page six POLICE, XTC The Other Press Friday, Oct. 31, 1980 Victims of poor Coliseum sound By Arbuthnot Mimo The Police and XTC per- formed Monday in the Coliseum Concert Bowl, and unfortunately, fell victims to poor sound engineering. XTC opened the show and it was a shame to see them struggle through their set while receiving little response from the not so energetic crowd. XTC\ are quite an imaginative group, that have a lot of little gadgets that enhance their sound on album, yet these subtleties did not appear in Monday’s show. The sound system and the confused twit operating the mixing board ruiried the show. Quite frankly, the sound was atrocious. You couldn’t even hear Colin Moulding’s voice in a few parts, such as songs like ‘Generals and Majors and ‘Making Plans For Nigel’.. XTC also proved to be very boring to watch. If only they had played the Commodore again. The Police were next, and with a few pointers from the By Phil Staines The minute Steve Hackett and his band walked on stage, you could tell from the charge in the air that this was going to be an unforgettable sensation. The intense following pack- ed tightly in the intimacy of The Commodore, gave Hackett an ecstatic wel- come. Then Hackett’s un- mistakable sound opened the show, and the music exploded, sending a wave of thick, texturixed sound, flowing through the hall. The sound moved from er- vatic time changes, to driv- ing rock, to melodic en- chantment. It is really unbelievable what Hackett can do to a guitar. He makes it cry, scream and growl; explode and at times the guitar sounded like a volcano e- tupting, or the earth splitting wide open. A standard in Hackett’s show is his acoustic section. A traditional guitar exer- cise, consisting of some Spanish improvisation, and to audiences’ delight, the opening to ‘Blood on the Rooftops’, and the classic ‘Horizons’ which appears on the Genesis album ‘Fox- trot’, prior to the master- piece, ‘Suppers Ready’! Steve is then joined by his younger brother John on flute to perform ‘Kim’ a beautiful duet, named after Kim Poor, Hackett’s girl- friend who does the extra- ordinary artwork for his The Police shown here in concert, played their unique style of raggae-rock despite une typically poor sound of the Coliseum. Kinks, and some lush sound effects suffered the same problem as XTC, although they managed to pick up the crowd a bit more. They opened with ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ with the spotlight on bassist, lead vocalist Sting, who stood playing an acoustic, stand up bass running through album covers. Steve Hackett and com- pany make use of many different sound techniques, Hackett spoke to the audi- ence in three different oct- aves, and keyboardist Nick Magnus, sang through one of his synthesizers creating the voice of a mechanical madman. The remainder of the band consisted of Dik Cad- bury on bass, who didn’t stick out too much due to all the bass pedals happening. John Shearer, who did an animalistic job on drums, e Hackett countless numbers of syn- thesizers. Andy Summers used a lot of pedals, and effects, to which he makes great use of on the latest album Zenyatta Mondatta. However, they both seemed to overuse these effects thoughout the con- cert, which took away that raw Police energy. But one while maintaining the tech- nique required for Hackett’s music, and finally, the be- stranged Pete Hicks on lead vocals with the exception of all the eerie sound varia- tions. The show was natural and touching, a musical fantasy that proved quite touching. Combine a noisy crowd of Genesis followers, old and new, in the Commodore Ballroom, and the technical- ly perfect performance of the Steve Hackett band, and you have an unforgettable musical experience. A true orgasm for the ears. . must look at this as an advancement, in sound. They seem to be amidst a period of experimentation which is great for new material, but songs such as Walking on the Moon’ and ‘The Bed’s Too Big Without You’ seemed to lose their feel due to all the bass and guitar synthesizer - the sound to wallow in echo throughout the Coliseum. The Police who are credited for the Mod revival ran through some jammed ver- sions of their classic hits, such as ‘Roxanne’ and ‘I Can’t Stand Losing You’ which created some energe- tic high points, with the spotlights illuminating the somewhat laid back crowd. The musicianship of ‘the Police is phenominal. Andy Summers’ finger picking guitar playing and his pro- gressive experimentation, and Sting’s versatile bass playing and enchanting voice are vital ingredients that will keep the Police with us for a long time. Drummer Stuart Copeland has to be the busiest drum- mer since Keith Moon. An incredibly rhythmic ma- chine, filling in every gap without missing a beat. It’s a shame the sound system didn’t cut. The Pol- ice and XTC don’t belong in the Coliseum. Five nights in the Commodore would be nice, but enough of the - wishful thinking. Vancouver’s Trooper comes home By Jayne Akizukti The love affair between Vancouver and hometown band Trooper continued at the Coliseum last Saturday night. As lead singer Ra Mc- Guire promised the capacity crowd at the start of the show, there were no strobe lights, no explosions, and no special effects apart from a brightly lit staircase. There was just the audience and Trooper’s solid rock ’n roll. “Vancouver Blues’’ and “3 Dressed Up as a 9”’ opened the show. From then on it was mostly a blend of songs from their self-titled latest album and old favorites from Hot Shots. The new songs have a clean, controlled sound. They included ‘‘Are You Still My Baby’’, the amus- ing ‘“‘Dump That Creep’’, and the single ‘‘Real Cana- dians’’. Without gimmicks to fall back on, the band had only themselves to keep the crowd entertained and they did so with confidence and blazing energy. The sound was generally’ good al- though there were minor technical problems with the keyboards. McGuire's voice was in fine form whether it was adding emotion to “Two For the Show’’ or belting out ‘‘Raise a Little Hell’’. Amazingly, over half the crowd was not standing at the set’s end, but they did scream for encore after encore. After the third one, McGuire said apologetical- ly, ‘“‘We don’t know any more songs,’’ but back they came for the fourth time, singing a rousing ‘‘Johnny B. Goode’’ and ‘‘We’re Here For a Good Time’”’. Opening act Aerial did not: fare as well. Although they have energy and pre- sence, their music is hope- lessly unoriginal; most of the lyrics are the ‘‘come- here-baby-I-really-want-ya- now’’ type. The crowd stay- ed relatively quiet during their set until they played their recent hit ‘‘Moments Like This’’. At times they were loud to the point of distorting the sound, some- thing that Trooper avoided doing. @