With Each Concert, The Police Getting Better!

The Police honestly had to do little more than show up Monday night at the Scottrade Center.

That alone would be worth the wait � and expense -- for many of the 20,000 or so fans who came to the St. Louis stop of the classic rock trio�s unlikely reunion tour, which is shaping up into the concert tour of the year. After all, it�s been over two decades since Sting, Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland have gotten together for a trek like this.

But the classic rockers did a lot more than show up and collect their massive paychecks at the near sold-out gig Monday (only rear of stage upper-level seats were left).

The reggae sounds of a piped-in "Get Up, Stand Up" by Bob Marley appropriately brought out the three gentlemen, who unleashed the equally familiar chords of their own "Message in a Bottle," performed faithfully on a big, open stage with a ramp circling the back of the stage.

The large stage gave the band plenty of room to move, and it turns out they needed it. That�s not to allow for space to better hold egos or maintain any residual strain between band members. If there was any of that, it wasn�t obvious between singer Sting, guitarist Summers, and drummer Copeland, who were still often connecting and clicking where it counts. Copeland in particular came off like a real MVP.

What the Police needed the extra room for were the songs themselves at times. Rather than rest on its laurels and just pump out the hits the way they were recorded, the rock-reggae band gets points for using this opportunity to stretch some of its biggest hits into new shapes and sizes, even when it didn�t always work. The heavily-debated reinterpretations could be as creative as they were aggravating.