Concert: The Police...

One of the biggest rock groups of all time is in our country: The Police. Sting, Summers, and Copeland rocked the Arena last night. With an average age somewhere between 35 and 55, the stadium was packed, primarily with fans of music from the late 70s and early 80s. A few outliers, like a trio of kids, brought the average age down considerably (the lads were about 6 to 10 years old), were a rare sight. They've undoubtedly heard a CD at their dad's house, but do they really know what The Police stands for? That's doubtful. The youngest even fell asleep on the railing after an hour—a shame about the 90 euros...

That these guys still know how to please and excite a crowd after all these years, they proved last night. Still not friends (or is that an understatement?), but the desire for music is too great not to get back on stage together. And much to the fans' delight.

It's 8:45 PM when the first notes blast into the stadium. Andy Summers fires up his guitar and the first chords of "Message In A Bottle" kick off the concert. Soon, many are singing along, because these are, of course, the well-known hits that have stuck with the audience. Every now and then, they still pop up on the radio in the Golden Oldies programs.

Songs like 'Every Little Thing Is Magic', 'Roxanne', 'Walking On The Moon', 'Can't Stand Losing You', and 'Every Breath You Take' only made the audience more enthusiastic. The set list, for the general audience, also contained some lesser-known songs, but that made it all the more entertaining... something 'new' to discover.

Nostalgia was the main theme of the evening, and I suspect that was largely what the audience was looking for. The guys from The Police were more than happy to bring that nostalgia to life. Not only through the music, but also through the images streamed into the stadium via video screens, the '80s were briefly brought back to mind. Your bad jeans, your shaggy hair, and your first Police CD. Back then, most people probably didn't have the money to buy a concert ticket. Now they got a second chance.

The band members also took the opportunity here and there to let loose in their solos. While previously it was mainly Sting who did this, now Summers and Copeland also took over, much to the delight of the audience. Stewart's drum solos were especially phenomenal. What a drummer!

The whole thing was surrounded by a perhaps somewhat austere-looking decor, but that wasn't so bad. A wealth of light in shades of red, green, blue, yellow, and white created a truly spectacular light show—sometimes warm, sometimes icy cold, but always in tune with the song they were playing. No frills, just pure, as it was meant to be.

Despite the band's heyday only lasting a few years, they still managed to impress quite a few people in that short period. And those people enjoyed a trip down memory lane last night.

(c) FOK!