I’m not too down with reunion tours. I look at them as about one step above “Tribute bands,” and several steps below French Pop music. My general experience with seeing bands on reunion tours was usually met with disappointment. I saw the Police, Gang of Four, Parliament/Funkadelic, War, the Pretenders, Tower of Power etcetera in their respective “hey-day(s)” and I thoroughly enjoyed them. I still enjoy listening to their music from time-to-time as well. An example of the point I am trying to make is this; I went to see Gang of Four a few years ago at the Fillmore for their “reunion tour” and though they were pretty tight for the most part they were nothing compared to how they were when I saw them back in 1979/1980. Frankly, they were not as vibrant as they once were and seemed to be trying way too hard to please. I left that evening wishing I had never gone. Maybe if it was my first time seeing them the experience would of been different, but I had seen them before and I felt somewhat cheated.

I never saw the Rolling Stones or the Who or even the Kinks in the 1960’s but I did see them in the 1970’s and they were great. However, I saw the Rolling Stones during their Bridges to Babylon tour (my old job. Long story, don’t ask) and, once again thought they were tight and such but it all just seemed so stilted and hokey to me. Mick was pretty stiff and looked pretty silly and good 'ol Keith... his age has finally caught up to his physical appearance.
A Stones show back in the 1970’s held a lot of weight and was considered quite the “Chic” thing to go to and be seen at. Now it seems like an over-priced nostalgia tour where for a wheel barrel load of money you can sit several miles away with a bunch of 60-year olds and watch specks on a platform stiffly move about under colored lights…..oh, and they’ll shoot off some fireworks at the end for ya.
Don’t even get me started on why they (the Stones) even bother to continue to record and release records. I feel that they could have stopped somewhere after Tattoo You and still have several ( and I do mean several) hours of “hit” material to play and that isn’t even counting the other stuff that they recorded that wasn’t a hit but is just as good if not better.

The drummer from the Police, Stewart Copeland stated recently that the opening reunion tour concert the Police just played in Vancouver, Canada, “…was lame.” Though I wasn’t there that very well could be an accurate statement. The Police haven’t been a band in over 20 years and frankly I’m not surprised that Mr. Copeland thought they came off lame.

It seems to me that in most cases it’s actually better to end on top than to continue on until one reaches mediocrity, or in bands such as the Police’s case perhaps this is one-too-many-trips to the well?

I still whole-heartedly encourage you to support music, art, film and literature locally as well as globally.