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De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da indeed. That song is still rattling around my brain today, the day after the Police played a sold-out concert in Toronto. They played the first of a two-night, sold-out tour stop at the Air Canada Centre, playing for a solid hour and three-quarters.

The set list was slightly modified and a bit shorter than they were previously playing in other tour stops, but the set was a tight, fairly jam-free show. Early complaints from the tour were that they were "messing around" with their singles a bit too much, so that they weren't recognizable. Aside from a slightly meandering jam-session in the middle of Roxanne, the boys stayed with what made the songs hits in the first place.

They played all of their recognized hit singles, starting off the show with my personal favourite, Message in a Bottle. They rattled through 19 songs, which is pretty impressive for any rock band, much less one whose members are 50+. The crowd got into the act as well, helping along with most of the songs, and then impressing Sting with our vocal stylings on Walking on the Moon and Roxanne.

Andy Summers and Sting walked and hopped around the front of the stage like they did back in the day, with the two of them going for a little walk-around near the beginning of the show to say hello to the crowd seated behind the stage. Stewart Copeland meanwhile, banged on his drum kit like there was no tomorrow, and showered the crowd with about a dozen broken drumsticks throughout the show. The highlight of the percussion display he put on was during the very funky rendition of Wrapped Around Your Finger which had Stewart banging on pieces of metal and two kettle drums in a secondary percussion kit behind his standard one. That was fun to see, as he jumped around and back and forth.

We missed the opening act, Fiction Plane, on purpose, as we didn't really want to hear the new rock band fronted by Sting's son, Joe Sumner (remember that Sting's real name is Gordon Sumner.) We were somewhat disappointed that we didn't get to see a good Canadian band like Sloan open for them, but there's not much to be done about that.

The set list for the show was:

Message in a Bottle
Synchronicity II
Walking on the Moon
Voices Inside My Head/When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around
Don't Stand So Close to Me
Driven to Tears
Truth Hits Everybody
The Bed's Too Big Without You
Every Little Thing She Does is Magic
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking in Your Footsteps
Can't Stand Losing You
Roxanne

ENCORE:
King of Pain
So Lonely
Every Breath You Take

SECOND ENCORE:
Next to You

They will be returning to Toronto November 8th, and if there are still tickets available, I may just purchase some one to see them again. If they're coming to a city near you, I highly recommend them. You won't be disappointed, even if you last saw them in 1981.

Learn more about this author, Julia Borgini.
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