In celebration of their 25th anniversary as a band, The Police have mounted a huge global reuion tour to generate gobs of capital to aid their early retirement. Fans now have to pay exceedingly high ticket prices to enjoy the music considered by some to be the soundtrack of their youth. With that kind of a price tag for a seat up close, it is rather disconcerting when the sound of the band is more than disppointing.

     Obviously, The Police are not to blame, but they rely on their sound technicians to deliver a live sound that enhances the band in performance on stage. This was not the case for their Hersheypark Stadium appearance on Friday, July 20, 2007. The sound suffered from recurring distortion through a good deal of the concert, handicapping their live material.

     With an impressive back catalogue of popular albums, there are only so many songs that can be selected to complete a setlist. For their 2007 Reunion Tour, Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland choreographed an evening of mega hits, classic tracks and a few deep cuts. A decent overview of the band's short career will always a skip a personal favorite or two.

     Mia Page Chamberly, a native Bermudian, commented, "The band was great, the crowd sucked, and Sting is still sexy. We were really excited to come", the 25 year old remarked. Her observation of the unenthusiastic crowd was accurate. For inexplicable reasons, the Hershey audience remained largely unmoved by the stage jams and percussive rhythms eminating from The Police.

     Kim Scwartz, 43, stated that, "My husband told me to get out of the house and do something", so she flew in from Durango, Colorado to attend the concert.She added, "I saw them in Denver, and the sound was much better. I'm gonna stay and see John Mayer and make a weekend of it."

     The Police performance at Hershey was the first concert for Laurie Mason from Union Bridge, Maryland. She said, "I thought it was really cool, and I liked the songs." In particular, the 27 year old singled out "Every Breath You Take"; "I really like that one".

Hershey setlist: Message In A Bottle * Synchronicity II * Walking On The Moon * Voices In My Head > When The World Is Running Down, You Make The Best Of What's Still Around * Don't Stand So Close To Me * Driven To Tears * Truth Hits Everybody * The Bed's Too Big Without You * Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic * Wrapped Around Your Finger * De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da * Invisible Sun * Walking In Your Footsteps * Can't Stand Losing You * Roxanne * 1st Encore: King Of Pain * So Lonely * Every Breath You Take * 2nd Encore: Next To You

RockonTour   Issue #71
Concert Fan   Concertphile@yahoo.com

RockonTour.net - the Single Source for the Concertphile © 2007 RockonTour
RockonTour

 

RockonTour.net
                  the Single Source for the Concertphile

Arrest that sound engineer
Distortion plagued The Police in performance

by Timothy Tilghman