The Police and Elvis Costello Begin Again in Ottawa

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It will be a shame if this is indeed the final North American swing for the Police, as the reunited group showed itself to be a joyous arena rock machine that enthralled a sold out Scotiabank Place in Ottawa last night, their first visit to Canada's capitol since 1979.

Clad in a black suit and restrained specs, opener Elvis Costello unleashed a mixture of classics and cuts from the recent Momufuku, his lively new album. "I Don't Want To Go To Chelsea" grew anthemetic with gristly bass lines and a haunting keyboard drone, while "Alison" oozed kitschy charm as Costello held a quivering high note. Along with Momofuku's gorgeous acoustic ballad "My Three Sons" — an ode to his own children, not the Fred MacMurray vehicle — Costello's set defined how well-worked neurosis can be channeled into transcendent pop moments.

Even if Stewart Copeland, Andy Summers and Gordon Sumner actually hate each other's guts, the virtuosic chemistry produced by their 21-song set was unparalleled. This is still a band on their A-game — gleaming, precise, and infectious. As Sting teased out melodies like Chet Baker, a surreal percussion showcase sent Copeland barreling between toms and an upright glockenspiel, transforming "Wrapped Around Your Finger" into a would-be Japanese Shinto ceremony. Bathed in blue light (guess what color scheme lit "Roxanne"?), final encore "Every Breath You Take" became a slinky, wraith-like warning, dissolving into applause as cell phone cameras blazed like fireflies. But even after his bandmates' exit, Summers played on, peeling out electric shocks of guitar riffs with a naughty grin. "Andy, what the fuck are you doing? I thought we said no!" joked Sting upon re-entry, launching into the more-appropriate closer "Next To You."

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Song Stories

“He Will Break Your Heart”

Jerry Butler | 1960

A lightly swinging Latin-influenced, almost cha-cha groove and close harmonies decorated Jerry Butler's early soul hit "He Will Break Your Heart," delivering a stately warning that his rival would never love his girl like he did. The melody came to Butler as he was driving on the highway from Atlantic City, New Jersey, to Philadelphia with Curtis Mayfield, and as Butler told Rolling Stone, "I just sang the melody and Curtis put the chords to it." The song's premise, Butler added, "was something that I'd lived ...The lyric was an experience rather than a revelation. Whereas music is usually a revelation."

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