It took more than a month to create a new posting. For many reasons I couldn't find the time and energy to post on my weblog. Also on my photoweblog I'm a little behind with posting pictures. Anyway the past week gave me a good reason to make some time to post something.
Last Thursdaynight my wife N. and yours truly went to a concert of The Police at the Amsterdam Arena, footballstadium and home of the footballteam of Ajax. It was the first of total two concerts of The Police in the Netherlands.
When we heard the announcement that The Police was going to give a concert my wife N. said she would like to go, if we could manage to get tickets. The presales already started in March this year. I was lucky to get through during the online sales and we got two tickets for last Thursday. Because the first concert was sold out within one hour an extra concert was organised one day later on September 14th.
To be honest I was a little sceptical beforehand. Reunion tours in general are often disappointing and are in some cases only done for financial reasons (I guess and hope not in this case). I never saw The Police live before, so I didn't had any reference material. I was 12 years old when they had their first hit in the Netherlands at the end of 1978 with "So Lonely". I was an instant fan and I bought their first album Outlandos d'Amour on LP. I liked their style of rockmusic influenced by reggae, jazz and punk which I think you could hear best on their first album and their second album (Regatta de Blanc).
Another reason why I had doubts was the fact that, although I never had been to the Amsterdam Arena before to experience it myself I heard from several people that the sound in the stadium didn't had a good reputation.
Short after the start of the concert it was clear that my doubts and scepticism were not justified. The sound was good and we had a great night. It was a huge ride through memory lane and they played all their major big hits.
Despite security and body search we manage to get my wife's camera into the stadium and I manage to take a few pictures. It wasn't easy to make steady shots between a jumping and waving crowd, but some pics came out quite okay. We were standing pretty close to the stage somewhere around the third or fourth row a little left from the middle.
Below are a few pics that I shot and some video's that I found on YouTube from the same concert. The first video was made by my wife. She recorded with the camera in front of the television an item on the news the next morning about The Police. The video- and soundquality on the other videos isn't great, but it gives you a bit of an idea of the atmosphere. The second video shows the opening of the concert with "Message in a Bottle". The third shows "Roxanne" and the fourth shows my personal favorite song "King of Pain". The last video gives a bit of an overall impression of the concert. Hope you like it!
Last Thursdaynight my wife N. and yours truly went to a concert of The Police at the Amsterdam Arena, footballstadium and home of the footballteam of Ajax. It was the first of total two concerts of The Police in the Netherlands.
When we heard the announcement that The Police was going to give a concert my wife N. said she would like to go, if we could manage to get tickets. The presales already started in March this year. I was lucky to get through during the online sales and we got two tickets for last Thursday. Because the first concert was sold out within one hour an extra concert was organised one day later on September 14th.
To be honest I was a little sceptical beforehand. Reunion tours in general are often disappointing and are in some cases only done for financial reasons (I guess and hope not in this case). I never saw The Police live before, so I didn't had any reference material. I was 12 years old when they had their first hit in the Netherlands at the end of 1978 with "So Lonely". I was an instant fan and I bought their first album Outlandos d'Amour on LP. I liked their style of rockmusic influenced by reggae, jazz and punk which I think you could hear best on their first album and their second album (Regatta de Blanc).
Another reason why I had doubts was the fact that, although I never had been to the Amsterdam Arena before to experience it myself I heard from several people that the sound in the stadium didn't had a good reputation.
Short after the start of the concert it was clear that my doubts and scepticism were not justified. The sound was good and we had a great night. It was a huge ride through memory lane and they played all their major big hits.
Despite security and body search we manage to get my wife's camera into the stadium and I manage to take a few pictures. It wasn't easy to make steady shots between a jumping and waving crowd, but some pics came out quite okay. We were standing pretty close to the stage somewhere around the third or fourth row a little left from the middle.
Below are a few pics that I shot and some video's that I found on YouTube from the same concert. The first video was made by my wife. She recorded with the camera in front of the television an item on the news the next morning about The Police. The video- and soundquality on the other videos isn't great, but it gives you a bit of an idea of the atmosphere. The second video shows the opening of the concert with "Message in a Bottle". The third shows "Roxanne" and the fourth shows my personal favorite song "King of Pain". The last video gives a bit of an overall impression of the concert. Hope you like it!
The Police
Pat Metheny