The Police: Atlanta, Georgia

Somehow I was lucky enough to see the Police last night in Atlanta, Georgia. After several failed attempts (sold-out Bonnaroo tickets, three lost contests, and insufficient funds from my part time retail job), I was given a ticket to see one of my favorite bands on the last leg of their tour. The Police are composed of Sting (lead vocals and bass), Andy Summers (guitar and backup vocals), and Stewart Copeland (drums).



Aside from some cheesy graphics and being twenty years younger than most of the people in the crowd, the show was amazing. The Police were definitely there to please the crowd; the band played a compilation of their greatest hits, and Sting encouraged everyone to sing along. All the songs were played slightly differently than the originals. A lot of songs combined the classic Police catalog with a jazzier sound, especially in the area of percussion.



The Set List:
Message in a Bottle: The perfect opening song.
Synchronicity II: During this song, the screens (pictured above) flashed graphics from the Synchronicity album cover combined with live footage of the concert. Brushstrokes of red, blue, and yellow swept over the screens, coordinating with the movements of the three band members. These graphics were ultimately the most impressive special effects used in the show.
Walking On The Moon
Voices Inside My Head
When The World Is Running Down
Don't Stand So Close To Me: Very much a jam-version of the original song from the album Zenyattà Mondatta.
Driven To Tears
Truth Hits Everybody
Hole In My Life
Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic: One of my favorite Police songs. An absolutely amazing experience to hear it live.
Wrapped Around Your Finger
De Do Do Do De Da Da Da
Invisible Sun
Walking In Your Footsteps: For me, one of the worst parts of the show. The screens slowly revealed a walking brontosaurus skeleton: beginning with the bony foot of the dinosaur and eventually panning out into the full form of the creature walking across the three screens. I understand that the song is about dinosaurs, but this display was bizarre at best; it just didn’t fit with the rest of the show.
Can't Stand Losing You
Roxanne: Definitely not one of my favorite songs, but still good. The last song played before the encore. The song was accented by the appropriate red lighting (pictured in the second picture above). This song ended the first set.
King Of Pain: One of their absolute best songs. “King of Pain” began the four-song encore performance.
So Lonely: Including Sting’s somewhat condescending rendition of the lyrics: “Welcome to the Andy Summers/Stewart Copeland show.”
Every Breath You Take: It was amazing to see the mood of the show melt into a sappy, middle-aged love fest. Couples began to gaze into one another's eyes, lip-synching the lyrics to their partners, which is honestly a little creepy when you actually think about the lyrics of the song: "Oh, can't you see you belong to me...Every move you make, every step you take, I'll be watching you." Atleast there was no confusion as to who originally performed the song, thought by many (especially members of my generation) to be Puff Daddy with his rendition, "I'll Be Missing You."
Next To You

Sting has aged well. He seemed to genuinely enjoy performing. He used a brown sunburst bass with thick scratches along the base of the guitar. It looked like it was the same instrument Sting used when the band was still together in 1986 (a year before I was born).

Stewart Copeland still has an ego; he wants so desperately to be a rock star. Every time he played the larger percussion instruments outside his drum kit, he threw the bell mallets to the side of the stage instead of just sitting them down and reusing them. It was a little ridiculous and wasteful, but I suppose that in Andy Summer’s mind destroying instruments (well, tools used to play instruments) was the ultimate display of being a rock star (which doesn’t exactly align with the band’s promotion of going green…).

I felt a little bad for Andy Summers…he aged the most of the three members. At points I thought he was going to fall off the stage…he just seemed so old compared to Sting and Stewart Copeland. He used a red Fender Stratocaster with a white pick guard: the same guitar that chain music stores sell in starter packs for beginning guitar players. My brother has a black one at home. I was slightly bothered by this; the band can definitely afford to have better instruments (after all, Stewart Copeland had about 15 different drums), so why don’t they invest in some Gibson guitars?

I do realize that I have an unusual, obsessive love for the Police and that most people do not share in this worship. I think the Police are completely underappreciated lyrically and musically. The concert was an amazing experience and definitely worth the price of the tickets. The tour merchandise is overpriced though: $40 for a t-shirt is a little exploitative of the dedicated fans that have already spent $100+ on concert tickets.

This YouTube video is a recording of a part of “Roxanne” played during the Atlanta show:


More information:
The Police on MySpace
Sting's website
Wikipedia
The Police Official Store

The Darjeeling Limited

The hipster highlight of the year: the opening of Wes Anderson's new film, The Darjeeling Limited. Anderson, the king of quirky comedy, creates the story of three brothers attempting to regain relationships while traveling through India on a train called the Darjeeling Limited. The film follows a typical journey/quest motif with ups and downs and minor characters who show up to either help or hurt the brothers. Owen Wilson stars as the eager Frances, who recently had a spiritual awakening due to a severe automobile accident. He lures his two younger brothers, Adrian Brody as Peter, and Jason Schwartzman (who also helped write the film) as Jack, to India, where they take a ride on the illustrious Darjeeling Limited: destination known only by Francis.


Wes Anderson

The Darjeeling Limited opens with a short film, Hotel Chevalier, a prequel centered on Jack (Jason Schwartzman) and his relationship with his nameless ex-girlfriend, played by Natalie Portman. Jack is living in a French l’hotel, filling up on room service and spending an obscene amount of money. He has escaped his dysfunctional family for now, but his unfaithful ex-girlfriend somehow finds him at his Parisian location. The couple end up being involved in an unspecified sexual act with Peter Sarstedt’s “Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)” playing from Jack’s iHome (a guy behind me in the theater exclaimed, “That’s a first-generation iPod! That’s so cool!” He does know that those came out only about 5 years ago, right? I guess first-gen iPods are the new vinyl). Caution for the easily offended: this short film does contain nudity, language that might be offensive to some, and the implications of domestic abuse.


The Darjeeling Limited was a beautiful film. What impressed me most about Anderson’s film was the use of color. The sets were breathtaking: the Indian towns sparkled with vivacious open markets and ornate Hindu temples. Even the train combined bright turquoise with gold and coppery reds. Jack’s mustard yellow robe remerged in several scenes, including another glimpse of Natalie Portman near the end of the film. Bill Murray, another Anderson staple, also cameos in a few scenes.

One of my favorite aspects of the film was the intriguing set of caramel-colored, various-sized luggage (first introduced in Hotel Chevalier), each piece numbered and embossed with an animal print. With more research, I discovered that designer Marc Jacobs (known for his kitsch, quirk, and use of white space in ads…quite possibly the incarnation of Wes Anderson if he were a fashion designer…) worked with luxurious leather designers at Louis Vuitton to create this one-of-a-kind luggage exclusively for the film. The luggage set belonged to the father of the three brothers, and now they carry all eight pieces with them on their journey. The luggage represents their only aspect of family (their mother is avoidant, at best), and soon they realize that some things, like real relationships, are more important than suitcases and broken-down Porsches.



I loved how in-character Wilson and Brody were in the film. Schwartzman, on the other hand, became less believable as baby brother Jack. I think that Schwartzman begins every film as an endearing nerd of some sorts but ultimately falls prey to the over-the-top quirkiness he is determined to exude. To me, his lines were forced and unnatural, while Wilson and Brody transformed into the older brothers.

I also loved the debut of Amara Karan as the stewardess Rita, who engages in a sexual encounter with Jack despite his emotional baggage (Anderson loves those metaphors) and her boyfriend, the captain of the train. She had an elegant presence among the men on the train, and Frances calling her “Sweet Lime” (the train’s liquid refreshment) was perfect.

Anjelica Huston also stars as the boys’ unreliable mother who does not attend their father’s funeral and races off to a tiny, tiger-ridden town in the Himalayan mountains.

I highly recommend this movie, especially to offbeat college students and twenty-somethings. It was definitely worth the trek to the Bijou (possibly the slowest theater in existence), and I hope to see it again.

Contains some sexual scenes, a comical representation of minor prescription drug use, and strong language.

More information:
IMDB
Wikipedia
The Darjeeling Limited Official Website