Ghost In The Machine: 1981/82

Police worth ticket...

The Police gave a truly arresting performance last night at the Bren- dan Byrne Arena.

With the strains of 'Voices Inside My Head' playing in the background, the trio, consisting of drummer Stewart Copeland, guitarist Andy Summers, and lead vocalist and bassist Gordon Sumner, who is better known by his nickname "Sting," took the stage. 

They then opened the first of their three sold-out concerts the group will perform again tonight and Wednesday evening with 'Message in a Bottle', one of the band's big hit songs from their second album 'Regatta de Blanc'.

The Police followed up 'Message' with 'Every Little Things She Does Is Magic', a winner from their current best-selling release 'Ghost in the Machine'. This proved to be the standard procedure for the evening as the band interspersed songs like 'Spirits in the Material World', 'Hungry for You', and 'One World (Not Three)' from the 'Ghost' album with cuts such as 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da', 'Walking On the Moon', and 'Roxanne', from their three previous albums.

For some groups, it would have been a problem to maintain for more than an hour the level of intensity set by The Police in their two highly energized opening songs. But for The Police, who play a type of rock music that incorporates a bit of Jamaican reggae and even jazz, it proved to be no problem at all. In fact, with every song they performed, they just got better and better.

And unlike some bands who just go through the motions of playing their songs and don't establish any audience rapport. The Police play like they are truly enjoying themselves and actively work to get the audience involved in their performance, be it by Sting dancing around the stage or by encouraging the audience to join the band in singing.

In so fine a performance as the one given by The Police last night, it is difficult to pick out highlights, but a few must be mentioned.

'Invisible Sun', a song about the British war zone in Belfast, was one such high point. Featuring stellar guitar work by Summers and Sting's jazz-inflected falsetto, the passionate message of the song the hope that keeps people going - came through loud and clear. The guitar playing of Summers was also magnificent on 'Demolition Man' and 'When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around'. And with the lights in the arena turned on and the stage bathed in red light, the performance of "Roxanne" will always be a memorable one.

Copeland, the son of an agent for the Central Intelligence Agency, formed The Police in 1977 after he left Curved Air, an English band. He recruited Sting for The Police after seeing him playing in a jazz group called Last Exit. With guitarist Henri Padovani, who was later replaced by Summers, the group began working in the English punk-rock circuit. It wasn't until the release of the single "Roxanne" in 1979, however, that the group started to achieve worldwide acclaim.

Opening for The Police is Black Uhuru, a three-member group from Jamaica. The trio played a 45-minute set of pure reggae.

(c) The Record by Barbara Jaeger

Police and Black Uhuru at Brendan Byrne Arena...

It looks intriguing from a distance, the Byrne Arena, glowing in the darkness of the New Jersey Meadowlands. But it starts to look scary as you get up close. Opened last years, this is the first American arena built specifically for concerts, not sports events, and it was designed with crowd control functions primarily in mind. It is an impenetrable, uninviting fortress. The high fence surrounding the building gives it a concentration camp feel, and the security boys searching everyone at the gates for bottles, cans and cameras don't do much to dispel the impression. The loudspeakers outside blaring a constant tape-looped warning against trying to smuggle in these forbidden items update the image to '1984'. The building talks, imposes, threatens. You get to your seat feeling intimidated and small.

But that's not right, that's not right, that's not right in this sight. Because - can you believe it? - Black Uhuru are on that big stage. And Black Uhuru make me feel warm and big and in touch with strange reservoirs of determination and strength. It's just a little bit harder in a place like this, and takes a little bit longer.

It was the biggest place Black Uhuru had ever played in, though not the biggest number of people. The vast majority of the audience were still in their cars driving towards the gig when Black Uhuru took the stage, at the dot of 7.30pm. The Police, they knew, wouldn't be on till 9.30pm.

So Black Uhuru sang to those who were there, and worked their magic well. Michael Rose danced around the way he does, an inspired shaman, full of grace. Puma danced around the way she does, an elegant, sturdy, strong woman. Duckie stood glowering the way he does, a tight-lipped, almost silent partner. They look bright and beautiful, draped in colours that could carry over distance.

The guitars rang out, a clear compelling sound, and the keyboards played inventive flourishes all over the melodies, and it was sweet music. At the end Sly and Robbie did their dub outro - dubwise at the Meadowlands! - and the audience applauded. Not thunderously, not enough to get them an encore, but they didn't just run off to get another hotdog. This was by no means a small victory.

The Police are much more prisoners of this fortress. Captured by this treadmill of touring, beat by the almost insurmountable odds against bringing real imagination and life to these identical concrete expanses, they have surrendered themselves to a catalogue of gestures. They know their genius, and so do I, but it's not enough. They are coasting.

Sting is, as always, the immaculate pop presence - smiling, commanding, so easy to receive and love. The attractive grin, the broad movements, the sweet soaring voice - this boy is one lively mannequin, a made-to-order idol. But the drive to personalise the pop-star myth I once thought I saw in Sting's performance is on a long holiday.

Of course I would much much much rather see The Police than any other act that troops around these arenas. They do have their moments of greatness, when they jump on the simple great pop tunes and just play it, and Sting is jumping around like a madman pumping great bass and Copeland is snapping and cracking, and Summers is under control and, especially, when the horn section comes in wailing and it adds up to sexy soul spirit body music.

But every time they hit that peak they follow it with some contrivance, some stretched-out bit of artiness or some deadly guitar soloing from Summers, all flash and no heart, or some area-rock grandstand play with the lightshow going berserk. They lose it.

Song after song gets inflicted with deadly dub passages that they just can't play, long meandering breaks taking a detour to nowhere. Even 'De Do Do', that shiver of simplicity, gets ruined by this treatment and the longwinded mess they make of 'Bed's Too Big Without You' is painful to recall. They save some of their best songs, 'Don't Stand So Close To Me' and 'Can't Stand Losing You' for the encore, so as to end on an up note, but still insist on those asinine call-and responses.

(c) New Musical Express

Police blend of reggae, rock and jazz captivating...

It wasn't reggae that George and Ira Gershwin had in mind when they composed 'Fascinating Rhythm' in the 1920s.

But that's exactly what reggae is - a fascinating, hypnotic and wholly captivating musical rhythm.

A bleached-blond rock trio known as The Police and a vocal group called Black Uhuru proved that last night in the first of three concerts featuring the two acts scheduled at the Meadowlands Arena this week.

By far the better known of the two, The Police headlined the show. But their unique blend of reggae, rock and jazz received a perfect lead-in from Black Uhuru.

The Jamaica-based trio, led by Michael Rose and backed by a six-piece band, performed a 50-minute set of passionate reggae marked by a relentless bass-and-drum beat.

The group's songs combine political and spiritual references in the manner of the late Bob Marley, who became a Jamaican national hero by virtue of his reggae evangelism.

Though Black Uhuru is just beginning to receive attention in the United States, compositions such as 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner', 'Abortion' and 'Shine Eye Gal' kept the crowd attentive, and Rose had the audience joining in on several chants.

Before closing its performance, the group paid tribute to Marley with a spirited rendition of his song 'Spongy Reggae'.

After a short intermission, The Police appeared to the recorded strains of 'Voices Inside My Head'.

Led by Sting, the charismatic vocalist and bassist who composes most of the band's material, the English group began a rapid 17-song set, capped by three encore selections.

Playing a stand-up electric bass, Sting (born Gordon Mathew Sumner) sang 'Message in a Bottle' and 'Every Little Thing She Does is Magic', two of the group's biggest hits, at the outset.

Guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland were augmented by a three-piece horn section composed of New Jersey musicians Dave Watson on tenor saxophone, Donald Dixon on alto saxophone and Melvin Daniels on trumpet. With the horns secluded in a corner of the stage, Copeland behind the drums and Summers off to one side for much of the show, the spotlight was left to Sting, whose talents have impressed film directors (he appeared in 'Quadrophenia' and has other roles in the works) as well as music critics.

Sting exudes personality - commanding the crowd, setting the tempo of the show and displaying some of the greatest onstage moves since Elvis Presley shocked audiences in the '50s.

"What we've got to do is make this big room a small room," he told the more than 20,000 fans in attendance, and soon had them singing along on the nonsense chorus of 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da'. 

At one point he mentioned the British-Argentina conflict, asking the audience to support England's military effort.

"If you were at war with Argentina, we would join in," he sarcastically assured.

Sting's joking aside, it's the political consciousness of The Police- in addition to the group's musical creativity and talent - that sets the band apart from most contemporary acts.

In songs such as 'Spirits in the Material World', 'One World Not Three)', 'Invisible Sun' and 'Shadows in the Rain', the group focuses upon current global problems ranging from ineffective political leadership to Irish civil turmoil and the threat of nuclear war.

But each composition, whether a message song or merely a light-hearted reggae exercise, boasts a distinct pop sensibility.

The Police are clearly one of the most inventive rock bands to come along in recent years. They thrive on reggae rhythms, but add a variety of elements to the traditional Jamaican sound.

Among the tunes included in the concert were the chaotic 'Demolition Man', 'Hungry for You' (sung in French - "to add to the international flavour of tonight's performance," Sting said) and 'When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around'.

'Roxanne', a pleaful song to a prostitute, closed The Police's set, with the audience sounding the chorus.

After a thunderous ovation, the group returned with a round of encores featuring 'Don't Stand So Close To Me', 'Can't Stand Losing You' and 'Be My Girl'.

The Police and Black Uhuru will appear again at 7:30 p.m. today and Wednesday. Both shows are sold out.

Concert producer John Scher announced that tickets will go on sale today for the May 29 opening show of the Asbury Park Convention Hall summer concert season. The concert will feature the British rock group The Clash. Tickets will be sold at Ticketron beginning at 10 a.m.

(c) Asbury Park Press by Walter Patrick