Copeland Pictures

Copeland: Most viewed pictures

Picture: Sister Hazel: Their way is the highway

Picture: On tour, on patrol with The Police

Picture: The Police Opening Night in Vancouver: Their First Real Gig Since “Synchronicity”

Tom Morello Welcomes Slash, Perry Farrell, Flea at All-Star “Justice Tour” Stop

Tom Morello kicked off his seven-city “Justice Tour” last night by calling every able-bodied rock legend in Los Angeles for a surreal night of music and social awareness at the Troubadour. “This is what happens when I go through my Blackberry,” Morello joked to the crowd before Stuart Copeland snuck behind the drums and Perry Farrell grabbed the mike for a thundering version of the Police’s “Message in a Bottle” just twenty minutes into the evening. It was the start of a marathon night that would showcase unforgettable collaborations by rock royalty for more than three and half hours. The concert featured early acoustic performances by Morello, Pete Yorn, Jerry Cantrell and the MC5’s Wayne Kramer. Morello — acting as master of ceremonies and orchestrating the chaos — then brought out what would serve as the nucleus of the evening’s house band: Travis Barker on drums, Flea playing bass and a rotating lineup of Steve Vai, Slash, Dave Navarro and Morello sharing guitar duties. The dream team backed up Cantrell for a version of Thin Lizzy’s “Jailbreak” and rocked out covers such as Rihanna’s “Umbrella” and Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition.” Throughout the evening Morello spoke about the tour’s goal of promoting local social activism and tackling problems endemic to each host city. While the activism is integral to the tour, Morello is quick to point out that the mood is celebratory and he views each night as “a freedom party.” Sen Dog and B-Real of Cypress Hill didn’t need any help celebrating as they arrived onstage (joint in hand) to knock out “Insane in the Brain” and “Rock Superstar.” Morello closed out the show with a poignant rendition of the Woody Guthrie classic “This Land is Your Land” (like he did at SXSW) that had every voice in the packed club singing backup. [Photos: Shinn/Retna]

Published: 2008-04-16
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News, Live Shows

Picture: U2 Talk New “Trance”-Infused Album, Radiohead Halt Freebies December 10th, Pimp C Update

The Police’s First New York Show in Twenty-Four Years: A Trio Playing In Sync

It was obvious from the opening crash and sprint of “Message in a Bottle” — the first number of the Police’s August 1st show at Madison Square Garden — that two ingredients missing from Sting’s solo life for the past two decades have been a drummer that plays too fast and a guitarist with elastic ideas about harmonics and an aversion to conventional chords. There would be no Police reunion this year if Sting had not willed it. The band made him a superstar, and he has never been embarrassed to wield that clout, even as his own records have explored worlds far away, and even a few centuries back, from the lean power-trio dynamics of the Police’s Econoline-van years. But at the Garden, the group’s first New York City show since 1983, Sting was not the main attraction. He was, with drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers, one-third of an extraordinary rhythm-and-hit-chorus machine. Copeland and Summers needed Sting to say yes to this tour. But Sting needed them to make his greatest hits — “Roxanne,” “Can’t Stand Losing You,” “Synchronicity II,” even that maypole-dance hook in “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” — boom and glow like rock again. Frankly, it was hard to tell how much of the new minutaie I saw Sting drilling into the old arrangements, during the Police’s Vancouver rehearsals three months ago, had survived the first two months of concerts. Two songs from early set lists, “Spirits in the Material World” and “Murder by Numbers,” didn’t even make it to New York. But there was no missing the transformative drama of Copeland’s tom-tom bombs in “Driven to Tears” and Summers’ shivering-Hendrix screams in the Jamaican galactica of “Walking on the Moon.” There isn’t much of a song in “The Bed’s Too Big Without You,” just white-reggae anguish and the unison gunfire of

Published: 2007-08-03
Provider: Rolling Stone
Keywords: Rock News

Picture: The Police Announce “Last Ever Concert”

Picture: The Police Plot One More U.S. Tour, Then Retirement

Picture: Are the Police Planning a New Album?

Copeland

Copeland Pictures

Copeland: Most viewed pictures

STING: IT'S ALL OVER

Sister Hazel: Their way is the highway

Take a shine to Copeland

On tour, on patrol with The Police

The Police Opening Night in Vancouver: Their First Real Gig Since “Synchronicity”

POLICE PRESENCE

Tom Morello Welcomes Slash, Perry Farrell, Flea at All-Star “Justice Tour” Stop

U2 Talk New “Trance”-Infused Album, Radiohead Halt Freebies December 10th, Pimp C Update

The Police’s First New York Show in Twenty-Four Years: A Trio Playing In Sync

The Police Announce “Last Ever Concert”

The Police Plot One More U.S. Tour, Then Retirement

Are the Police Planning a New Album?

Picture Providers List

Copeland: Pictures grouped by tags