Crime was afoot last night on the north stage of the Virgin Festival last night, as the Police recklessly endangered a couple of dozen or so of their time-honored classics.
Superb musicianship was on display by guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland, but bandmate Sting fared poorly in comparison as bassist and supposed creative leader, most notably botching the ending of fan favorite "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da"
Sting managed to put on a commendable singing effort though-- largely in part due to the scaled-down vocal arrangements, made (no doubt) to accommodate his aging voice. It also seems that many other accommodations were made in the staging of the show itself-- there were no backdrops or on-stage video work, no backup singers, no supplemental musicians, nor was there anything but the most basic of lighting-- which almost could have been a summer project for one of the Copeland kids ("Invisible Sun? Let's use yellow lights! Roxanne? Turn on some red lights! Oh boy!).In general, the show was a workman-like, stripped down retrospective of all their hits, with Summers and Copeland each provided ample opportunities to show off their skills. Coming after the Beastie Boys, the need for more energy was fairly obvious-- and they probably should have cut short several of the extended versions of their hits (which also tended to drag things a bit). Standouts: Synchronicity II, Can't Stand Losing You, So Lonely.
Overall grade: 2 1/2 D's
Other acts from Saturday's Virgin Fest:
Amy Winehouse: 4 1/2/ D's
Incubus: 4 1/2 D's
Peter Bjorn and John: 3 1/2 D's
LCD Soundsystem: 2 1/2 D's
TV on the Radio: 1 D
Cheap Trick: 1/2 D
Here, the Daily Dude unexpectedly stumbles upon some bush.
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