100 Concerts / Concert #2

Headline Act: The Police

Touring Album:Synchronicity

Opening Acts: Eric Burdon & The Animals, The Fixx

Date: October 28, 1983

Venue: The Orange Bowl, Miami, FL

Ticket price: $17.50

Bass Ticket Outlets and Fantasma Productions present...

The OB was the site of 5 Super Bowls (II, III, V, X, XIII)

Stadium shows are like the condoms of live music. They're awkward, they prevent the experience from going the way you'd like, and they give you the sense that you are witness to something being enjoyed by someone who is far away.

It was a Friday afternoon of my junior year of high school. My friends and I were determined to get to the Orange Bowl in Miami to see the The Police, with opening acts The Animals and The Fixx.

How do you get to and from a concert that's 30 miles away when you are in 15, in high school, don't have a driver's license and have no easy access to public transportation? Parents. Ick.

We wanted to be cool but we had to settle for being dropped off. My buddy Dan's mom gave us a lift to the old stadium, where I'd enjoyed numerous Miami Dolphins games. Now, the OB was hosting an intimate concert for 50,000.  I've seen several stadium shows since, this was the only one I saw at the Orange Bowl.

While U2 was making their name, 1983 was the year that The Police staked their claim as the biggest band in the world. By the early '80s, many big bands of the '70s (Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, and Pink Floyd) had burned out and faded away thanks to all those years of drugs, groupies, and the excesses of fame. But mostly drugs.

Police Academy, hold the Guttenberg.

The Police were the first "new wave" band of the late '70s / early '80s that had put together 5 excellent albums, while also evolving musically and gaining mainstream commercial success. They had gone from the punk-reggae hit "Roxanne" to the misunderstood radio smash "Every Breath You Take" which became one of the most popular wedding songs of all time despite being about stalking an ex-lover.

 "Synchronicity" knocked "Thriller" off the top of the album charts.

On top of their musical momentum,  lead singer
Sting looked like a movie star and was an instant MTV favorite with the girls. They had hit the big time, and were now filling football stadiums across the world.

Hey, this  tour was so big that VJ Martha Quinn was on hand to rev up the crowd, check out this MTV clip at 35:00 into the video.  I must confess I kinda had a thing for Martha.

The first opening band was Eric Burdon & The Animals, 20 years removed from their British Invasion success of the early '60s. With "House Of The Rising Sun", "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", "It's My Life" among their hits they seemed better suited for an oldies tour. While I was probably one of the few high school kids at the show who admired their catalog, I remember thinking they were old and really didn't belong at this show. I mean they were OLD! I was 15. In 1983, Eric Burdon was 42. Age is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. The Animals sounded fine, but when they came on stage around 5:30pm, the still-arriving crowd of teenagers weren't exactly captivated. They never had a chance to win over the fans, I felt bad for them.

Rare photo from Eric Burdon's Bar Mitzvah.

The second opening act was The Fixx.  They had made an MTV splash with some catchy songs and highly produced videos: "Stand Or Fall", "Red Skies", "One Thing Leads To Another", "Saved By Zero", etc.  In the U.S. they were destined to be a supporting act for other bands for many years, never making that jump into headline act.  The Fixx were the '80s version of Ned Beatty,  a talented character actor but not the leading man.

Squeal like a pig!

Always the bridesmaid, never the bridezilla.

I'd like to say I remember something about The Fixx's performance, but do you remember Ned Beatty's performance in "All The President's Men"? No, that movie had 2 movie stars, Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford.  Well, The Police were Robert Redford (except for "The Electric Horseman", I'm pretending that movie was never made).

When The Police finally took the stage that night, Sting did so not just as the lead singer and bass player of the most popular rock band in the world. He did so also as a sex symbol and bona fide "rock star", it was a stark contrast from the persona Bono presented at the U2 show, though he surely mutated into "rock star" in later years.

They were excellent performers, Stewart Copeland is one of my favorite drummers and he's an impressive player in concert.  Hit after hit had the crowd singing along and it was certainly an enjoyable show, though maybe not the most passionate performance.  They were world-famous, ultra-successful, filthy rich... and they couldn't stand each other.  A couple years later they split up while trying to record the follow-up to "Synchronicity".  Sting's inevitable solo career and their personality differences kept The Police apart for 20 years until they realized how much money they could make with 2007 ticket prices! I also saw them on their reunion tour, but you will have to wait for that one, my friends.

The sleeveless concert T-shirt, another '80s artifact.

Aside from the music, I remember clearly that my buddy Dan met a girl - Sheri (or Shari or Sherry or Sherri or however the hell she spelled it). Can we establish a standard way of spelling certain names? Is it Kathy or Cathy or Kathie? It should be Jeffrey not Geoffrey! Jonn should never have 2 n's. Also, can we vote on certain names being male or female - but never both.  Terry, Dana, Fran, Kyle, Lee, Tracy, and Pat (it's time for androgyny!) etc., these names to get cleared up.  Thank you.

RIP Orange Bowl, now the site of the new Marlins ballpark.

Anyway,  Dan met a girl. At  the concert. So, wait a second, let me get this straight. Not only can you see great musicians perform at a show, you can also meet girls? And they may want to date you? Hey, this concert thing might be cool.  So Dan met a girl whose name started with an S and rhymed with berry.  She lived in Miami, kinda far away from our neighborhood. But Dan was way ahead of our group of friends when it came to charming women and getting his "fun-stuff touched" (as they said on "That '70s Show").  She was a short-term on-and-off girlfriend of Dan's, not a major relationship but to me that wasn't the point. The possibilities of what could happen at a concert suddenly changed.

After the show, our group of friends took a cab, we crammed into a station-wagon taxi and managed to get 20 miles north, to the HoJo's at the Golden Glades exchange. Being the big cool guys we were, we had to call my dad, Al, to come pick us up and shlep everyone home.  Being a teenager and getting picked up by your father after a concert doesn't make you feel like a man, but I learned that night, just get to the show and the rest will take care of itself. 

Sting, the movie star in "Dune" (1984).

It worked out that night for Dan, he was about to have a girlfriend for the next several months.  Just get to the show, by any means necessary.

Here is the unofficial setlist: (Set 1) Voices Inside My Head, Synchronicity I, Synchronicity II, Walking In Your Footsteps, Message In A Bottle, Walking On The Moon, Oh My God, De Do Do Do De Da Da Da, Wrapped Around Your Finger, Tea In The Sahara (Set 2) One World (Not Three), King Of Pain, Don't Stand So Close To Me, Murder By Numbers, Every Breath You Take, Roxanne, (Encores) Can't Stand Losing You > Reggatta De Blanc > Can't Stand Losing You, So Lonely