Police became Halloween treat for costumed fans...
The Police were in Municipal Auditorium last night, but so were several black cats, a mother sow complete with suckling pigs, a few dead people, some aliens, Generalissimo Franco as a teenage girl, and a huge, furry rat.
Yup, it was Halloween, and Austin's new wave following was out in strength, although there was some doubt about that at the show's unusually early 7 o'clock start. A scant 400 people greeted the Skunks, who opened, but by the time the evening's headliners appeared, the downstairs, at least, was packed solid.
The Police are only nominally a new wave band, having devised their couture and coiffeur for a commercial in which they were to play punks. At heart, they are just another solid rock 'n' roll band, but in these days of overamped guitars and pseudo-symphonics, that's just fine. As a special treat, they employ Jamaican reggae rhythms with an understanding rare among rock bands who essay this deceptively difficult beat.
Focus of the band is bassist/lead vocalist Sting, whose clear, high voice belts out the lyrics with such enthusiasm and passion that the audience was riveted on him from the start. Guitarist Andy Summers contributes harmonies (largely lost in the roar the Municipal Auditorium is not the best loud-music hall I've heard) while drummer Stuart Copeland matches Sting's reggae lines and thunders out rock 'n' roll. From their second number, 'So Lonely', a great tune that was never an American hit, they had the audience rushing the stage, and when Sting continued the song in "Dub," a bass-and-drums duet with improvised vocal that's a Jamaican favourite, it took a while to realize that it was as much due to the wireless guitar breaking down as anything else. The audience loved even the unfamiliar numbers, and it's clear that the Police have a solid following here. If this performance was typical, they deserve it.
What the audience didn't deserve was the hour-plus wait for them to come on, especially since they'd just sat through a tepid set by Fashion, a trio from Birmingham, England who thrashed around, failing to cohere a single melody or interesting idea the entire time.
The show was opened by Austin's own Skunks, a trio (three threes - it really was Halloween) who, like the Police, seem to be more straightforward rock 'n' roll than new wave.
(c) The Austin American Statesman by Ed Ward
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