Old fart alert: Yes, I bought the Police’s first album, Outlandos D’Amour, when I was a teenager (a too-young-to-drive one, at that). On a format that involved dragging a diamond needle over grooves on a spinning vinyl surface.
(For those of you are thinking, “Oh c’mon, record players aren’t that ancient!”, here’s something that will shock you. Natalie Portman had to be shown how to operate a record player for a scene in the movie Garden State; she’s from that generation that’s only operated CD players or newer devices.)
Even better, I saw them perform near the peak of their popularity in 1983 (when the album Synchronicity came out) at the Police Picnic, a Lollapalooza-like all-day concert series. The Toronto show, held at the no-longer-standing CNE Grandstand, featured:
- Canadian new wave act Blue Peter
- King Sunny Ade and His African Beat
- The Fixx
- Peter Tosh
- James Brown
- and as the closing act, The Police
Last night, the Police gave the Grammy Awards audience a taste of some of their live performance skills, which are still pretty sharp after all these years. Here’s their performance of their first hit single, Roxanne, which someone captured and kindly uploaded to YouTube:
5 replies on “The Police, Live at the Grammy Awards”
Natalie Portman’s too young to know how to use a record player? Yeesh.
I was born in 1980, and I definitely used a record player for the first decade of my life. Sheesh… kids these days.
Natalie Portman was born in 1981. She’s not *that* young. Methinks she just had either a more privileged childhood (ie never had to resort to the lowly medium of vinyl) or a childhood where one doesn’t get their own music. I would guess the former.
oooo…i was at the police picnic too! we are old, joe. old.
I think I still have the edge on you in old fart-dom, Joey. (Warning – gratuitous “hipper-than-thou-or-at-least-older” comment coming up).
I’m old enough to have caught The Police on their first tour of the UK in May 1978. Hell of a line up – The Police headlined, with support from both The B-52s and The Cramps!
They played Birmingham’s tiny, grotty, but utterly perfect Digbeth Civic Hall to an audience of about 200 people. One of the few gigs from that period I can still remember very clearly.
Alas, I wasn’t fast enough to score tickets for the ACC dates on this reunion tour – I may have to resort to eBay.
The Police Picnic was probably one of the most memorable concerts I have ever had the good fortune to attend! I was freakin’ awesome!