A rather negative review of the oakland show. Ugh....seems quite a few people arent liking the re-interpretations and jazzy lite versions etc. Its interesting to read the comments to this column - about 30 comments and they are really mixed. Link is below David Lucky Sting stunk - and so did the rest of the Police Jim Harrington - STAFF WRITER Article Last Updated: 06/14/2007 02:30:55 PM PDT Click photo to enlarge Sting, center, of the rock group The Police plays in front of a large video screen showing his... « 1 2 3 4 5 » The year's biggest concert turned out to also be its greatest disappointment. The much-heralded Police reunion gig on Wednesday night at McAfee Coliseum in Oakland - which sold-out less than an hour after the 46,500 tickets were originally put on sale - was arguably the most shockingly mediocre stadium show in Bay Area history. Was this really all that the Police - vocalist-bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland - had to offer after making local fans wait so long? The band's last Bay Area performance was back on Sept. 10, 1983 at the very same venue. Based on what went down on Wednesday, however, let's hope that the trio's next hiatus is even lengthier. Time colors memories in peculiar shades. Those who attended the band's previous show in Oakland tend to remember it quite fondly - that includes this critic. For me, age also factors into the mix, since I was a young teen at the time and just happy to be out at a major concert. Yet, in careful retrospect, it's a pretty safe bet that the Police were never a great live act, at least not in comparison to other stadium rockers like U2, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones. For proof, just listen to 1995's dreadfully bland "The Police Live." That's the only official live set that the band has ever released, so we must assume that the musicians feel it ranks among their finest performances. And perhaps it does. It's certainly better than what fans heard at the home of the Advertisement Oakland Athletics. The Police opened with a low-key version of "Message in a Bottle" - from its sophomore set, 1979's "Reggatta de Blanc" - which served up the first bit of bad news about what was in store for us over the next two hours. The crowd came into the joint ready to rock, yet the band quickly knocked the wind out of fans' sails as it made the curious decision to focus on softer material and downplay what should have been rowdier selections. The arrangements, which brought to mind the jazzier adult-contemporary side of Sting's solo arsenal, were quite maddening. Time and time again, the Police would launch into a fan favorite and then play it in a way that confounded the crowd. That resulted in a tally of yawns that surpasses what I've seen at any other major rock concert. At the top of the yawn-worthy list was the mellow "Don't Stand So Close to Me," which lacked the stylish intrigue of the original recording found on 1980's "Zenyatta Mondatta" and didn't even manage to live up to the so-so remake released on 1986's "Every Breath You Take: The Singles." The crowd kept waiting for the band to hammer out a tune, and produce a rocker worthy of the 1978 debut "Outlandos d'Amor," but all it could seem to manage was to swing the musical equivalent of a wet noodle at tracks like "Spirits in the Material World" (from 1981's "Ghost in the Machine") and "Walking On the Moon" (from "Reggatta de Blanc"). The group's passionless take on the great "Zenyatta Mondatta"-track "Driven to Tears" was such a snoozer that fans would have been excused for crying. Individually, the band members all sounded fine in spots. Sting was the best of the bunch and delivered many strong vocal moments, notably on the first album's "Truth Hits Everybody." Summers proved that all his digits work during several quick solos in songs like the "Zenyatta Mondatta"-cut "When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around," although his heroics often didn't fit the songs. Copeland - a vocal critic of this reunion tour - produced some powerful moments on his mega-percussion kit, but seemed a bit lost in his own world. Collectively, the Police just couldn't find a way to make it all gel and continued to plod its way through the "Ghost"-tracks "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "Invisible Sun." It really said something when "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da," a juvenile pop number from "Zenyatta Mondatta," turned out to be the best performed song of the night. The band saved many of its biggest tunes for last, closing out the main set with the first album's immortal "Roxanne." But the long, drawn-out arrangement featured in "Roxanne" turned what should have been a true highlight into yet another disappointment. And, by that time, we'd already had our fill. http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_6140255?source=rss