"our so called leaders speak"

This quote has become ever so relevant in recent years, eh?



Alright folks. It's been a long (but productive) day. I've been sitting on this entry for a few days, so here's something else to cross off of my list.

No doubt my fellow music geeks have heard the news of the impending reunion of The Police. This is huge. The Police are one of two bands that I've most wanted to reunite (the other is The Talking Heads). I figured both would never happen, aside from the little one-offs they've done. Rumours have been flying for the last few months about The Police, but the cat is now out of the bag. After what will likely be the only redeemable performance of the Grammys on February 11, the band will continue rehearsals for their upcoming tour. I'm pretty much resigned to the fact that this show will be incredibly expensive. I'm equally certain that I will do everything in my power to see it.

The Police are undoubtedly one of my top ten bands of all time (although I just said this about the New York Dolls below, I assure you that I don't award this status willy-nilly. Just a coincidence!). The Police are an incredible power trio. In addition to Sting's incredible voice (which has sadly been matched with a fairly uninteresting solo catalog), each member is simply a master of their instrument. Beyond that, they were/are great songwriters. There is not a single song in their proper catalog that I don't like (the qualifier of 'proper' bars "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" and the like).

I was certainly aware of The Police coming up. My parents most definitely had a few of their tapes that were road trip staples. It wasn't until I started getting heavy into music that I really appreciated The Police, and dug deeper than their hits. My first high school band, Dead Uncle Frank (the name is an interesting tale which I'll save for another day) practiced in my parents' basement. I learned a lot from those guys, both in terms of playing and music in general. At any rate, the guitarist left his backpack behind one day, which had a number of tapes in it. One of them was Zenyatta Mondatta. After listening to it I was hooked. I dove in and bought the Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings collection, which ended up being one of the most worthwhile purchases in my music-buying history. It still gets pretty heavy play, and I recommend it to any music fan.

This reunion is something that I and millions of music fans have been waiting for. I'm still sort of in shock that it's happening. I mean what's next, Van Halen touring with David Lee Roth??

In celebration of this occasion, here is a show from 4/28/80 in New Castle. I believe this comes from a BBC broadcast, but I'm not sure on that. It's also the first time they played "Driven to Tears" live, and the last show of the Regatta de Blanc tour. Enjoy!

Thanks to the original uploader.

Part 1
Part 2