930 Forums
=> GENERAL DISCUSSION => Topic started by: vansmack on June 13, 2007, 12:37:00 pm
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Tonight in Oakland. Anyone going to be there with me?
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Whatever, dude. You didn't go to Voxtrot with me at the GAMH! j/k
Are they playing at the Oracle Arena? or Coliseum?
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Originally posted by wanderlust aka j. marshmallow:
Whatever, dude. You didn't go to Voxtrot with me at the GAMH! j/k
Are they playing at the Oracle Arena? or Coliseum?
I saw that post in the other thread and I thought, shit I forgot to PM him. In my defense it was the day the Ducks won the Stanley Cup and I was "occupied," but you deserved more. Sorry about that.
It's at the Coliseum.
<img src="http://media.dailycamera.com/bdc/content/img/photos/2007/06/07/Set_list.jpg" alt=" - " />
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no "fields of gold"??? bunch of crap.
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No "All This Time" ?
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No "I Fuck For Eight Hours at a Time"?
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Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
No "I Fuck For Eight Hours at a Time"?
thank you, once again for blessing a thread with your prescence and witty repartee.
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Stingify: to suck the balls out anything that might contain anything that might contain some semblance of manhood.
If it's not in the urban dictionary yet, it will be after this tour.
You folks know me as somebody who likes a lot of music, but I can tell you that this Police reunion disappointed me in ways I never thought imaginable. They were never on tempo, Sting forgot lyrics or messed up bridges, the sound was atrocious and nearly every song was Stingified, despite not playing a single Sting solo track.
This is a trainwreck. I'm going to sleep on it to see if I still feel the same way in the morning, but right now, I feel as though the 20+ year reunion I was so eagerly waiting to happen has so let me down that I just don't know what to think about the Police.
It was so bad that I've even begun to think that maybe I've never understood the Police from day one, which is a frightening thought from someone who own nearly every album on vinyl.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Stingify: to suck the balls out anything that might contain anything that might contain some semblance of manhood.
If it's not in the urban dictionary yet, it will be after this tour.
You folks know me as somebody who likes a lot of music, but I can tell you that this Police reunion disappointed me in ways I never thought imaginable. They were never on tempo, Sting forgot lyrics or messed up bridges, the sound was atrocious and nearly every song was Stingified, despite not playing a single Sting solo track.
This is a trainwreck. I'm going to sleep on it to see if I still feel the same way in the morning, but right now, I feel as though the 20+ year reunion I was so eagerly waiting to happen has so let me down that I just don't know what to think about the Police.
It was so bad that I've even begun to think that maybe I've never understood the Police from day one, which is a frightening thought from someone who own nearly every album on vinyl.
Prior to this post, I only feared three things:
1)God
2)The IRS
3)the words, "I'm late"
I spent a decent amount of coin on seeing the Police (4 shows thus far - WAS thinking about 5 or 6) this summer/year, so much so that I couldn't wait for the Hershey show & pretty much am going to Bonnaroo because I couldn't wait. Kinks in the show are to be understood, but with three accomplished musicians like that you'd figure they'd have worked it out by now. This really worries the fuck out of me, because your opinion actually holds weight with me. I'm gonna go into Bonnaroo with an open mind, but if it's as bad you make it out to be, then a fire sale is gonna ensue. God forbid I end up parting with that MSG seat on Halloween . . . .
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for the record: i was only stating in the previous police thread that they should have their shit together for the amount of dough that they're charging. for that i was pilloried. i don't like to hear about people getting ripped off.
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OH MY GOD! YOU'VE OBVIOUSLY NEVER PLAYED AN INSTRUMENT OR LISTENED TO MUSIC IF YOU HAVE AN UNFAVORABLE OPINION OF SOMETHING NONE OF US (save vansmack) HAVE FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE WITH!!?!?!?!?!?! ;)
Originally posted by yinzer:
for the record: i was only stating in the previous police thread that they should have their shit together for the amount of dough that they're charging. for that i was pilloried. i don't like to hear about people getting ripped off.
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Where is "WHEN WE DANCE" on the set list?? :eek:
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Nope. I've had more time to think about it. And it was still terrible. I think I'll try a song by song break down for you all....
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MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE: First song, new venue, and I believe this was the first show at a larger outdoor venue. I was cutting them a little slack on this one. It actually was OK but the drum-techs and sound guys were struggling to figure out Stewart's set-up. As the song progressed, things were worked out and I was looking forward to a great show once the kinks were worked out.
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SYNCHRONICITY II: This is where I started to get worried. I even looked at Venerable like "what the hell was that?"
At the first past of the bridge section where Sting is supposed to sing "Mother chants her litany of boredom and frustration But we know all her suicides are fake" was an absolute disaster. Nobody could find the others in the band. Sting was just nowhere to be found. It was likely supposed ot be some new jazzy version of something, but not only did it not work, it wasn't even noticeable.
So it comes back again - completely misses it again. By the third time he sings that part 5 minutes into the song, he finally is somewhat audible and it's acceptable, but nowhere near tight.
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DON'T STAND SO CLOSE TO ME: Wake me up when it's over. It was a hybrid version of the '86 remix and the original and none of it worked. This is where I began to develop the "Stingified Theory." I love this song, but it was completely butchered. I've heard cover bands do it better. I sat down for the majority of the rest of the show starting at this point. Stewart's drums are still lost as well. Can't tell at this point if he's lost it or if the sounds guys have lost him.
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You know what - I can't do this anymore. It's too depressing. I nearly cried last night.
Bottom line - none of the songs sounded like their single counterparts except Can't Stand Losing You and Next to You. All of the others were stripped of their greatness and sounded like Sting solo shows, only this time he had the best damn backing band in the history of solo career and he didn't use them. No snese of urgency, not sense of having fun up there.
Andy had some nice solos at times, but each guy was just in his own little world.
I will however share my disappointment in one song in particular, Every Little Thing She Does....
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Review from the Oakland Tribune:
Sting stunk - and so did the rest of the Police (http://www.insidebayarea.com/entertainment/ci_6140255)
I'm sorry vansmack. How much did you pay?!
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EVERY LITTLE THING SHE DOES IS MAGIC: OK. I can sing this song with out the single playing behind me, and I have done so to Smackette on many occassions. I'm sure I'm not alone here. I have even started a few screenplays based on this song alone. Few songs are that powerful, Wreckless Eric's Whole Wide World comes to mind, but few others.
So as this song starts, Sting is confused as to which verse he is supposed to start with. He's done this before, but I don't get how you don't know the words to your own song. Watch the live in Italy DVD he filmed on 9/11 (not knowing that is was going to be such a day). He played stripped down versions of all of his songs. At one point the band is reworking a song and they ask Sting to sing bar so they can test it out. Sting confesses he can't sing without playing the bass along with the song, so they start from the top. I found that a bit odd, but so be it.
So a few days later he's doing acousitc songs for a charity gig and he sings a lovely acousitc version of "Every Little Thing..." (I'm happy to share it) only he switches the first and second verse. Again, I thought that was odd, and at times I think the song is better with the switched verse, but whatever.
So last night, he starts singing the second verse, realizes it and stops. The band keeps playing. It gets to the chorus, comes back around, and he starts the second verse again. It was an absolute disaster. At that point, I should have just left, but I kept waiting for it to get better - it never did. Everytime there was a glimpse of hope, they did some long drawn out Sting crap that ruined everything.
As you can tell, I'm not taking this well.
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Originally posted by wanderlust aka j. marshmallow:
How much did you pay?!
$90. But to me it's less about the money and more about the 20 plus years I waited for this only to be so let down. But yeah, I'd like my money back!
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Originally posted by wanderlust aka j. marshmallow:
How much did you pay?!
$90. But to me it's less about the money and more about the 20 plus years I waited for this only to be so let down. But yeah, I'd like my money back! [/b]
I dropped $250 on Hershey AND MSG, not to mention Bonnaroo. This doesn't please me one bit. The Vancouver debacle wasn't too alarming, but this is most def a blower. I was planning a nice chunk of my summer around the Police tour. Cot dammit . . . .
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let me just emphasize, the sound was atrocious. was watching on youtube the performance of roxanne from "urgh!" and none of copeland's drumming made it to our seats. now, that could be because of the sound, or it could be that copeland just didn't play it like before. i don't know. . .all that we could hear for nearly all of the show was a muddled snare and every so often some ride. . .not much high-hat or bass drum and definately no toms. also, i am convinced that an entire bank of speakers set up on the infield simply were not working.
that being said. . .sound cannot explain away the complete disregard for tempo and beat that was shown throughout most of the show. on a few songs, you could feel the momentum coming, and then. . . . . . . . . ..back down a beat.
and i think i've had all i can take of "aaaa-oooooos," "eeee-oooooos" and "yay-ooooos."
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Originally posted by vansmack:
Nope. I've had more time to think about it. And it was still terrible. I think I'll try a song by song break down for you all....
I am devastated. And you don't want to know what i've paid for the two shows I'm going to see....
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From further conversations I've had with other concert goers and posts on blogs/message boards, if you like Sting's solo material and performances, you'll probably like this show.
If you want to see a Police show however, you may be disappointed.
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Originally posted by Venerable Bede:
and i think i've had all i can take of "aaaa-oooooos," "eeee-oooooos" and "yay-ooooos."
Oh man, I forgot about that. Awful.
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Originally posted by vansmack:
From further conversations I've had with other concert goers and posts on blogs/message boards, if you like Sting's solo material and performances, you'll probably like this show.
I'm all (and only) about The Police. Shit.
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Well you can still see Drive By Truckers, Neko Case, and Old 97's for a fraction of the cost. And those shows are all sure winners.
Originally posted by TheDirector217:
Originally posted by vansmack:
Originally posted by wanderlust aka j. marshmallow:
How much did you pay?!
$90. But to me it's less about the money and more about the 20 plus years I waited for this only to be so let down. But yeah, I'd like my money back! [/b]
I dropped $250 on Hershey AND MSG, not to mention Bonnaroo. This doesn't please me one bit. The Vancouver debacle wasn't too alarming, but this is most def a blower. I was planning a nice chunk of my summer around the Police tour. Cot dammit . . . . [/b]
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"Start selling..."
That's what my momma would say.
Originally posted by TheDirector217:
I dropped $250 on Hershey AND MSG, not to mention Bonnaroo. This doesn't please me one bit. The Vancouver debacle wasn't too alarming, but this is most def a blower. I was planning a nice chunk of my summer around the Police tour. Cot dammit . . . . [/QB]
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Hasn't Copeland been bad-mouting the reunion all along? I guess he wasn't just blowing smoke.
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Originally posted by StoneTheCrow:
Hasn't Copeland been bad-mouting the reunion all along? I guess he wasn't just blowing smoke.
I believe his words were "Unbelievably Lame" (http://www.930.com/cgi-bin/ubb-cgi/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=015531) after the first two shows and now I wish I would have listened to him.
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Stewart Copeland interview in the New York Post
Police Presence - Legendary trio improving 'new music', friendshp for reunion tour...
Most of the Police fans who helped the band sell out its summer reunion tour think they're going to see the classic pop-rock trio revisit glory days. But Stewart Copeland says they're in for a surprise.
"It's all-new music we'll be playing," he says.
What? When the Police headline the Live Earth festival on July 7 and play their sold-out solo dates at Madison Square Garden (Aug. 1 and 3) and Giants Stadium (Aug. 5), there won't be any 'Roxanne', 'Don't Stand So Close to Me' or 'King of Pain'?
Not exactly.
In a band comprising three musicians famously obsessed with their craft - including Sting on bass and vocals and Andy Summers on guitar - drummer Copeland is actually referring to group's effort to return to the virtuoso form it attained before breaking up in 1985.
"Basically, the band's agenda is delivering energy and excitement in the service of really great songs," Copeland says. "It's all new music we'll be playing, but not new songs. We're not ready for new songs, we don't even deserve new songs yet."
Yeah, right. Like Sting, Copeland and Summers are just another neighborhood bar band.
They deserve respect for refusing to take their classic status for granted. The band could get drunk, drop acid and slam out sloppy versions of 'Every Breath You Take' and 'Invisible Sun', and fans would still go wild. But two decades later, they're still perfectionists.
"We're still getting our act together and finding our groove as a band," Copeland says. "Last time we toured together, we were 24 years old. After all this time [apart], we had a lot of melding to do. We can see and hear where our weaknesses are and what we need to work on."
That dedication helped make the band one of the most distinctive voices to emerge from England's punk rock scene of the late '70s. While early incarnations of the Sex Pistols and the Clash championed amateurism, the Police harnessed profound musicianship to the energy of the times in singles like 'Fall Out' and 'So Lonely'. They even played ballads, although 'Roxanne' did tweak the genre by being an aching love letter to a prostitute.
In its sinewy melding of island rhythms with jazz-inflected guitar and Brechtian drama, 'Roxanne' came to reflect everything that was revolutionary about the Police.
In a succinct moment of self-assessment, Copeland says, "Our biggest innovation was the introduction of reggae into white mainstream pop."
As the band's founder and drummer, Copeland ought to be able to take credit for it, but he bristles at the notion.
"It was really a team effort - it's impossible to differentiate where one band member's contribution began and the other's ended," he says. "Reggae doesn't work until you have three elements together. The drum part alone isn't reggae until you get the guitar up-chick supported by the proper bass line. The Police were always a team, and we're learning to be a team again."
Teamwork, though, wasn't always the trio's strongest trait. With each player so accomplished in his own right, the Police's creative process was fractious. But Copeland says the group's infamous quarreling - which occasionally led to backstage fistfights - has been overstated.
"We used to read in the papers about how we were fighting all the time," he says. "I don't know what we were doing, but it wasn't fighting. When we did argue, it wasn't about petty stuff, it was about the music, because we're passionate about what we do."
That was then - before Sting went solo and the band dissolved. While the group made a few impromptu reunions at parties and weddings, the full-scale assault it is now undertaking has brought back a few old feelings.
"It was harder to get back together than any of us thought it would be," Copeland says. "Sting, Andy and I have each been master of his own universe for more than 20 years and we've not used to collaborating."
It's been even tougher for Sting.
"The difference between solo Sting and band Sting is noticeable," Copeland says. "He's a very different character when he's doing his own music than when he's doing Police songs. When he finally gives himself to the band and relinquishes total ownership of everything, he becomes loose, relaxed."
Fans, of course, want to see that old Sting, the one who used to dance crazily to 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' or 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da'. The tour doesn't start until next week, but the band has already netted 8 million in combined ticket presales.
Without having even played a club gig, the Police have already got the biggest tour of 2007. And while they'll be visiting huge stadiums, Copeland says the shows will be stripped-down affairs.
"We haven't got a floating pig," he says, referring to Pink Floyd's famous concert accessory. "The stage setup is really simple - it's the music that's complex."
© New York Post by Dan Aquilant
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This is very surprising. I thought the whole idea of the reunion (other than making bank) was to revisit the energy of the glory days. They may not like eachother (and Andy Summers may be 65 (!?) years old) but on the musical plain they connected on an intense level that was unique in each of their careers, had a defining mark on the culture (I think it can be said the Police were the biggest band of the early 80's era) and now I thought they wanted to recapture that. But it seems like the whole thing is misconstrued. Why would such smart musicians be so dumb when they have this opportunity? Does the hate just run so deep that they can't stomach connecting even musically night in and night out? Maybe. I'd think they'd figure it out and it would click soon enough - but if they're heads are in the wrong place who knows . . . and you know what they say about horses and midstream.
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And here's where it tanks miserably, with no disrespect to the hardworking organizers of the festivals, but I fear for The Police in front of a load of late teenagers and early 20's folks - the types that normally go to festival shows. With the bands current lack of energy and no sense of urgency, the kids with even a slightest recognition of their songs are going to hate the new show. I am very interested to hear reports from Bonnarroo and the VFest (although I'm guessing that Bonnarroo will be an older crowd than VFest).
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All it takes is one watch of the BBC Crown Jewels on VH1 Classic of a Police show from like '78. Raw, focused, three members of one band playing like a machine. It absolutely rocked. When I was 7 the first single I ever bought was "Don't Stand So Close to Me", and when I was 8 I bought "Ghost in the Machine", so Lord knows I've been a fan for a LONG time. I'm not seeing any of these reunion shows, and though I'm sure they're good and I hope everyone will have a great time, at the prices they are charging I wouldn't pay to see the Police version 2.0. Reminds me a bit of the rebirth of Spinal Tap doing their space odyssey free-form blues jam thing. New and improved? Please. I had ESPECIALLY hoped for more from Stewart.
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Oh no...I was afraid of all of this. I'm going to Hershey too, 12th row.
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delurking from the roo...
pretty painful stuff delivered by the police for the first hour... a almost on the dot 75 min set with a 30 encore..
I spent part of the time trying to find a place where people were not socializing their set... of course music does take a back seat to hangin out
there was a goodly number of people crowded near stage and people reacting postivitly but it wasn't until roxanne that people in back of the field came to life. by then I had enough..
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Originally posted by bearman:
Reminds me a bit of the rebirth of Spinal Tap doing their space odyssey free-form blues jam thing.
DEREK: David, we had a fifteen-year ride, mate. ??Mean, who wants to be a fuck??n forty-five year old rock??n??roller farting around in front of people less than half their age?....
DAVID: So true, so true, yeah....
DEREK: ...cranking out some kind of mediocre head-banging bullshit, you know, that we??ve forgotten...
DAVID: It would b...it??s beneath us...who wants to see that... not me.
DEREK: That??s right...absolutely right. I mean, we could take those projects that we thought, you know, we didn??t have time for....
DAVID: Oh, there??s dozens, there??s so many dozens of projects.
DEREK: You know, we didn??t have time for ??em because of Tap and bring ??em back to life maybe.
DAVID: Do you remember what we were...do you remember the time?
DEREK: At the Luton...at the Luton Palace...
DAVID: Yes.
DEREK: We were talking about a rock musical based on the life of Jack the Ripper...
DAVID: Yeah, ??Saucy Jack.??
DEREK: Right. ??Saucy Jack.?? Now??s the time to do that.
DAVID: ??Saucy Jack, you??re a naughty one, Saucy Jack, you??re a haughty one, Saucy Jack.?
DEREK: Right...
DAVID: It??s a freein?? up, innit?
DEREK: Yeah.
DAVID: It??s all this free time. It??s suddenly time is so elastic..
DEREK: It??s a gift, it??s a gift of freedom. You know.
DAVID: I??ve always, I??ve always wanted to do a collection of my acoustic numbers with the London Philharmonic as you know.
DEREK: We??re lucky.
DAVID: Yeah.
DEREK: I mean people...people should be envying us. You know.
DAVID: I envy us.
DEREK: Yeah.
DAVID: I do.
DEREK: Me too.
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The real shame of this is if the Police are a wash we could say "Hey, the Fratellis are a pretty tight, fun trio." But they are only opening the Philly and Meadowlands shows.
Were the Police duller than ummm....Fiction Plane? You know for the price of these tickets, nepotism should be outlawed.
Brian