It’s hard to believe, but Justin turned one at the end of July. Amy and Joe had a cookout – birthday party at their house a couple of weeks back to celebrate the occasion. It was a perfect low-key affair with family and friends and of course lots of presents. Click on the above photo of the birthday boy to see the album from his party.
Just over a month ago Peter and Maria made it official and were married in Boston. It was a weekend celebration and I think anyone who was there would agree it was a fun time. The weekend started with their rehearsal dinner on Friday night at Maggiano’s . We feasted on family style Italian food and were entertained by James with help from Jen (Maria’s cousin) and Megan (a friend of Peter and Maria) who reenacted the milestones of Peter and Maria’s relationship. This was followed by a slide show that James and Chrissy put together of photos of Peter and Maria from their childhoods to the present. Then on Saturday we checked into our rooms at the Hotel Marlowe where we the reception was going to be held that night. The ceremony was that afternoon at a church in Medford, and then we returned to the Hotel Marlowe for the evening’s festivities. The hotel was great and the reception was a blast. In addition to the traditional eating, drinking, toasting and dancing we were treated to a couple more performances: Peter, James and their friend Bob performed the Apache (jump on it) dance of Youtube fame, which was quite entertaining and later James, dressed as MJ himself, performed a dance to Thriller that Peter, Maria and Maria’s mom joined in on. The retelling and the pictures really can’t do it justice. Needless to say we all had a great time. Sunday morning we had a yummy brunch at the hotel before saying our goodbyes and heading home. Congratulations to Peter and Maria!
Click on the photo above to see the album from the weekend.
Disclaimer: none of the photos are originally ours.
The Police has been my favorite band since I first heard them as a kid. I had all of their albums and knew all of their songs. Sadly, the band broke up before I was old enough to go to any of their concerts. Since then, there have been several attempts at reuniting, but they were all short-lived (one lasting less than an hour). It seemed that they couldn’t get past the constant animosity between Sting and Stewart Copeland and their overdeveloped egos. I knew that it was exceedingly unlikely that I would ever get to see them perform together.
Earlier this year, to my amazement, The Police announced that they would be reuniting for a 2007 concert tour, and my favorite wife surprised me with a pair of tickets to see them perform on the field at Fenway Park in Boston on Saturday, July 28th, rain or shine. Sah refused to tell me how much she paid for these unbelievable seats, so I’m not discounting the possibility that she secretly sold some of my stuff.
On the day of the concert the forecast was for intermittent but severe thunderstorms. At about 4PM the sky was dark and the rain was coming down in buckets. We knew our seats were on the field, and the tickets said rain or shine. At that point we figured we were going to get drenched, but were determined to enjoy the show. By the time we got to the park, the rain had stopped. Fortune smiled upon us because there was a beautiful sunset, a full moon, and clear skies for the rest of the night.
The opening act was an unknown band, called Fiction Plane. We noted how extraordinarily similar this band was to The Police. It was a trio led by a bassist who looked like Sting. They had a similar vibe with a basis in rock with punk and reggae undertones. They did lack a certain something that The Police clearly possessed… talent. We later found out the lead singer and bassist is Sting’s son.
Photo taken from someone in the stands. I added the arrow to our seats.
Then the real show began. Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland entered the stage. Sah and I made bets on which song they would open with. She predicted Every Breath You Take, which turned out to be the second-to-last song played, and my money was on either Message In A Bottle or Synchronicity II, which were the first and second songs played, respectively.
Having put to rest the question of who had the superior insight to the band, we were able to enjoy the concert fully. They played most of their popular singles (full set-list below in comments), but I was most pleased by the b-sides they played, like Truth Hits Everybody, Voices Inside My Head, and Reggatta De Blanc. In fact, my favorite performance of the night was a b-side: The Bed’s Too Big Without You. The polyrhythms on that song were so intense that you could feel waves of compression in your chest.
Sting has aged extraordinarily well. He’s vibrant on the stage. Sting is a capable bassist, but that is overshadowed by his talent as a singer. His voice is somewhat more refined and smoother now than it was 20 years ago. As a result, a few of the songs they played have been rearranged to reflect his current style. I imagine this was a bone of contention between bandmates leading up to this tour.
Andy Summers is ten years older than the other two, and he looks it. He has become a bit more jowly, and decidedly less bouncy on stage, yet he plays guitar as nimbly as ever. His solos on Don’t Stand So Close to Me and So Lonely were mesmerizing. One thing that seemed a little out of place was his guitar strap with pictures of Kenny from South Park. Is he trying to stay young, or did one of his kids give it to him?
Stewart Copeland has grayed, but he plays like he was 30. I think he’s the most technically skilled of the three, but because he’s a drummer, he doesn’t usually get the attention that that the front men receive. Fortunately, there were several songs that showcased his virtuosity. Wrapped Around Your Finger, and King of Pain had Stewart playing behind his normal drum kit amidst the largest array of percussion instruments I’ve ever seen. There was a glockenspiel, bells, chimes, and every kind of metal disk from a giant gong to tiny cymbals strung together like mussels. It was clear that he was working hard, and he was playing at the top of his game. Perhaps he was showing off to the audience as he bounded from one station to the next never missing a beat, but I suspect that it was just as much a bit of one-upmanship leveled at his band-mates. Either way, we’re glad he did.
This was, by far, and without a doubt, the best concert I’ve ever seen.
