The Police
Live @ Stadio delle Alpi - Torino 02.10.07

92 Euros, ticket bought online in May, seat in the side stand. Terrible acoustics, due to the tin roof two meters overhead. Well, let's begin.

Sting: amazing, in splendid form with his vintage Fender Precision Bass chipped, sings and plays like a god and it's his birthday too. He's used to playing with Vinnie Colaiuta and Omar Hakim, so every now and then he stands in front of Copeland's drums and looks at him as if to ask "Is it possible you still haven't learned to play the drums?" But we have to get through the night, so, as a seasoned professional, he continues his work. He ate the gianduiotti, he doesn't miss his private jet, so it's okay.

Copeland: the man who forever changed the way of playing the drums, the Stanley Kubrick of the drum set. The timing fluctuations that have always plagued his performances still haven't abandoned him, but he remains nonetheless a mythological figure to whom everything is forgiven. Or almost everything. In "King of Pain", he jumps onto the drum stool a couple of measures late. Sting's lip movements on that occasion seemed to say "What-the-hell-are-you-doing" or even "machecazzocombini". Amusing.

Summers: deforming arthritis prevents him from correctly hitting the difficult riff positions of "Every Breath You Take" and company. He laboriously does his homework, once in a while Sting approaches him trying to "get him excited" without succeeding in waking him from his torpor. In some songs, he uses a guitar synth with which he reproduces a saxophone sound or something similar (I hate real sax, let alone fake one), playing it with six-stringed mega-strums. Sting, you who should know, please explain to him that the saxophone is a monophonic instrument. Amateur stuff, but since he's one of the greatest guitarists in history, maybe it's an "artistic" choice.

This concert was unmissable, as the organizers well know selling the tickets for 100 euros. I love the Police and their immortal songs, but I preferred to remember them "alive". In any case, the 80,000 present were satisfied (except me), so after all, it was a great success. I only regret not being able to hear them in 1980, when perhaps I would have been able to appreciate them more, with the candor of my 12 years.

Personal opinion, of course. Be kind.