The Police Return To The Stage With Vancouver Warm-Up...

The Police played their first concert in more than 20 years last night (May 27) in front of a 4,000-strong, fan club-only audience at Vancouver's GM Place, rocking through a 21-song, 125-minute set that went heavy on hits from the band's early 1980s heyday. The show opened with 'Message in a Bottle' and closed with the spirited early hit 'Next to You'.

The group officially begins its mammoth reunion tour tonight at the same arena, with support from Fiction Plane. The trek is expected to last through the end of the year and will likely finish as the top ticket seller of 2007.

The reunion already has taken in 2 million on sales of 900,000 ticket in North America and another million from sales of 650,000 tickets overseas, according to estimates by Billboard.

Among the oddities that appeared in the warm-up show set list were 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic', which was rarely played live during the band's first incarnation, and a medley of 'Voices Inside My Head' and 'When the World Is Running Down, You Make the Best of What's Still Around', which was first tested out during a February press conference in Los Angeles.

© Billboard by Jonathan Cohen

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