Exclusive Images From The Police Concert in Philly

So, they didn’t allow cameras in, but that hasn’t stopped me before. Here, without further ado, The Police at Citizen’s Bank Park, July 19, 2007.

The Fratellis opened. They were awesome. Their lead singer has curly hair. That thing coming out of his mouth is music. The lead singer kinda looks and sounds like Dominic Monahan, so I kept calling them Drive Shaft in my head.

This is meant to give you a rough idea of how far away we were from the stage. Unfortunately, I don’t really know how to draw perspective. But we were third row back, waaay to the left. In front of that security guy there. Actually pretty good seats. Well, the actual physical seats were like the ones they used in high school when they had to fill up the floor of the gym for some reason. The seats four feet to our right were, like, $50 more.

These are the actual Police. That happy guy on the left there is Sting. His voice is still amazing. They saved “Roxanne” for near the end of the show, and the whole damn thing is in his high register. You know who else still has an amazing voice after all these years? Prince. It’s sick.

Anyway, that guy on the right is Andy Summers, who did a blistering solo on a sweet medley of “Visions of the Night/When the World Is Running Down” (did NOT expect “Visions of the Night”, btw – very cool). Other than that, though, he seemed kind of grumpy. But he did have the coolest flair – a “They Killed Kenny!” guitar strap.

And the man in the center is noneother than Stewart Copeland, whom I’m giving the MVP. As my friend Jamil said, he came out ready for battle. Seriously, he looked like he just came from one rugby brawl and was on his way to another and was really, really happy about it. You never realize just how strenuous a workout a typical Police song is on the drums until you actually watch it happen.

And as for the small arms cache of percussion instruments behind him, they were basically there for two songs – “Wrapped Around Your Finger” and “Walking in Your Footsteps,” both of which were masterful. He would be running back and forth from his drum kit to the percussion museum behind him during each song and would not miss a beat. Amazing.

All in all, a great show. Excellent mix of popular-among-everybody and popular-among-Police-fans tunes. I was especially happy that they found room for “Can’t Stand Losing You” and Jamil and I both appreciated that instead of ending the show with the second-encore-closer “Every Breath You Take” they came out for one more and did the less pop-radio-friendly “Next to You.”

Also the first concert I’ve been to where people brought their kids.

I’m getting old.

Oh, btw, the last time The Police played Philly, the lineup was Madness, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts, REM and The Police.

Yeah. I know.