Police Ready to Strip Down

05/31/2007 8:10 AM, E! Online


Sting always wanted his MTV. Now the feeling's been reciprocated.

Three days after kicking off a 30th anniversary reunion tour, the Police have agreed to perform an Unplugged concert on the cable network.

While Sting did Unplugged as a solo artist in 1991, the upcoming special will mark the band's acoustic television debut. MTV didn't launch its signature stripped-down showcase until 1989, five years after the Police broke up following the conclusion of the Synchronicity tour.

According to foxnews.com, the intimate set will take place July 13 at a still to be named venue in Miami.

In the meantime, the AARP-eligible trio—Sting, 55, drummer Stewart Copeland, 54, and guitarist Andy Summers, 64—is proving that they still have it. The band launched its 100-date reunion jaunt Monday at Vancouver's GM Place before a sold-out crowd of 20,000, which included such celebrities as Penélope Cruz, Laurence Fishburne and Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder.

"This is our first official concert in 25 years," exclaimed Sting, sporting a punk hairdo straight out of the Police's glory days.

They opened the show with "Message in a Bottle" and ran through a two-hour-plus set of greatest hits, from "Roxanne," "Every Breath You Take" and "Synchronicity" to "King of Pain," "When the World Is Running Down" and "Spirits in the Material World."

During the four months of rehearsals in the Canadian city, the Police retooled several of their classics, giving new arrangements to the likes of "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic" and "Wrapped Around Your Finger."

And reviewers have been nearly unanimous in their praise:

  • "The night was filled with heady nostalgia and the infectious enthusiasm of three 50-plus men who seemed so deliriously happy to be back in the limelight that it was easy to forget about their age."—Vancouver Sun.   • "Though not flawless, the Police's two-hour return to the arena stage amply demonstrated what made the band such a force in pop two decades ago. It's something surprisingly rare in hugely successful bands: risk-taking interplay that stresses the subtleties in songs as well as the hooks, among players different enough to spar but smart enough to prioritize the groove."—Los Angeles Times   • "The audience at General Motors Place—including the young and old, though mostly fans in their 30s and 40s—knew the words to every song, making the two-hour concert akin to a soccer-style chorus, beginning with the opener 'Message in a Bottle.' " —Bloomberg.   •  "Some fans were in for a nostalgic night of worshipping a band that has made several trips to Vancouver while others, who weren't even born when the group split up in 1984, were out for a memorable night with a group whose music has never gone out of style."—Canadian Press

Fiction Plane, the band headed by Sting's son, singer-bassist Joe Sumner, opened for the Police. Other opening acts on the tour will include the Foo Fighters, Maroon 5 and the Fratellis. Next up is a stop in Edmonton on Saturday.

As for MTV's reinvigorated Unplugged specials, other acts scheduled to appear on the new season include Bon Jovi, Mary J. Blige, John Mayer and Kenny Chesney.  In a new twist, some of the performances will air on MTV's sibling cable channels, VH1 and CMT, all of which are owned by Viacom. For instance, Bon Jovi will air on all three nets June 19-22 with the band's set  "tailored" for each specific audience.

No word yet on when the Police segment will air.