The Police
"Something Nights; The Legendary Police In St. Louis 2007"
2007.07.02 (Tuesday @ 7:30pm).
The Center - St. Louis, MO.
Taper: Rob Greenfield (Robducati).
Taper Assistant & Security/Idiot Blocker: Patrick McCarty (Plasticmanpat).
Recording Equipment: Sound Professionals CMC-8 Cardioid mics (Audio Technica w/no SPL mods, croakie mount) > Sound Professionals 12v line in battery box (made for Edirol) > Edirol R-09 via line in jack (44.1 khz 16 bit Stereo PCM WAV on Sandisk Ultra2 4gb SD card).
Transfer/Editing of WAV file: Edirol R-09 (using AC power adapter) > USB via Firewire > PC > Cool Edit Pro 2 (repair clip on first song, normalize - .01 db, split d1 & d2, all fades in/out) > CD WAVE (track splits on sector boundaries) > Traders Little Helper (encoded @ level 8) > bit torrent on TTD.
Recorded from section 116, Row C, Seat 2 (three rows from the floor, stage right).
Arrived in St. Louis from Evansville, Indiana @ 3:30 pm via I-64.
We went to the Hard Rock Cafe in Union Station before the show and they had the outside area reserved for the European Police Fan Club. We waited around as long as we could to try to meet up with them, but had to leave before they arrived because we wanted to get to the venue early in case I got busted with my crotched equipment. We were staying at a hotel about two blocks West from the venue.
If any of the European Police Fan Club reads this, I would sure like to get a couple of those Ghost In The Machine buttons that were on the gift bags at your Hard Rock tables!
We met up with our plant manager Tim S. and his family inside the venue (Patrick and I work at the same factory in Indiana). I purchased a Police Tour Date shirt (the green one) for my teenage son, and a Synchronicity (white) shirt for my little girl. Sixty dollars for both shirts. I also purchased one of the excellent tour programs for myself, well worth the $20.00, and with lots of older pictures.
We were fortunate enough to be sitting just in front of two ladies from Terre Haute Indiana who managed to get a professional camera w/ a 300x zoom lens into the venue. I will hopefully be trading a copy of this recording for her photos. One idiot blew past my buddy Patrick (Section 116, Row C, seat 1 - security/idiot blocker), and was yelling at his buddy two rows down (I'm right behind you!, or something like that - repeated 3 times) on a cell phone, but thanks to the Cardioid mics and Patrick, it is not intrusive on the recording. I dropped the recording level one notch shortly into the first song due to Stewart's bass drum hitting so hard, the clip light briefly flashed on the Edirol, but after loading the WAV in CEP2 it was not a bad clip at all (I would hardly even call it a clip). The drums and vocals were very up in the mix, Sting's bass guitar and Andy's guitar were behind in the mix. I captured a nice strong signal and I believe this recording warrants a solid B+ for sound quality. LMK what you might rate this as.
A few minor flubs by all members. Stewart dropped his sticks once or twice, Andy has a couple of "off" notes early on, Sting has one "off" moment as well later in the performance. All easily forgiven and for the most part not noticed.
Sting was very talkative and trying to remember the venue they played at on their first show in St. Louis many years ago, and says it was "something nights" An audience member in the front (?) row informed him that the venue in question was Mississippi Nights. Sting comments that this first show was "back in 1875" or something to that effect. He also introduces Stewart and Andy as "the legendary xxxxxxxxxx".
The audience was invited to participate on several songs, and they perform admirably!
Someone had some great reefer in our section, very pleasing aroma. I recorded sans alcohol (I only had a small cup of water to sip on) in an attempt to pull a decent recording without having to break off to relieve myself. I faced the stage throughout the entire show in an attempt to eliminate any possible phasing due to the nature of the Cardioid mics. Many thanks to Ms. Brooklyn at Roxy's All Nude Club in East St. Louis for the neckrub after the show (and the stinkfinger for Patrick).
Many thanks to Sting, Andy, and Stewart for reuniting and giving these performances, please support The Police by purchasing as much official output as you can afford. We had a great time and thought the show was excellent, well worth the $200.00+ via the Best Buy pre-sale. Thanks also to the people of St. Louis, they were really into the show, the band sensed this and reciprocated the energy. The opening act (Fiction Plane) was very good, I hope they are succesful in all present and future endeavours.
I have included pre show music and crowd ambience before the show starts. I have also included post show music and crowd ambience (mostly Patrick and I discussing the show and leaving the venue out to the street). I hope this adds somewhat to the "close your eyes and you are there, recording with us" feel. If you were at this show, I sincerely hope this recording will take you back to that spectacular night!
Constructive comments/critiques are welcome.
Please do not remaster this recording (please email me if you have a vg+/ex digital alt source for a matrix), also please do not distribute without the original info/lineage. NO MP3 except for non distributed personal player use. Thank you for understanding.
If anyone would care to make some hi-res artwork for this distribution, please contact me and I will email you my pics.
ENJOY...
Rob (greenfield3@sigecom.net)
Disc 1:
01. Intro music/pre show ambience
02. Message In A Bottle
03. Synchronicity II
04. Walking On The Moon
05. Voices Inside My Head ~
06. When The World Is Running Down You Make The Best Of What's Still Around
07. Dont Stand So Close To Me
08. Driven To Tears
09. Bed's Too Big Without You
10. Truth Hits Everybody
11. Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
12. Wrapped Around Your Finger
13. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
14. Invisible Sun
15. Walking In Your Footsteps
Disc 2:
01. Can't Stand Losing You
02. Roxanne
03. King Of Pain
04. So Lonely
05. Every Breath You Take
06. Next To You
07. Exit music/post show ambience/taper comments