Blue Room said:
Good Lord, what do you do go and quote every post that has anything slightly derogatory about the Police and post a rebuttal?? We get it, your user name alone says you prefer the Police. But dont expect everyone to say they are better than U2 on a U2 board because most of us dont think so. I like them, will go see them. But they are not even the same strastosphere of U2 to me and probably alot of other people here.
First off, U2 didnt break up and have been around. We are not talking about hypotheticals we are talking about what is a fact. The Grammys were hyped as the reunion of The Police and it was a big deal for that reason. For the same reason this tour is, because they havent done a tour in over 20 years. What major reunion tour has not sold well? Even semi big acts that have reunited have done good numbers and generated quite a bit of hype for their initial reunion tours. IE Kiss, Motley Cure, etc.. The Police are no different and were a bigger band than either of those. So yes, it being so long is why its being hyped. You want to go hypothetical. What if The Police broke up before Synchronicity? Its the same as saying if U2 broke up after the Joshua Tree. 
Coldplay????? They are nowhere near U2 or The Police. Thats like comparing an apple to a peanut. I dont think Green Day are either, although I think they are closer than Coldplay at the moment. When an artist puts together 3 or 4 great records and is billed as the biggest, and is such a live concert draw they have to play at least some stadium shows to meet demand, then they are the level of U2 and The Police. Coldplay isnt even close at this point. There are very few artists that reach that level.
I wont post anything else in this thread because its honestly not that big of a deal to me. I'm sure you will have more hypotheticals that have nothing to do with what the current situation is. Have fun. 
Calm down. This is a message board where people post their opinions and yes rebut other opinions, some more than others depending on the topic.
I've not argued really about who is better, more so about the strength of each artist in the business.
I would not seriously compare how this tour does to U2, because the circumstances are indeed different. That would change though if The Police decided to return as a full time band after the reunion. You also can't really compare it to the other "reunions", as the circumstances of those reunions usually only involve line ups, as opposed to a band that have not played a full concert in any line up in 23 years. The closest comparison would be The Eagles, where there was a full 14 years in between the break up and the reunion.
It is difficult to estimate exactly how successful such a reunion after 23 years would be, considering the Police were only together for 7 years and only known to the public for 5 years while they were still a band.
Arthur Fogal the tour promoter of both U2 and this Police tour has expressed the fact that he does not at the current time know exactly how much business The Police will be able to do. Garry Bongiovanni who works for Pollstar which tracks the concert industry thinks the tour will do "well" but is not making any predictions because of how long it has been since the band has toured, nearly a quarter of a century.
Thats why only 5 shows are going on sale in the next few days. These shows will help the promoter better determine the level of demand that is out there so that the appropriate venues and number of shows can be booked.
No doubt, The Police tour will do better than any of Sting's solo tours, which have done very well and usually rank in the top 10 for any year that he goes on the road. Thats not where the uncertainty is. The uncertainty is whether the Police will be playing a stadium in market A or just one or two arena shows.
So many of these bands that reunite often end up playing as a apart of a multi-artist tour, or play state fairs and other things they would not have done when they were still a band in the old days at their peak. Journey, Styx, Motley Crue, REO Speedwagon, Van Halen(with Sammy Hagar), Loverboy, Duran Duran, never achieved the same level of relative success they had in the industry at their peaks when they "reunited".
). The internet - specifically things like myspace and iTunes - has made it much, much easier to get your music heard by thousands of people. It's now possible to have a fairly large following without a record label. However, with the sheer breadth of bands now readily available, it's very hard to have staying power when everyone wants to check out the next hyped-up myspace band. I find it very unlikely that any 21st century band will manage to stay together and relevant as long as U2. I hope I'm proven wrong.
