Review: The Police/Foo Fighters @ Dodger Stadium

6/23/7, Los Angeles: Among the many recently reunited bands, The Police are the only group that can command night after night of arena shows and charge an arm and a leg for them. Despite some bad press after their first few shows, the Brit trio sound like no time has passed at all. Ignoring the inevitable backstage head-butting for the time being, the threesome are perfectly in synch onstage and Sting, especially, sounds as good as ever both on the mic and on the bass. They were eager to trot out all the old warhorses, but they saddled both "Roxanne" and "Can't Stand Losing You" with aimless, Pink Floyd-inspired space jams. Similarily, a handful of mid-set slow jams bogged down an otherwise buoyant set. The sold-out crowd (Sold out being a technical term, as there were plenty of open seats) represented a good mix of young and old.

The Foo Fighters earned the call-up to open the show, and their catchy, if uninspired, pop metal is pefectly suited for an arena. Trouble is, most of their songs sound the same. Frontman Dave Groehl made up for lack of originality by turning himself into a spectacle, jumping into the crowd and zig-zagging to the back of the front section --- all the while shredding some lame cock rock solos on his "axe".

Side rant: Seats to the side of the stage (from where you cannot see the stage nor the front-facing video screens) shouldn't be top price. They should be dirt-cheap, or not sold at all. It's easy to forget how much arena shows suck, but they do indeed. A lot.