Bring On the Night – I saw The Police in Concert One Final Time

 

For one last time in my life, I saw The Police in concert last Saturday night on May 10, 2008 at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois. It was about a mile from the convention center where I annually attend the Wizard World Chicago comic book conventions in Rosemont.

I drove up to Chicago with my good friend and fellow Police fan, Kathy Wheeler. Together, we’ve seen Sting in concert about four times. As I’ve mentioned in my blog before, my wife Roxie isn’t a fan of Sting or The Police. She isn’t a fan of most musicians that I enjoy and so she is okay with me going out to concerts with Kathy, or my old high school pal, Ron Rice. She’s happy these two will keep an eye on me and see that I don’t get in to too much trouble.

Kathy summed it up exactly on her blog that it has been a whirlwind year that started with a rumor that The Police would reunite. Which lead to the long world-wide tour. Together, we saw The Police last July in St. Louis. That was the first time I had a chance to see my favorite band together.

Last Saturday’s show was a great performance and they were more in synch with each other even than last year. They are currently on the last leg of their reunion tour and will end it forever in a few weeks from now in New York City where they say that it’ll be their final performance forever together.

I had a fun time with Kathy. We got to meet up with other Police fans at a dinner before the concert at Shoeless Joe’s Sports Bar & Grill. Elvis Costello and the Attractions opened up for The Police. It felt very much like a double-bill. He is another musician who I enjoy listening to. Sting came out on stage to do a duet with Elvis on the song, “Allison.”

We sat what was basically the fifth row off to Sting’s side of the stage. Kathy’s camera took some limited video and so she got some great shots that she has placed on her website and on YouTube. I’m posting a few here on my blog courtesy of Kathy where you can see our vantage point. (Also, check out Kathy’s side at http://www.stingfield.com/ for more pictures and video).

Like Kathy, I think my favorite songs of the night were the opening of “Bring On the Night” and “Demolition Man”. I also enjoyed the rousing versions of “Voices Inside My Head/When the World is Running Down ,” “Every Little Thing She Does is Magic,” “So Lonely,” and the closing “Next To You”.

Heck, I enjoyed the WHOLE show and stood the entire time and grooved with the music. It’ll be a night I’ll never forget.

Like Kathy, I also feel appreciative that our favorite band came together after 20 plus years to reunite to give us fans (and themselves) some closure. We can now all accept that it is the end.