Edition Description
- Color
- Originally in English
- Released in English
Editorial Notes
Certifiable, the title of the 2008 DVD set by the Police (available
upon release exclusively through the Best Buy chain of electronics
stores), echoes the Eagles' Hell Freezes Over, another reunion
concert sold in video and audio formats. Just as the Eagles' Don
Henley once said his band would not re-form "until Hell freezes
over," the Police's Sting is quoted at the outset of the video as
saying that he would have to be certified insane to join a Police
reunion. Yet he did, for reasons never quite spelled out. (In the
51-minute tour documentary "Better Than Therapy" included as the
second DVD in the package, he says he likes to be unpredictable,
after bandmate Stewart Copeland has said the reunion was a
"no-brainer" for him but wondered himself why Sting was
interested.) The result was a world tour, and the December 1 &
2, 2007, dates at a giant stadium in Buenos Aires, Argentina,
provide the footage for the 19-song, 109-minute show that takes up
the first of DVD here. (The concert is repeated on two CDs -- or
three LPs with a one-time digital download -- also included, such
that the set, initially retailing for about $20, contains more than
four and a half hours of audio and video content.) That show finds
the three members of the Police, after 23 years apart (not counting
a couple of one-off special appearances), looking not too much the
worse for wear and doing pretty much exactly what they were doing
when they broke up at their popular peak in 1984. The set list
consists entirely of old Police favorites, rendered in the familiar
arrangements, with only a few moments of improvisation here and
there. Despite the awesome setting before a gigantic crowd, with
gigantic video screens behind them, the Police remain just those
three men, holding the stage largely through their music. Sting
appears not to change bass guitars for the entire show, sticking
with a worn-looking instrument; Andy Summers doesn't seem to use
more than a couple of guitars, also looking much-used; and
Copeland, although he takes a couple of trips up into a percussion
setup, mostly stays on his drum chair turning out the music's
propulsive rhythms. This is a no-nonsense account of the musical
highlights of the Police's career, and even though the scale is
enormous, the show is a surprisingly no-frills affair, and all the
better for that. ~ William Ruhlmann
Video Release: November 11, 2008
Studio: Universal Music & Video Distribution
UPC: 602517830462