The Police & Elvis Costello in Vegas

Got $110 floor seats to see the Police and Elvis Costello (face value was $265) at the MGM Grand in Vegas. I'd say 20% of the auditorium was surprisingly empty. We sat close to the mixing board.

First off...80% of the audience of about 10,000 was over 35 years old, IMO. Then...Elvis Costello starts 8 minutes before the time printed on the ticket. The whole concert with encores ended before 11pm. Talk about playing for the baby boomers!

Elvis was fantastic...not only did his voice sound incredible, but he also ripped on guitar. The set was a blend of about 60/40 hits/new material with highlights being Watching the Detectives and a surprise duet with Sting on Allison that brought down the house. He had a beautiful Gold Top Les Paul with P-90s, a Gibson Acoustic, and a vintage blonde Telecaster....all used appropriately through a Fender Twin Reverb with some occasional tremolo and delay effects. I used to peg Elvis as more of a rhythm player, but busted out Hendrix/SRV style embellishments very tastefully.

The Police were....how do I say it nicely....rusty? Andy missed a lot of chords and seemed to be sliding up/down to get the "right" notes in a lot of leads (even King of Pain, which is dead easy). It's sad to say, but I've heard many guys in cover bands play the songs with more accuracy than Andy did tonight. He only played two guitars, his signature Telecaster and a Red Vintage Strat that he used the tremolo bar on quite a bit. He had a "Custom" head and a bunch of Mesa Boogie 2 x 12 Cabinets. He seemed to use effects sparingly (absent were the reggae style delay effects that seemed to be one of his trademarks).

It was only the three of them, and a lot of the songs seemed kind of sparse like King of Pain or Every Little Thing She Does is Magic without keyboards or secondary guitar....then they tried to do a Grateful Dead style jam in the middle of Roxanne which sounded like a bunch of guys jamming together for the first time. When Andy started Every Little Thing She Does is Magic, Sting said "Is this a new song?" It took him a bit of vamping time to figure out what Andy was playing (my guess is that they were doing it in the different key).

Stings voice was remarkable, and I could clearly tell that he has been developing for the past 20 years, while at times both Andy and Stu seemed like guys that had gone without practicing for a few weeks. Stu had some cool moments playing percussion instruments and then jumping back to his kit. He still has that trademark groove....I think at times there was confusion about the arrangements, and he needed to shift awkwardly.

As much as I've criticized Andy, he is still one of the most influential guitarists to me. I think he was just having an off night. I actually think his hands are too small for the guitars he was using. When he played Message in a Bottle or Every Breath You Take , he was clearly playing arpeggios rather than holding the chords down the way I play them.

All in all, the concert was very nostalgic. I sang along to most every song, and I am so very happy I got see these iconic artist play their classic hits. If it had only been the Police, I would have felt a bit jilted, but Elvis was so good, and that surprise duet was so special, that it was worth the price of admission. This week I saw 3 bands in Vegas: The Goo Goo Dolls, Elvis Costello & the Imposers, and The Police....and Elvis was by far the best of the three.

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One quote that he stuck with me 2 weeks later:

Sting: "I love Las Vegas....everybody looks like they just had sex..."

Crowd cheers.

Sting: "or they look like they're about to have sex..."

Crowd cheers louder.

Sting: "Hey...that couple over there looks like they're having sex....Stop that now."

Crowd cheers uncontrollably.


Sting was a rockstar that night....as was Elvis.

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cool. thanks for sharing that. i don't know if i can get time away from work to do that, but def. would be a great show to attend.

cool. thanks for sharing that, but i don't think i can get time to take off to attend the show, but definitely would have been a fun show to see live.