So my day starts around 8am. Not bad for a day off. So I take a look at today’s local gossip column and what do I find? Apparently Sting is known for hanging out at Spearmint Rhino (a local strip club) when he is here in Vegas. I got to thinking why Spearmint Rhino? I don’t go to strip clubs, but I have heard there are strip clubs much nicer than that one here in Las Vegas.  Then I remembered my friend Roxanne (yes that’s REALLY her professional name). She used to dance at Spearmint Rhino. Then she left to become a VERY high paid “escort” (I hear a weekend costs more than I have paid for a car).  It’s funny having an escort for a friend. When you talk “shop” you can learn a lot about sex.  She told me that most of her clientele are married. They come to her not for just sex. They come to feel special. I guess these people have sex at home but it’s just the same old rut and it gets old. They feel neglected. They feel like it’s just the same old thing.

Tonight I had a lover that I haven’t had in 29 years. She is The Police.

I last saw the boys back in ’78 in San Diego. A small venue that must have held no more than 1200 people. I remember a fury in the music. A passion like pure lust that the audience gladly gave themselves into. Andy was smiling. Stewart was driving. Sting was frustrated by his Moog Taurus not quite working well that night but he was in fine form. Since that night I have listened to them hundreds of times on my LPs and CDs and watched them on my videos. I have come to know their routine well.

Tonight the lover was completely new. Tonight this was a new version of The Police unlike what I have known before. When a lover wants to spice things up, they can try some new moves. Some work and some don’t. But overall, new moves are necessary to keep the passion alive. And tonight they did just that.

The night began with Stewart summoning the beginning of the journey with a mighty gong. They proceeded into Message In A Bottle.  In the middle of Synchronicity II, I noticed that Andy was having a problem with the guitar. Not sure what exactly. I know the mix was not good where I was standing (SIT at a Police concert? You MUST be kidding!). I can’t say it was Andy’s fault. Near as I could tell it was either due to his guitar tech or whomever was mixing the sound. The situation didn’t get fixed until late in the show. That’s also when Andy started finally smiling. Next we were treated to Don’t Stand So Close To Me (with a different feel but similar to ’86. Andy started having fewer problems with  Voices Inside My Head/ When The World Is Running Down. There was a freight train here and the boys controlled it all the way. Starting slow and building to a faster and faster pace. Everybody exactly in sync. By the way by now I have to tell you THERE IS NO BETTER DRUMMER IN THE WORLD THAN STEWART COPELAND!!!!! He blew me away. I don’t remember him being anywhere near this good.

If any of you are lucky enough (as I am) to own a copy of the Chicago Timothy White sessions, you’ll understand what this tour is like. The musicians have taken everything apart and put it back together in a whole new way to make this completely fresh. Case in point was the next guitar voicing on Spirits In The Material World. Familiar and yet quite different. Kudos Andy! This was followed up by Driven To Tears. In the next song, Walking On The Moon (and again phenomenal arrangement) Stewart broke a drum skin. (I TOLD YOU he was on fire tonight!)

Truth Hits Everybody, followed by Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic, and Wrapped Around Your Finger. Next? The Bed’s Too Big Without You. WOW!!! The new mix just blows me away. De Do Do Do De Da Da Da was a new arrangement as well. This was followed by Invisible Sun. I am running out of superlatives. Yes this is like a new lover trying new things and they are bringing me such pleasure I’m on overload!

Andy is now smiling and looking like he’s enjoying himself more as whoever was making the mix bad, it seems to have finally been fixed. So we get Walking In Your Footsteps and Can’s Stand Losing (Andy scissor kicks!). And of course the red song itself, Roxanne. I wondered if she was there tonight?  Thunderous demand for the first encore of King Of Pain with So Lonely followed by another encore of Every Breath You Take and then the final encore, Next To You.

Yes sometimes a lover that you know all too well can try some new moves and surprise you for an unexpectedly hot night of passion. Tonight was such a night. Tonight the boys took what they had given us thousands of times before and made it feel brand new again.

Oh yeah, great to meet all the people I got to meet tonight including Scott, Heather, Lee, Paul, Robyn, Herb and many more! I hope I can play host again and feel free to call me when you come to town and I’ll see about rooms, shows, and restaurants.

Swim To The Light

Rocky

http://lvrocky.com/