The Police Reunion Tour: Wrigley Field

Chicago
July 5, 2007

The much-anticipated Police reunion tour came to Chicago’s Wrigley Field for two nights in July and I traveled from ‘many miles away’ to check out the first of the two nights. When Sting first spoke to the crowd, he mentioned that, back in 1983, the band had played Comiskey Park (home of the White Sox and, hijacked by corporate America, is now called U.S. Cellular Field), drawing loud boos there in Cubs territory. But drummer Stewart Copeland silently diffused the situation, sporting a Cubbies jersey. The show was generally well-received; the crowd sang along, danced, and cheered for the Police’s 20-song set, packed mostly with beloved hits. The one exception, it figures, was my own section, among the last rows with my back toward West Addison, in which the crowd seemed comatose.

Once the biggest band in the land, the Police opted to keep themselves a trio; Sting on lead vocals and bass, Copeland on drums and percussion, and Andy Summers on guitar and backing vocals. No extra instrumentation or sound effects, just the simple, raw sound. The band was tight, and Sting’s voice strong, but the show lacked the anticipated high energy level. They dragged at times as some of their reworked arrangements fell a bit flat, particularly the slow version of the generally snappy “Don’t Stand So Close to Me.” On occasion, their song transitions lagged and sputtered but one constant was Summers’s skillful guitar playing, which especially helped breathe some life into the latter part of “Driven to Tears.”

The stage was basic with nice use of lighting effects on the screens (free-standing ones set up for the concert as Wrigley, in its magical simplicity, remains one of few ballparks without a JumboTron). Just before their second song, the familiar red, blue, and yellow color splashes from the Synchronicity album cover filled those screens, adding an element of excitement as the band burst into “Synchronicity II.” Sometimes the graphics were more obscure. During “Walking in Your Footsteps,” after Sting played the intro on pan pipes, gold-colored dinosaurs roamed the screens, perhaps some sort of symbolism.

An upbeat, fun “Everything Little Thing She Does is Magic,” with perhaps the best call-and-response of the night, was followed by a somewhat lackluster “Wrapped around Your Finger,” a victim of its slow rearrangement. The final two songs before the encore, “Can’t Stand Losing You” and “Roxanne,” did remind us of one of the most unique aspects of The Police’s sound when they first emerged in the late 70s—their blend of reggae with rock.

Various critics have mentioned the band reworked many songs on this tour, dropping them an octave, to accommodate Sting’s later-in-life, more limited vocal range. This was most noticeable on “Roxanne” when he didn’t try for those high notes when singing “put on the red light.” Apparently, “those days are over.”

Setlist for The Police,
Wrigley Field, Chicago, July 5
Message in a Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking on the Moon
Voices Inside My Head
When the World is Running Down
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 / Regatta De Blanc
Roxanne

Encore:
King Of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take
Next To You