25 years ago today. I didn’t get to go.
Here’s the Times from August 20, 1983…Link
”We’d like to thank the Beatles for lending us their stadium,” said Sting, the bassist and singer of the Police, near the end of the trio’s concert at Shea Stadium. The group topped the Shea Stadium attendance figures for the Beatles and everyone else on Thursday night because a way was found to pack in 70,000 people for a sold-out performance.
I find this next paragraph funny in light of the recent reunion. They did manage to reproduce the records this time around, Stewart Copeland did amazing work on a few songs.
What makes the Police stand out among performing bands is that it never bothers to imitate its records. The trio couldn’t if it tried, since band members overdub extra instruments in the recording studio. So it goes to the other extreme, revamping every song in a gleeful whirl of improvisation. The Police is one of the few rock bands – along with the Rolling Stones, the Talking Heads and the Grateful Dead – that is willing to shake up its arrangements nightly.
I still hope McCartney asks to play there so I don’t have to hear about Billy Joel ever again.
