Rolling Stone Takes A Look At The Police's Fragile Truce

[DudeAsInCool]

The music is lean and gleaming, an instantly familiar fury of hyper-reggae drive and hit-record choruses. The Police are rehearsing for their first tour in twenty-three years in a gymnasium in Vancouver. Opening night is a week away, in a local arena. But the Police sound better than ready, tight and implausibly fresh - as long as they keep playing. The first two numbers, "Message in a Bottle" and "Synchronicity II," go by in perfect blurs. "Spirits in the Material World" does not. Sting, sitting on a wooden stool as he sings and plays bass, abruptly cuts the song in midchorus. "Is there another way to play that chord?" he says, looking across the stage at guitarist Andy Summers, who calmly asks why. "There's a fluff in there, to be honest," Sting replies bluntly. Then he turns to drummer Stewart Copeland. "Is that the right tempo?" Sting asks, adding with polite authority, "Let's try it again."

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