I was 15 years old and I had never been to a concert before, so to go to see the Police Live, well can you imagine how excited I was. We had queued for the tickets at a small music shop in Birmingham city centre, we queued from 4am but people had been there all night with sleeping bags!
We managed to get tickets for Stafford Bingley Hall and as Stafford is quite a distance from Birmingham we had to pursuade my dad to take my friend and I, it was so cold in the queue, and luckily my dad had taken a small heater and a warm flask of tea to keep him warm whilst he waited in his van, bless him, my friend and I queued (without coats! couldn't do it now mind) and when we got there we were so shocked at how many people were already inside, and because it was a standing gig we thought there was no chance of us getting to the front. We then queued for teeshirts, I bought quite a few with my early Christmas money, I even still have the carrier bag with the Police emblem on the back.
The show begain, I believe with Jools Holland and his Wealthy Tarts, he was great but when The Police came on stage the place went into a frenzy, it was a little scarey as you can imagine as I was only a child still, the crowd pushed and pushed and somehow by some miracle we were pushed in a semi circle to the front!! about 2 or 3 people away from the stage, people finally settled down after that so we had prime position, they were absolutely awesome, I think this is when I fell in love with them to be honest.
Andy's solo in 'So Lonely' will always be something I will remember as he actually had eye contact with us and seemed to be playing just for us!! Sting was mesmerising and Stewart was electric. It was all over too quickly though and I think I fell asleep on the way home I was worn out. For the next 2 or 3 days all I could here was a high pitched tone in my ears the gig had been so loud. I wore my teeshirts all the time (in between washes of course, lol) even underneath my school uniform.
It was another year before we saw them again, this time on the 19th December 1981 at the NEC Birmingham and then again 4 days later, again at Stafford and the rest is history, I don't think there has been a tour I have missed of theirs or Sting's.
I only wish I could still fit into those damn teeshirts...
(c) ''rameses''
We managed to get tickets for Stafford Bingley Hall and as Stafford is quite a distance from Birmingham we had to pursuade my dad to take my friend and I, it was so cold in the queue, and luckily my dad had taken a small heater and a warm flask of tea to keep him warm whilst he waited in his van, bless him, my friend and I queued (without coats! couldn't do it now mind) and when we got there we were so shocked at how many people were already inside, and because it was a standing gig we thought there was no chance of us getting to the front. We then queued for teeshirts, I bought quite a few with my early Christmas money, I even still have the carrier bag with the Police emblem on the back.
The show begain, I believe with Jools Holland and his Wealthy Tarts, he was great but when The Police came on stage the place went into a frenzy, it was a little scarey as you can imagine as I was only a child still, the crowd pushed and pushed and somehow by some miracle we were pushed in a semi circle to the front!! about 2 or 3 people away from the stage, people finally settled down after that so we had prime position, they were absolutely awesome, I think this is when I fell in love with them to be honest.
Andy's solo in 'So Lonely' will always be something I will remember as he actually had eye contact with us and seemed to be playing just for us!! Sting was mesmerising and Stewart was electric. It was all over too quickly though and I think I fell asleep on the way home I was worn out. For the next 2 or 3 days all I could here was a high pitched tone in my ears the gig had been so loud. I wore my teeshirts all the time (in between washes of course, lol) even underneath my school uniform.
It was another year before we saw them again, this time on the 19th December 1981 at the NEC Birmingham and then again 4 days later, again at Stafford and the rest is history, I don't think there has been a tour I have missed of theirs or Sting's.
I only wish I could still fit into those damn teeshirts...
(c) ''rameses''
PHOTOS
