Like many others, I waited a long time for this show. I just missed seeing The Police at the tail end of their original incarnation. I never really thought the opportunity would present itself but when I learned at the end of the previous year that the band would, in fact, be reuniting, I was doubly-psyched. As a fan, they were a bucket list show. Professionally, I would be working on the project as part of my day job at the time. It meant very good things for the company I was running.
The show this night was the dress rehearsal show, the night before opening night, played to a half-filled arena; we only let in enough fans (members of the band's fan club) to fill the floor and lower level bowl.
This was actually the third time I saw them, if you count the performance of 'Roxanne' at the Grammys earlier in the year, which I attended, and the press conference/tour announcement/short set they performed the day after at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go in LA (which we streamed on the band's website).
One this night, the band looked and sounded great. As the tour wore on and the setlist calcified, so did the band. The shows were always professional and competent - these guys would have to try to play badly - but clearly, love was lost.
But that was all still to come. My work done for the evening, I was able to be a fan and watch from a great perch a few rows from the stage, in front of Sting. I had a great vantage point for the stage and sound. I would see them many more times on the tour, but this and the official opening the next night were the two solid keepers.
