Reggatta de Blanc: 1979/80

Fusion Rock-Reggae Gets Stinging Display...

Even though it's obviously a couple sizes too big for him, the grey jacket he wears Sunday night gives Sting (as Gordon Sumners calls himself) a certain mature hauteur as he leads The Police into a spirited charge through their first number, 'All I Want Is to Get Next to You'.

It's the same attitude Sting struck as Ace, the king of the Mods, in The Who's movie, 'Quadrophenia'. He's a man of quality. One writer observed recently that when Sting sings reggae, it's not wild, natty dreadlocks reggae. Instead, it's neat, blow-dry reggae.

What's more, not one hair is out of place. Sting's mock-Jamaican falsetto and the rhythmic savvy of drummer Stew Copeland (in gym shorts) and guitarist Andy Summers combine to give a clean pioneering display of rock-reggae fusion.

Most of the British trio's hour-plus set in the State University of Buffalo's Clark Gym bounces along happily to the syncopated Caribbean beat, laced with occasional bursts of 4/4 rock 'n' roll to give it an extra kick.

But aside from the long instrumental break in 'Bring On the Night' and a couple others, the reggae numbers seem to lull the sell-out audience. It takes the band's radio hit, 'Roxanne', to rouse them for what ultimately becomes a smashingly energetic double encore.

The hypnotic qualities of reggae explain why The Police ejected Buffalo's Third Floor Strangers from the opening spot on the bill, reducing a three-band show to two groups. Starting the evening, then, was the British New Wave art-rock quartet XTC.

XTC's strong suits were super drumming, quirky instrumental drones and bursts of harmony that inspired the crowd to go "EEE-000" in imitation. For visual interest, their spotlights cast grid patterns on them.

One might go so far as to call them England's answer to Talking Heads. Like Talking Heads, their set gathered intensity as it rolled along, until the music fairly snapped and shimmered. Once the crowd got used to XTC, they thought enough of them to call them back for an encore.

(c) Buffalo Evening News by Dale Anderson