeley, Copeland's alma mater.
Since then they have filled the pop charts and radio airwaves with a consistent string of infectious pop hits. With the release of their latest 'Ghost in the Machine' album, the Police took a plunge into social awareness lyrics.
If their current tour lacks in anything other than intimacy, it is in the band's presenting itself strictly as entertainment, throwing off such songs as 'Invisible Sun' (about searching for meaning in a blue-collar existence), and 'Spirits in the Material World' with no more attention than they give to their other songs.
However, as far as rock shows on a grand scale go, the Police on their current world tour offer a performance that seems special, and is certainly unique. No other three-piece band produces such a full sound, and few rock bands put on concerts with as much taste and attention to detail.
At Friday's 19-tune, 95-minute show the Po lice opened with a fast-paced half hour of well-known reggae-rock hits beginning with 'Message in a Bottle'. They slowed into another half hour of more exploratory music that gave the trio room to stretch out instrumentally while a fancy lighting rig and various fog and smoke effects filled the air above the stage and kept the audience's attention from wandering.
Then came a powerhouse closer that seemed to end with their first hit, the 1979 song about a prostitute, 'Roxanne', only to build in momentum through a 15-minute medley of dance songs: 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' flowed into 'Can't Stand Losing You', the instrumental 'Reggata de Blanc' and 'Be My Girl - Sally', before a final encore of 'So Lonely'.
A three-man horn section added much to the show's excitement. The two saxophonists and trumpeter (Marvin Daniels, Darryl Dixon and Dave Watson) blew punchy, rhythmic counterpoint lines to accent certain songs, giving an African feel to music already drenched in Third World sound. The horn players added visual interest as well, three black men to contrast with the very white, bleached-blond Police trio.
'Demolition Man', a song written for disco star Grace Jones, was taken at breakneck pace. The hypnotic slow rhythm of 'Shadows in the Rain' was augmented by rows of coloured spotlights that seemed to dance above the band as billowing smoke passed through them.
'One World (Not Three)' included an overdose of dub effects, a sax solo and thicky echoed guitar and bass parts. Sting got the crowd to sing the chorus line, "One world is enough for all of us."
It was a strong statement from a group that was the first rock band to play in many impoverished Third World countries.
The Police have worked slowly and methodically to build their current base of popularity. Band founder Copeland's two brothers have helped out.
Ian Copeland runs the group's management company, and Miles Copeland heads I.R.S. (International Record Syndicate) Records, a company that doesn't put out records, but does distribute the home-made albums of other bands in an attempt to give them exposure when normal channels (big record companies, radio airplay and big-budget promotion) aren't available.
Opening acts for the current tour have included such I.R.S. acts as the Go- Go's and Oingo Boingo. Unfortunately, the Fleshtones opened the Cow Palace shows, proving that lack of talent isn't always an asset in rock.
By the end of its very short appearance the quartet (which sounded like a cross between the Shaggs and the first Beatles album played at full volume on a $20 hi-fi) had picked up unanimous booing from the audience.
(c) Oakland Tribune by Larry Kelp
Thundering successes of the divergent Police, AC/DC...
Register Staff Writer One couldn't find two more diverse bands, the Police and AC/DC, two chart-topping acts that played the Cow Palace over last weekend.
Not together mind you that would be asking too much. No, The Police sold out two houses on Friday and Saturday and AC/DC repeated the trick on the three successive nights, despite the drenching rains that plagued the Bay Area early in the week. The Police are three Britishers singer-bassist-composer Sting (Gordon Sumner), guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland. The tour was backed up by a synthesizer player and three horns.
What The Police does is amazing. Beginning in 1977, the trio dipped into the punk/new wave style. But Sting, who writes most of the tunes and sings, or rather shouts, all of them decided the group's future would be better if it switched to a reggae format. And that's just what's happened.
The group's popularity grew slowly and with the release of the LP, 'Zenyatta Mondatta', worldwide fame with hit singles, 'Da Da Da Da' and 'Don't Stand So Close To Me'.
This listener was totally surprised with the Cow Palace turnout last Friday night - every square inch was filled with undulating fans, fans who knew all the lyrics and gave the band almost reverential respect for their theater-based brand of rock.
Lyrics are topical, the beat infectious and the musicians themselves amaze the listener with tempo changes that one would expect only to find at a jazz concert.
Police music is hypnotic, in droning meters, in the staging, in Sting's riveting delivery of each and every word.
It was a pleasant surprise to see that so many people in the Bay Area had such good taste in music.
(c) The Napa Register by L. Pierce Carson
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