On Saturday, November 17th, the newly reunited Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland, made their way back to Atlanta for the first time in 21 years, the last time being at the Omni in 1986. Philips Arena was an obvious choice for the size of the crowd that would come; after all, The Police are not only newly reunited, but the band is made up of all original members (unless you count the short amount of time that Henry Padovani preceded Summers). Even though they have aged, they still have the raw energy that has always fueled their live shows.

The CNN Center connected to Philips Arena was packed by 5:30 p.m., and the restaurants at the food court must have been happy for the amount of business. At 5:45 there was a line forming outside the entrance to Philips, and I was one of the first in the arena -which I was glad about because merchandise stands become a human corral after ten minutes. There were people constantly flowing in through every entrance for the sold out show.

Fast forward to 7:30 p.m. Sting's son, Joe Sumner, and his band opened the show. Fiction Plane, whose letters can interestingly enough be rearranged to form "Infant Police", was far from The Police musically. They played a modern alternative set list of their own compositions. Some enjoyed this music, others just got anxious for The Police. I was one of latter.

It seemed that after Fiction Plane's set -which was all right, don't get me wrong - there were endless music videos and advertisements. Every once in a while a picture of the trio would briefly pop up on the big screen, but that would only be followed by more music.

Then, around 8:30, the arena went black and the crowd went nuts! Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up" played over the speakers, an obvious choice to get everyone pumped up for the heavy reggae influence in the music of Sting, Andy, and Stewart. The crowd was on its feet, some dancing, and all waiting anxiously until the music suddenly stopped, the band took the stage, and the lights came on. The instantly recognizable "Message in a Bottle" blared through the speakers, and was almost drowned out by the roar of the crowd. The band played it very close to the original version, which was the best way they could do it. I mention this due to the fact that they have altered most of their songs in one way or another, mostly for the better.

As soon as they finished "Message in a Bottle", Andy played some chords that were slightly familiar. Then the whole band kicked in, creating the musical explosion that starts "Synchronicity II", one of the masterpieces from their most well received album, Synchronicity. There was not a dull moment in the song, which was accompanied by paint-like slashes of red, blue, and yellow over the big screen video of the band playing. This second song was one of the three best of the night.

Sting talked briefly, introducing the three, and describing how long it had been since the last time the band was in Atlanta. Then they went into "Walking On The Moon", the famous love song that a drunken Sting wrote in a hotel room singing it as "...walking around the room...". "Voices Inside my Head" was played next, in all of its droning glory. Although repetitive, it is never boring. Directly following that was a song they used to close a lot of their shows with: "When the World is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around".

"When the World" was followed by another brief talk from Sting. When he mentioned the fact that he used to be a teacher, you could pretty much guess the next song. "Don't Stand So Close To Me" filled the air in its original form, thankfully, because "Don't Stand So Close To Me '86" was, well ...how should I put this...kind of bad. This version, however, sported a poppier chorus that suited the mood well. After this, they played the song that Sting wrote about atrocities in many parts of the world. "Driven To Tears" criticized these atrocities, especially how many times we just film them and do write-ups in magazines about them, instead of helping out more, and the song is just as relevant as it was in 1980. Andy's famous guitar solo in this song was finally lengthened, to everyone's pleasure, since Sting has grown out of his "keep the solos short" phase.

Two of their signature reggae-filled tunes were played next. First was "Hole in my Life" which was preceded by a repeat-after-me "Yeah! Yeah!" segment. The song was slowed down a bit, but still filled with spirit, and it was followed by "Truth Hits Everybody". This was one of the more heavily altered songs. It was slowed down and injected with a bit more reggae, and the heavy chorus was substituted with a mellow one.

Due to the fact that The Police didn't want the extravagance of a piano player in the background, or back up singers like in the Synchronicity tour (ugh), the next song was also modified with the piano passage adapted to guitar. It was still the same eccentric love song that is "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic". This tune made those who were bored from a mellower "Truth Hits Everybody" stand back up again and even dance, but I honestly don't know how you could get bored at all.

Following this crowd pleaser, Stewart got up from behind the drum kit, and displayed his finesse at other percussion instruments as the band played "Wrapped Around your Finger". The new version is mellower, like "Truth Hits Everybody", but it's jammed out to be longer, and I thought better. Also, Stewart's percussion complemented the song rather well.

The 'articulate song about being inarticulate', "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" burst through the speakers in all of its energetic glory next. This was one song not modified and not aged at all. If you closed your eyes, you could imagine a young Sting, Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland playing this on their "Zenyattá Mondatta Tour". The song is frequently criticized for its chorus, but the people that do this obviously haven't listened to the other lyrics. The chorus is simple and silly for a reason.

"Invisible Sun", a more complicated social criticism, followed and it was complemented with a stunning slideshow on the big screen. It featured children in other parts of the world, their faces filled with dirt and their clothes torn, but a lot of them still smiled with hope. The invisible sun symbolizes this hope. Then once again, Copeland manned the gong and other percussion instruments for that classic dinosaur song "Walking in your Footsteps".

At the end of this song, the second of the three best songs of the night blared through the speakers into our ears. "Can't Stand Losing You", the second single released from their first album, Outlandos d'Amour, was as amazing as ever. It's funny that this song and "Roxanne" became extremely famous even though they were originally banned by the BBC. As usual, during "Can't Stand Losing You" they included their signature jam during the song dubbed "Regatta De Blanc". This was probably the best part of the song, as they really brought it on home, getting the whole crowd to sing Sting's famous exclamations.

After "Regatta De Blanc", the band went backstage. The stage remained dark and the screens were filled with a great animation featuring the digital versions of their faces found on the cover of Ghost In The Machine. Everyone figured The Police would come back out as strong as ever. They did, and played their most famous song, the love song dedicated to a prostitute: "Roxanne". It was even accompanied by all the lights surrounding the band turning to red. Finally, what I feel was the final of the three best songs of the night, "King of Pain", graced us with its presence. It was another unaltered song that brought some people back, and brought a feeling of joy to the people who were unluckily born in the wrong era. Andy's guitar solo was as beautiful as ever, and really brought the rest of the song to another level.

"So Lonely" followed, and it really symbolized the band coming back together again. For some reason they all just really seemed to connect during this song, maybe they were thinking about how crazy it was that they were together again and on tour in 2007. Another hint at how they had grown back together was when Sting replaced the lyric "one man show" with "Andy Summers show" first, then "Stewart Copeland show" second, considering that a factor in their "break-up" was Sting's slight ego.

Then Andy started the ear-pleasing guitar intro to a song about stalking, frequently mistaken as a love song: "Every Breath You Take" – their second most famous song. They ran through a beautiful rendition, and the crowd helped to sing along. Its peak was just as energetic as that of the studio version, and they extended the end to please everyone. Following the ballad, Sting and Stewart retired backstage. Andy was alone on the stage, encouraging cheers, goofing off, and showing some energy for the first time of the night. He generally was the stiffest compared to the still-young-looking Sting, and the energetic Stewart with his unusually full head of gray hair. Summers started motioning the other guys back out, and then started the opening riff to the energetic opener to their first album Outlandos d'Amour: "Next To You". The rest of the band took the stage and went through a roaring rendition. During the "All I want is to be next to you" part, the screens would show a fast paced montage of past pictures of the trio. This really excited the audience, and the whole production was an appropriate ending for the entire show.

Sting gave one last 'good night' and the boys went backstage again as the crowd went wild. One by one we shuffled out, wanting more, and wishing we could come back the next night as fans would fill the theatre, once again, to see the band that taught us about Nabokov and Scylla and Charybdis.

Brought to you by: