The Brakes

The Police Reunited!

Did anyone see The Police rock the shit out of the grammy's the other night? Man, that was one of the best live performances I've seen in a long time, and it was refreshing to actually see a real band playing genuine music on what has become a caricature of an awards show. For me, it was the kind of humbling performance that makes you realize why you're actually playing music. To see Sting, Andy and Stewart vibing on stage like that after all these years was inspiring to say the least.

Here was a band that was on top of the world, and just called it quits. First of all, that's so ballsy, but the point is that to see them after all these years, gray and all, just killing it again like they never missed a step makes you wonder what it is that makes a band like that great?

Greatness can be fleeting. Some have it for a while and then lose it with age, some never attain it, and then there are some that just live it. And for me, The Police are in that last category and the grammy's performance is just proof.

By the way, did anyone notice how much the actually awards show sucked this year? Not that I have my hopes up...We were talking about this at the studio the other day, but has anyone noticed that all of the performances now are just like medley's of songs remixed to out do themselves? How many times have you seen the Britney, Aerosmith, Justin Timberlake, Earth Wind and Fire (although i love them) medley. It's like they think we forget we saw the same shit last year... Enough with the medley's...we need more real performances. We need something that you can wrap your head around and not just another ADD riddled barrage of over the top bullshit.

The Police's performance was real. They played "Roxanne" with conviction and swagger, even dubbing out the 2nd verse. You could see them playing off each other, and existing outside of the comfort zone. It was really refreshing. It is these types of performances that people should watch and say, "that's a great band!"

A couples days after seeing their performance, I was still thinking about it. What makes this band so good? By chance the other day, I was reading Jambase.com and saw this Stewart Copeland Interview...check it out for yourself.
Hey guess what, besides being a phenomenal drummer, he's also a cocky bastard. We all knew this, and maybe he reserves the right to be, but let's just say he's rather opinionated. You can almost feel the confidence in his drumming...the way he smacks the crap out of the snare, with such authority. It's a pleasure to watch, and probably hell to deal with. Maybe thats what makes him great? All i know is that I'm definitely going to make it out to one of their shows this summer.

THE POLICE 2007 TOUR DATES

05.28 | GM Place | Vancouver, BC
06.06 | Key Arena | Seattle, WA
06.09 | Pepsi Center | Denver, CO
06.15 | MGM Grand Garden | Las Vegas, NV
06.16 | Bonnaroo Festival | Manchester, TN
06.18 | US Airways Arena | Phoenix, AZ
06.26 | American Airlines Center | Dallas, TX
06.30 | New Orleans Arena | New Orleans, LA
07.02 | Scottrade Center | St. Louis, MO
07.22 | Air Canada Centre | Toronto, ON
07.25 | Bell Centre | Montreal, PQ
07.28 | Fenway Park | Boston, MA
08.01 | Madison Square Garden | New York, NY
08.03 | Madison Square Garden | New York, NY

Anyway, I'm done for now. We're off to NACA Nationals in Nashville, TN tomorrow and then back in the studio to finish tracking the record.

It's cold outside, so stay warm and listen to some good music. I recommend The Police: Live! - a 2 disc set.


Here, check out their Grammy Performance: