Comeback boys still cut it

Oh dear. There’s nothing worse than seeing middle-aged men dress like they did in their teens.

But enough about the blokes in the front row of the 13,000 crowd – the band still looked the part and sounded even better in their first UK concert since 1983.

Click here to see the picture gallery.

Close-cropped Sting, immaculate in vest-top, combat boots and skinny black trousers, was at his lock, stock, menacing best, prowling the bare stage with the air of a man gleefully casting off his peacenik persona and saying: “Stuff the rainforest – let’s rock.”

OK, he didn’t actually say that, but you get the picture.

Andy Summers obviously wanted a bigger role in the comeback band than he ever got first time round, and new arrangements bring his under-rated guitar playing to the fore.

Stewart Copeland meanwhile resembles a loveable mad uncle, jubilantly smashing his way through the set, hurling sticks skywards and giving the whole thing its frantic, driving drum backbone.

All through the two-hour show, the three combined for a far heavier sound than they ever managed to put down on record. And the set-list revealed that, while there were plenty of greatest hits, the trio wanted weightier numbers to get their teeth into.

Hence classic opener Message in a Bottle gave way to the lesser-known Synchronicity II.

Not that a show including Roxanne, Every Little Thing She Does is Magic and Don’t Stand So Close to Me could ever really sound unfamiliar to anyone over 30.

Highlights were a powerful version of Invisible Sun, an extended Can’t Stand Losing You and initial set-closer Every Breath You Take.

But that was before Summers called his bandmates back out for the three-minute new wave blitz of Next To You.

Well, we wouldn’t want to end on a soppy note would we?

By Keith Harrison