How the tide turns. New bands and new fans came along faster than Concorde. Certain bands bring in an all-male audience and others bring the girls. Police have got the lot. Young kids that have come in on the hits, blonde hair and idol appeal. Older, more hardened rock fans after well-played rock music. Boys and girls alike.

At six o'clock they are already queuing to get in. Police t-shirts, badges and quite a few blonde haired look-alikes. How can anyone go wrong with that kind of following?

Inside, as soon as the lights dim, there's a great rush to the front, only to be followed by paranoid bouncers herding them back to their seats. One lunatic bouncer was knocking people off the back of their seats.

Police were having none of that, as soon as they told the bouncers to let them come, the rush to the front was on again. When the band have got the right ingredients it's not just them that's important to watch, it's the audience as well.

As soon as Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland appear and start to play, every word and syllable is repeated in synch by the mass that are with them. Perhaps they should have just stood there and let the audience do the work.

I' can't say much more, they played all their hits - 'Walking On The Moon', 'Can't Stand Losing You', 'Message In A Bottle', 'Roxanne' - and more and they all sounded like the records. Well played, well sung and very, very catchy.

What else can you say? You can't argue with the reaction they got.

Outside the sign on the front has changed from - 'Tonight, The Police' to 'Love At First Bite'. The person that changed the signs had obviously been in to see them.

© Record Mirror by Alf Martin (with thanks to Dietmar)

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