It’s been annouced on grammys.com… my favorite band of all time! There are rumors of a North American tour this summer as well. Anyone else hyperventilating over this?
Zep is also rumored to be reuniting for a one-off tour.
Wow, I always thought this was one of those reunions that was never going to happen. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be wrong.
Sweet.
I saw an interview with one of the players in the group a while back, and he said that The Police had a nearly idyllic rock band experience–they went from garage band to world-touring jet set rock stars, they all enjoyed all the stages of fame and fortune, when they broke up everybody had something to do, and nobody died of a drug overdose. This is a good thing…
[QUOTE=Ethilrist]
Sweet.
I saw an interview with one of the players in the group a while back, and he said that The Police had a nearly idyllic rock band experience–they went from garage band to world-touring jet set rock stars, they all enjoyed all the stages of fame and fortune, when they broke up everybody had something to do, and nobody died of a drug overdose. This is a good thing…[/QUOTE
And now they’re doing the “pudgy, middle-aged reunion tour for a huge pile of cash” phase.
I have a friend who is an electrician in the Beverly Hills area. He says that, among other famous folks’ houses he’s been in, he did a repair job at Andy Summers’ house. Summers was a drunk according to him - drinking cocktails & plastered at 10am, bloated, living in a once-ritzy but now squalid house, etc. So apparently he’s lived up to the fading has-been star archetype pretty well.
I refuse to go to any concert with Sting though. Several years back, I forked out close to $100 for terrible seats (the good seats went for waaay over $100) to see Sting at the Beacon Theater. Early in the show, Sting introduced some ‘surprise guest back-up singers’ - Brad Pitt & Jennifer Aniston. Neither of them could sing to save their lives. And they didn’t just show up for one or two songs - they howled through Sting’s entire set! For the price I paid, I expected a first-rate top-notch show (and I had seen Sting in the past, and he kicked ass), not Hollywood pretty faces demonstrating how limited their talents were.
The Sex Pistols did the same thing about 10 years ago, IIRC. But they had the decency to call it the Filthy Lucre tour
Has there been any mention of a new album? I’d like to see that, especially since Sting seems to have run out of steam on his solo work.
Don’t get too excited, they are only going to play 16th century lute music.
Believe it or not, there’s a perverse part of me that could really dig that. I haven’t heard Sting’s latest, with the luting and all. My comment above referred more to Sacred Love, which I thought sucked ass (compared with previous works).
If the boys want to break out the lutes or do madrigals or whatever, more power to them.
I saw him at a Blues Fest in Ottawa in about 2000 for $8. Wasn’t a whole Sting show, mind you, but he did sing a set. Thought that was mighty cool, I did.
That’ll be something to see. Where do you hire a necromancer these days?
Damn. I won’t pay $200 for a ticket, and this tour takes away my one really cool “I once saw ____ in concert” line.
Atlantic City, 4th of July 1984, Synchronicity tour …
Yep. Last tour, Springsteen was doing folk music on a ukelele. Loved it. Moral of the story: give it a chance …
Because the only notes that count are the ones that come in wads.
I’ll believe this tour when Isee it. They may get together to rehearse, but I bet it’ll end shortly after that, before the first show. Because then they will all remember why they broke up in the first place - it got to the point where they hated seeing each other inperson for any length of time.
You don’t need a necromancer to get them to reunite…just a hit man.
I don’t begrudge Police fans their joy, but I rather admired the idea of a superstar band that breaks up before becoming a pale copy of itself and stays broken up. The Jam is like that; Paul Weller has gone on record as saying that he and his family would have to be in the most desperate straits before he put that band back together.
If they reunite I guarantee that Bonham will be on the drums.
The idea of a hackneyed “let’s do a reunion tour and make lots of cash” is probably a little less relevant now. They could have done this back in 1986, as Stewart Copeland wanted to. Not to say that they won’t make a lot of cash.
Both Copeland and Summers do alright for themselves - they’re accomplished in soundtrack scoring, their own solo projects, and session work. I think Sting is obviously packing away tons of cash.
The interesting thing here is Sting’s reversal of opinion. Summers and Copeland have always spoiled for a reunion, but Sting was the dissenting voice. He’d say something about how there was nothing left to do, bands are adolescent by nature, etc. It’s obvious that the personal rifts in the band are healed. The band played at Sting’s wedding in the early 90s, and they’ve all guested on each other’s albums. (Maybe not Sting and Stewart, though). They also played at their induction at the R&R HOF a few years back.
I think old age has mellowed Mr. Sumner a bit. He’s done the musical experimentation bit, maybe he sees a value in making an old band relevant again. The intent about 20 years ago was to re-record the Police songs and give them a new interpretation, but Copeland broke his collarbone, they started fighting again, and that was it.
Stewart in particular seems to be much kinder to Sting in recent years. In the recent documentary on the early days of the Police, he was very complimentary of Sting and talked about how they were like brothers, and had a great time together. I read a pretty good quote from Stewart recently - the big tension between he and Sting dealt with tempo. Sting always would say “too fast!” to Stew during shows. (In the doc you get to see Andy saying it as well.) Apparently Stew talked to some of Sting’s band recently and they complained that he played too fast.
I do hope that they put together some new songs. As much as I’d like to see them together, it would be great to see a little more than “here’s our greatest hits setlist.” Hell, a few new tracks would do it for me. An album would be great.
I imagine Sting has learned a little about sharing control now. Apparently the post 1980 Police weren’t so much of a band, as Sting took to recording complete demos and the guys felt like session players. Having been in a band, it would have been cool if one of our lot actually took the time to complete a whole song. But I can see how a whole album like that could wound your pride.
I wonder if his son’s band will open for them if they tour? They’re called Fiction Plane and are pretty decent. Joe looks like his dad but isn’t too keen on dad’s old band apparently…
I think the over/under on when Sting and Copeland get at each others’ throats during their Grammy song is now at 2 minutes 40 seconds. I’m taking the under.
I’m still waiting for Morrissey and Johnny Marr to get back together, but good for the hardcore Police fans!