Wow, that sounds like it was just an awesome show!!  Thanks for the rundown Pete.  I am even more envious and depressed that I missed that performance.  Might have given up the other shows I saw, with maybe the exception of the fan club show, just to witness that one.  Damn.  I really hope that if there was anyone there immortalizing the event somehow on say, some sort of permanent, perhaps, digital medium, that thy would be generous enough to post a link here on the message board or let us poor slobs that couldn't make it somehow know where to fnd it when they do start appearing would be greatly, greatly appreciated!!!   I let me fan club membership expire, so I can't get into the forum for recordings etc....  Guess I can check DIME too.....  Alright, thanks again for the great review and hope there is more in our future at some point down the road from these guys!!!  EOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
 
Steve
--- On Fri, 8/8/08, Pete Ashdown <pashdown@xmission.com> wrote:
From: Pete Ashdown <pashdown@xmission.com>
Subject: [Police] Final Show - Madison Square Garden
To: police@mailman.xmission.com
Date: Friday, August 8, 2008, 9:10 AM

The set-list changed with the addition of "Sunshine of Your Love" at
the 
beginning and "Purple Haze" after the first encore.  The highlights
were 
the NYPD drum-corps after "Sunshine" kicking off "Message in a
Bottle" 
and Sting's numerous daughters (and a few sons later?) dancing during 
"Everything She Does is Magic".

The trio made a few minor tweaks and changes, the comedic end with a 
roadie dressed up as the "fat lady opera singer" and Looney
Toones' 
"That's All Folks" was funny, but left this fan wanting just a
bit 
more.  Instead of two extra songs from other bands, I wish we could have 
heard some of the gems in the catalog.  Synchronicity, Murder By 
Numbers, Spirits in the Material, Walking in Your Footsteps, Bring on 
the Night.  They know how to play them, in fact, they played them this 
tour.  Just not all in one place.  Doesn't the "final" gig
justify that?

A couple decades ago, I watched "The Church" play what seemed like an

infinite show.  It was almost 3 1/2 hours long and most of the crowd had 
left by the end.  Inexplicably, they just kept playing and playing to a 
small Utah audience.  I wondered how long The Police could play before I 
left.  If by some superhuman ability, they could play days, weeks, 
months, how long would the fans hold out?  When would it become 
obnoxious and numbing?  How much is too much?  When would I be forced to 
get back to reality and my life?  In many ways this tour was that.  18 
year-old Pete pushing 41-year-old Pete back into the fan-seat for a band 
that in some years I had forgotten completely.  A band whom I spent most 
of my savings on buying singles and rarities during my first trip to New 
York in 1985 yet left me conservatively hesitant about how much to spend 
($10K for a meet & greet?) for this trip.  Whether intentional or not, 
the band consistently gave off the aura of, "Yes this is fun, but we'd

really rather be doing something else."

I was at the premier of Stewart's documentary at Sundance, I saw them at 
the beginning and end of the reunion tour and four times in between, yet 
I never met any of them except for weird, uncomfortable run-ins with 
Stewart in 1985 and once on this tour.  I don't know what I'd say if I 
did meet all three of them.  Thanks?  That is about it.

I'm glad I was there for the end.  Reading others wishing makes me 
realize how fortunate I am.  When Sting said "This is the last time 
we'll ever do this," before the "Can't Stand Losing You"
"deeeyaaaayoh" 
sing-along, I really felt it and sang it with 19,000 other lucky fans at 
the top of my lungs.  It was great to be there.

Sunshine of Your Love
Message in a Bottle (with NYPD Drum Corps)
Walking on the Moon
Demolition Man
Voices / When the World is Running Down
Don't Stand So Close To Me
Demolition Man
Driven To Tears
Hole in My Life
Everything She Does is Magic (with Sting's daughters and other family 
members)
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da (with "There She Was Just A Walking Down the 
Street" intro)
Invisible Sun
Can't Stand Losing You

Purple Haze
(Sting sings a bit of Younger Than Springtime)
Roxanne
King of Pain
So Lonely (Been Down So Long finish)
Every Breath You Take

Next To You
(The Fat Lady Sings)
(Looney Toones "That's All Folks")


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