Limes with Orange

I realize that for most people when they hear the phrase "police picnic" they think of your local law enforcement agency having a picnic in the park. Well, if you were a teenager in Toronto in the early 80's it meant waaaay more than that. It was The Police playing at Exhibition Stadium with around half a dozen other bands and thousands of fans. It was The Event to go to every summer. Well, my sister went every summer. I finally got to go in 1983, the last year they held it, when I was 14 (and now everyone knows how old I am!).

First of all, the concert was awesome. I don't remember the entire line-up, but I do remember that Peter Tosh was there and so was James Brown... that's right, James Brown, the godfather of soul!!! And then The Police came on and, well… magic. I may be a writer but I lack the words to express the magic of seeing this trio of musicians on stage. You really just need to experience it once in your life. (And now you can! They're actually on tour again! Sorry for all the exclamation points but it's just amazing, astounding, unbelievable and any other adjective that you can think of!)

But back to 1983… My sister's friend (my big sis had been gracious enough to let me tag along with her and her friend) knew somebody who knew somebody who was doing security backstage. It wasn't a big enough somebody to actually get us backstage, but they were able to tell us that the band was staying at the Westin Harbour Castle. So the three of us decided we had to get over there ASAP. But none of the three of us had any money. So we managed to convince some nice couple who was taking a taxi to a hotel in that general area to give us a lift.

Once we got to the hotel, we weren't sure what to do next. I mean, we knew the hotel wasn't going to tell us what rooms the band members were in. I think we ended up overhearing somebody because we somehow found out what floor they were staying on. So we jumped in an elevator but found out that you needed a room key to use the elevators. Once again, we somehow convinced some nice couple to take us up in the elevator (we must have looked fairly sweet and harmless, is all I can figure). But before the elevator came, they asked us why? We told them and they said that The Police were actually in the hotel lounge at the moment. I think it must have looked like some scene from a cheesy movie with the three of us staring at each other for a moment and then simultaneously taking off at a flat run for the lounge, calling out thank you's over our shoulders.

So we went racing into the lounge and there they were. Sting, Andy, Stewart and a couple of other people. Just sitting there… lounging. It was kind of surreal. It pretty much stopped us short for a moment because I don't think it had occurred to any of us that we would actually find them. But there they were.

Once we caught our breath and found our nerve, we approached the band. They were extremely friendly. We got Andy and Stewart's autographs first, because Sting was busy talking to someone and we didn't want to interrupt. While we were waiting, Andy invited us to have a seat (we were lounging with The Police!) and then he commented on my broken arm, saying that he hoped it hadn't happened at the concert. I laughed and said no and he actually asked me how I broke it. Then HE asked ME if he could sign my cast! Well, gee, let me think about that… of course! (I wanted to keep the cast after it came off but it was pretty gross… pity.)

By that time, my sister and her friend had gotten Sting's autograph so I handed him some paper for mine. And I don't know why, but after Sting singed his name he bit the paper. He hadn't done that with anyone else's. But I thought that was totally awesome (gotta use that 80s vernacular). Not only did I have his autograph but I had his tooth marks and his DNA! Anyway, that night was definitely one of the biggest highlights from my youth and I'm so glad that we were so determined in our hijinks.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to catch them on their current tour. They're not coming to Calgary and it's not a good time for me to be able to travel to see them. But I will definitely be purchasing the new Police CD (given that most of my Police collection is still on the original vinyl). I'm trying to decide what my favourite song is, and I don't know that I can narrow it down to just one. It's so very, very close but I think I can say that my top two from this CD would be "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Walking in Your Footsteps." But we're talking an infinitesimally small space between these two and the multitudes of other amazing songs on the track list. So which one (or ones) are your favourites?

Labels: music