Sting Prepares To Take Police On A Jazz Odyssey

Brian Raftery | February 19, 2007 1:36 am
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Before you shell out a few hundred bucks this week for the Police reunion, take warning: Sting is still as prickly as ever, and while we don’t expect widespread luting*, it seems like the band could implode even sooner than we predicted. First, there was the weekend’s New York Times piece on the tour rehearsals, in which everyone politely hints that, indeed, they really don’t like each other too much. And then there was yesterday’s troubling Page Six item:

One music-industry heavyweight tells Page Six: “Sting worked on Stewart and Andy for six months trying to get them to agree to tour. They didn’t really want to at first. It’s not like they need the money. They’re set for life off of the royalties alone…

But Copeland and Summers apparently didn’t realize what they had signed on for. “Andy and Stew thought they would just do the old rock version of ‘Roxanne,’ ” our insider said, “but when they showed up for sound check, Sting had created this weird, jazz-blues version of the song, and they kind of freaked out.”

Sting insisted that his version was better and sang the unexpected rendition of the 1978 hit at the Grammys – to almost everyone’s dismay.

Indeed, according to an intra-band memo that’s been floating around, Sting has all kind of interesting ideas for the new tour, including a ska-punk take on “Walking On The Moon,” a new song called “Synchronicity III: Season Of The Witch,” and a performance of “Behind My Camel” featuring actual camels.

They Can Play. Can They Play Nice? [NYTimes.com] Police Reunion Sting’s Thing [NYPost.com]

* And with that, we forever retire our lute jokes.

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