February 12, 2007

The Police are currently holding a press conference and live rehersal at The Whiskey as I type this, and it’s currently being webcast live (so get on over there and watch first-hand). Confirming one of the worst kept secrets of all-time, The Police will be heading out on an extensive world tour at the end of May:

NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ITINERARY 2007

• 5/28/07 GM Place Vancouver, BC (Onsale: Saturday, Feb. 17)
• 6/06/07 Key Arena Seattle, WA (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/09/07 Pepsi Arena Denver, CO (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/15/07 MGM Grand Las Vegas, NV (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/16/07 Bonnaroo Manchester, TN (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/18/07 US Airways Arena Phoenix, AZ (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/26/07 American Airlines Arena Dallas, TX (Onsale: TBA)
• 6/30/07 New Orleans Arena New Orleans, LA (Onsale: TBA)
• 7/02/07 Scottrade Center St. Louis, MO (Onsale: TBA)
• 7/22/07 Air Canada Centre Toronto, ON (Onsale: Feb. 17)
• 7/25/07 Bell Centre Montreal, PQ (Onsale: Feb. 17)
• 7/28/07 Fenway Park Boston, MA (Onsale: Feb. 20)
• 8/1,3/07 Madison Square Garden New York, NY (Onsale: Feb. 20)

“Additional North American concert dates in Chicago, Columbus, Detroit, Edmonton, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Philadelphia, Tampa, San Francisco’s Bay Area, Minneapolis/St. Paul and the Washington/Baltimore area will be announced in the next few weeks. Additional cities and venues to be announced soon.”

Read on for much more on this inevitable but still awesome announcement…

Our stellar photojournalist friend Nathan Ingraham craves the indie jam rock. So we sent him down to Boston’s Orpheum Theatre this past Friday, and he came back with these moe. better gems…

The venerable Boston Metro couldn’t make it two paragraphs without mentioning Phish in its preview of Friday’s moe. concert. So instead of fighting the urge to follow the paper’s questionable lead, I’ll get the comparison out of the way up front. As the Metro noted, moe. has not grown exponentially since the demise of the popular rock band Phish two and a half years ago. But I’d be willing to bet most fans at the Orpheum wouldn’t have it any other way.

The band as well seems content with its place in the musical hierarchy: moe. is big enough to throw large-scale events like the upcoming Snoe.down and yet intimate enough to still allow for band/fan interaction (such as the full band merchandise signing post-show) and 2005’s acoustic Coda shows in New York.

But let’s just talk about the music. Most in the crowd that night had a feeling they were in for a special show when the band opened with the raging jam-vehicle Recreational Chemistry. The song was just about to take off when who should wander onto the stage but bassist Rob Derhak’s son, Zach, wielding some sort of key-tar and screaming into a mic guitarist Al Schnier had provided. Sure it was adorable, but it also slammed the breaks on the jam, and the band sloppily segued into Blue Jeans Pizza. But things picked up there, and the song featured guitarist Chuck Garvey’s most ripping solo of the night. He didn’t get lots of other opportunities to really shine though — this evening was definitely an “Al” night.

Read on for 11 more amazing photos and the rest of Nate’s review…

Thanks to my DVR I was able to watch The Police’s quick performance over and over again last night, and in so doing I missed the rest of the Grammys. [youtube]fIIOwONgmJY[/youtube] Oh

I expect no sympathy, but it was tough reacclimating to work following a week in the United Kingdom for five soccer matches. At least I can claim posting on this