Sadly for those dishing it, the baggage associated with “Stingnicity” simply proves the guy has done so many things, and done them painfully well. Conquer the world several times over you say (having forged into the most remote corners of the world a rock band has ever trekked)? Done. Successful (both creatively and commercially) post-Police solo career? Done. Forerunner in the human rights and ecological cause crusade (I’m looking at you, Bono)? Done. Transition from music into mainstream acting before Jennifer Hudson was even born? Done. Ah what the heck…chart topping classical music album (lute, no less)? Done. No wonder the guy looked around and asked what would surprise himself and everyone else…Police reunion!

So, it also does not surprise me that the same music critics who flogged the post-Police horse so pathetically (ending every Sting solo album review with the pathetic mantra “if he’d only bring his old bandmates back…”). Well, we finally get a well-deserved Police fan ‘farewell party’, and it’s still not good enough for some. Here’s some of the tired old harpings, along with the reality that many critics want to ignore.

Ticket prices too high – Every show of the entire tour has had a three-tiered ticket hierarchy ($250, $90, $50). This is far from “overpriced gluttony” from an arena tour perspective. There is a price level here for everyone…from the religiously devout to the casual-stroller-down-80’s-memory-lane. Further, for every one of those that wants to cite how the band “must need the money” after all these years, what other reunion tours have adopted causes like Water Aid, Unitus, or donated a million bucks of their own money to a tree planting campaign in New York City? Sting makes the equivalent of an “Average Joe’s” respectful annual salary off the royalties to “Every Breath You Take” every week, so he didn’t need this tour for money. And by the way, (he didn’t have to but) he carved a nice little piece of that songwriting royalty out for his bandmates too (geez, what a pompous jerk, right)? So they didn’t need the money either. Why do it…the music, the fans, and closure. Period.

Set list – How many bands from 30 years ago whose career spanned a mere 5 studio albums can do a 2 hour set that is nothing but sing-along, arena friendly radio hits?! Oh yeah, and to shake up the second leg of the tour, they’ll pull out a few hits from the set and replace them with a few other hits. No worries…plenty to go ‘round, boys! Each of their studio albums was 99% rock solid, and the “filler” made you laugh out loud (humor-wise, not pity-wise) at the very least.

Stage show – Minimalist, exactly like the Police themselves. Less is more…even 30 years later This tour uses tasteful lighting, pre-requisite and omni-visible video screens, and video effects that serve not as bombast but as accent to the fully formed “product” itself. If a reunion tour needs bombast, spectacle, shock and/or awe to make it seem like something “special” is happening onstage, chances are the reunion was a bad idea in the first place.

Musicianship – Here’s the bottom line. These guys have a treasure trove of amazing songs, yet they can still play the hell out of them! Did they ever come out and give a “here’s an exact replica of the album” performance in the 70’s and 80’s? Nay. This band was doing doughnuts on the lawns of today’s jambands (who were still wetting their pants and wiping snot on their sleeves from their bedroom windows) back then. These songs have the skeletal structure of pure titanium, so let them tinker a bit with the clothes these songs don, in order to keep it interesting night after night. Further, if you’ve conquered the world already (and oh-by-the-way 30 years have passed), you don’t need to play with a missionary’s urgency that your life (and livelihood) depends on making new converts. It’s not them against the world anymore…it is them thanking the world for a great run back in the day. So no, they do not have the ferocity and urgency they did in 1979. As Stewart Copeland said, “we handed the keys to the kingdom over to U2 in 1986 (the last Amnesty show), now we want the keys back for a year or so”.

Appearance – Sure…older, grayer…30 years later. But can you name any other band that has aged this gracefully with members in their mid-50’s and 60’s? And by the way, they are all still alive and all part of the reunion! This simple mathematical interpretation of the word “reunion” seems to get lost on way too many bands (looking at you, Billy Corgan).

That said, by definition, a Police show has never been about perfection. Have any of the Police reunion shows I’ve seen (Wrigley, Allstate, Vegas) been the most “in-your-face-gut-bucket-life-affirming” shows I have ever seen? No. But they have achieved precisely what any reunion should do…transport the band and its fans back to what made them popular, successful and critically lauded in the first pace. That is, before critics could come up with anything more original than Sting-bashing. For Sting, Andy and Stewart, a fait accompli once again…without an ounce of pandering, compromise or shame.

That said, after hearing opinions about the consistently poor sound at Allstate, it took only two shows to confirm it. The Santana concert a month earlier was tinny, Costello often was barely audible and even some of The Police songs seemed muffled. I’d kill to see them at a small club or theater designed for live music.