The Police, 2007 – Key Arena – Seattle, WA
Set list:
1-Message In a Bottle
2-?
3-Spirits in a Material World
4-Voices Inside My Head
5-Don’t Stand So Close To Me
6-Driven to Tears
7-Walking on the Moon
8-?
9-Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
10-Wrapped Around Your Finger*
11-
12-Murder by Numbers
13-De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
14-?
15-Walking in Your Footsteps
16-Can’t Stand Losing You
17-Roxanne*
End Reg Set
Encore 1
18-King of Pain
19-So Lonely
Encore 2
20-Every Breath You Take*
21-?
?’s – still working on figuring out…
* – brief video clips, mainly of the video screens where the show was being projected bigger than life, ergo, my wee little camera could actually capture it…sound is so so…raw…small mic, big sound, lol…
Commentary by song (can you believe I actually took notes?!?!?!):
4-Voices Inside My Head – assuming this song is the right title…anyway, this one had the most amazing guitar solo, and extended instrumental…
5-Don’t Stand So Close To Me – Slower arrangement/tempo than original, previous versions…this type of thing repeats itself intermittently through a few of the other selections this night…it is not a good/bad thing, just different…changes the energy of the song, over all feel…
6-Driven to Tears – Beginning/opening notes, great guitar work!
10-Wrapped Around Your Finger – Cool additional percussion accessories come up on stage…
A wee clip…video of the video screens, lol…
12-Murder by Numbers – This was one of the bits where Sting told a bit of a story…he said, remember 1983? who remembered Jimmy Swaggert…Said that Swaggert had claimemd the Devil must have written this tune …I think Sting was being sarcastic/tongue in cheek…Especially at the end…he said – Thank you Jimmy Swaggert, wherever you are…
14-? – not sure the name of this song yet…still trying to figure it out…But what was truly compelling in this performance was the intermixed video images–with the live performance…it looked to be a war torn Iraq, or other some such country…children, people amongst the rubble, soldiers, tanks, food, just lots of images…I am not sure they were trying to make any sort of statement…I think it might help if I knew what song it was…What I did find interesting, compeling, and impressive…is that while alot of artists/singers/performers take concerts to speak out…The Police simply used their own song, and images…no excessive commentary…I think this was the perfect combination of art and commentary…wish I knew what the song was!!!
15-Walking in Your Footsteps – A back drape/screen came down(sorry folks in back) and images of animated dinosaur skeletons played along in the back ground…I thought it was cool…more killer guitar solo…
17-Roxanne – right before this song, Sting talks to the Seattle audience, about just getting here, and how they had spent time in Vancouver(where their previous shows just were), and what/where they should check out here…This version was very much extended(alot of songs had extended instrumentals as well)…meanering instrumentals…before final climax and…
…another video of the video screen clip…
End Reg Set
Encore 1
18-King of Pain – Pre-song, faux bickering between the band members…most folks know, the bad has a history of not getting along…the boys seem to take that in fun on stage…by all appearances…at least I hope so!!! It seemed playful…more additional percussion/chimes come up on stage used in the instrumentation…cool sound…
19-So Lonely – This song, of all, was the most ‘islandy’ musically…in total, I was surprised by how much reggae/island bouncy sound The Police catalog actually has in it…I mean, I have their songs…but listening to them live for a whole set, it really jumps out at you in a big way…especially in how they arrange for these live versions…
Encore 2
Every Breath You Take …video clip…
…eventually, the end…
Altogether…I was impressed…I was surprised by the excellent guitar work, interesting percussions…and how cool the sound was for just their 3 pc band… Glad I went…it was surprisingly a relaxing type of show…I think it was the island flavor I think their live set had…I felt like we could have had this out at the beach w/some fruity drinks…or perhaps by the pool…
Their overall stage production, I think was kept simple, clean…and I appreciate that…let the music do the work…where there were some small extras, they added to the overall bit, like the one video overlay, and the dinosaur bits…
Fashion, etc—I wouldn’t forget that…well, the other two were meh…but Sting…lol…he could have worn that back in the 80’s…perhaps he dug it out?? Skinny pants are back in though…lol, so maybe he gets a pass…and he had a lovely plain wht muscle shirt(pants were black btw)…showing off his extremely well toned arms…I have seen pictures of Sting from back in the day…when he was uber uber uber hot…he still is hot…but while I was content up in the stands now…judgeing by his demeanor…and imagining his past uberness, I can imagine, had I been old enough back in the day, wanting to lay down the cold hard dough for a spot up front…hell, I could probably deal with it now………but alas…I was there for the MUSIC!!! LOL;)
Hope everyone with a show coming, truly enjoys them!