Jun 24 2007
Out of Synch-ronicity
A good band can capture a period of our life and freeze it in time forever. Hearing a song can often take us back to not just a certain year or a certain mood, but maybe even a specific night and specific moment when a song had particular relevance. In the past few years, I’ve seen two of my favorite bands from childhood perform live. At Coachella, The Cure, and last night at Dodger Stadium, The Police. Unfortunately, neither show lived up to my expectations – which were admittedly too high, held aloft by memory, lost zeitgeist, and years of listening to perfect CD recordings.
Let’s just say that Robert Smith is no Sting. At Coachella, Smith was fat, lazy, and uninspired, complaining of the heat we had endured for 12 hours after only being on stage himself for about 12 minutes. And The Cure made the classic mistake of “playing some stuff off our new album” that nobody cared about. As you might expect, Sting looked great. And while he wasn’t as energetic or enlivening as Bono (still the best mega-band front man to watch live), he seemed to be enjoying himself, the music, and the crowd, while playing through a list of greatest hits. He can’t hit some of the high notes anymore, nor can he sustain long notes or pacing as he once did, but hey — he’s still Sting. Stewart Copeland (drums) kept the show alive and the band together with an all-out, passion-filled, percussion assault. He was loving every second of it. Andy Summers on guitar was there, played his parts, but didn’t leave a lasting impression – even during several guitar solos seemingly designed to let us know he can still play.
The reasons for my disappointment have to do with the money, the venue, and the show itself. First off, Dodger Stadium was dripping money last night. 55,000 people who paid on average $200 to see the show, $20 to park, $35 for a T-shirt, and $5.50 for a bottle of water or $7.50 for a beer. It’s sickening. Plus, this was my first stadium concert, and while it was cool to see the band against the backdrop of mountains at dusk, there is too much distance between the performers and the crowd and it saps the energy from the show. And regarding the show, in my opinion, they made the second biggest mistake a “come back tour” can make, which is to jam too much and take away our joy at hearing the songs as we love and remember them. There were jazz versions, ska versions, melodic versions, but in general, everything was slowed down to the point where people were in their seats during “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” “Roxanne,” and a bunch of other usually up-tempo tunes.
This was a “hey, look at us we’re back on stage” show. It was a variety show. It was not a kick-ass rock show by one of the best post-punk bands ever. Am I right to be disappointed? Each of The Police is, as am I, a different and much older person than we were in 1984 when they broke up. Should I just be happy to see them and hear who they’ve become? Am I wrong to hope for a trip back to junior high when theirs was the first cassette tape I ever bought, and first rock band T-shirt I ever owned? Or maybe my understanding of who and what they are and were is limited by the perceptions of a 11 year-old boy stretched by the passing of twenty years. I just know what I felt, and what I felt was a little disappointed, a little ripped off, and a little sad.
Foo Fighters opened the show and played a long greatest hits set, delivered energy, volume, and some outright fun as front-man Dave Grohl jumped off the stage and took a lap around Dodger stadium, continuing to play with the band all the while. He did that at Coachella the first time I ever saw them play, and both times left a deeper impression than anything I can remember about seeing The Cure or The Police.
KISS still rocks!
and U2 is still the best band ever!!!
yeah, if you like a side of politics with your rock and roll.
helping aids victims in africa is not so much a political issue than it is a “human issue”
yeah, he talks about that sometimes. i guess i was thinking of your other favorite band.
The Chicks? Oh yes……they sure know how to get everyone talkin’.
Dave Grohl = The Man. Period.
I was at the police show in $60 seats which probably had the same sound-value as being in the parking lot, but I enjoyed the show. It’s probably a case were my expectations where more on the mark. Except for the high noodling chick in front of me who wouldn’t sit down and seem to be climbinb some invisible ladder. She sucked.
Yeah, God forbid people use their amazing talent to, I don’t know, actually HELP PEOPLE! Damn you Bono! Take your AIDS ribbon and shove it down your potato shoot!
I have nothing against people using there talents to better the world. I encourage it in fact. However, if i pay 60 + bones to come see you sing, you better sing and not tell me about things i already know are troubling the world. Save your speeches for the MTV music awards when i’m watching it for free. P.S. The Dixie Chicks help no one. I have no problem with there views on the president and the war. Just don’t tell it to your bipartisan audience that paid good money to come hear you sing your songs. I’d like to see how they liked me coming to there house giving a 10 minute speech on my perspective of things. I’d do it for fee.
I hardly think the chicks have much of a bipartisan audience anymore.
And Natalie Maines is no Bono, there’s something moving and well thought out about U2 human rights activism. And Bono is (unfortunately in my book) pretty bipartisan these days as he had declined to criticize Bush over the past few years.