Prior to heading out to the game, my friends and I had an informal send-off for our friend, Dave Dixon who is headed off to his new life in Thailand next weekend. We decided to meet at one of our favorite local hangouts - B.J.'s Restaurant and Brewhouse in Thousand Oaks. Dave could not make the trip to the concert with the rest of us due to his upcoming trip overseas, but he did make time out of his busy schedule to stop by. Appropriately, Murray Head's hit "One Night In Bangkok" was the song playing when we happened to enter BJ's.
Dave, John Ruppert and myself are pictured at the left, while two more Daves - Gomberg and Sweet (both are meteorologists, by the way) are on the right with my longtime friend Nicole. After enjoying some great Chicago Style Pizza and some drinks, we said our good byes to Dave and then the five of us headed off to Dodger Stadium. The drive... well, it was SLOW!!! It took us nearly two hours to get there. Just in case you forgot why I don't drive down to L.A. too much... We arrived nearly a full hour late for the show, but since the promoters probably already knew that the crowd would be late arriving, they didn't let the opening act (the Foo Fighters) begin playing until 7:30 PM - an hour after the 6:30 PM time printed on the tickets... The "Fighters" put on a good show, though I have to admit, I didn't know many of their songs. The highlights for me were probably their hits "Learn To Fly" and "Best Of Me."
During the intermission, we took some pics, and did a little window shopping for Police merchandise... Actually, the "other" John did buy a concert T. Oh, and in that picture above, we turned into a palindrome of sorts... The two Johns are the bookends, the two Daves on the inside and Nicole is in the middle... no, we didn't plan it that way.
The Police then took the stage at 9:15 and opened with their classic, "Message In A Bottle." Their first set of fourteen songs included songs from their classic albums of the late 70's and early 80's and included such hits as "Wrapped Around Your Finger," "Don't Stand So Close To Me," and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic." The set concluded with their hit "Roxanne." Two encores followed, the highlight being their huge hit "Every Breath You Take." Overall, they sounded GREAT in concert. The acoustics at Dodger Stadium aren't the best for a concert, but they managed to make it sound amazing even being at this disadvantage. For those of us that remember the 80's, this was an experience that was priceless!
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