The Police with The Fixx and Eric Burdon and the Animals: 10/28/1983

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Police_10-28-83

As the ticket stub shows, this concert was originally supposed to be at the Miami Baseball Stadium. But because of the huge demand for tickets, the concert was moved to the Orange Bowl, a much larger venue. Even in the big stadium, it was a packed mob scene.

I went with my girlfriend at the time and my brother Mike. We got there plenty early, since it was general admission and I wanted to see The Animals, who were opening the show. The Animals were great and Eric Burdon’s voice was strong. The only downer song was “House of the Rising Sun.” They kind of changed the arrangement around and it felt like they were playing it half-assed. I felt like, really? I’m sure you are getting tired of the song, but if you are going to play it, at least put some energy into it and realize that it is such an iconic song that futzing with the arrangement  is akin to Led Zeppelin playing a reggae version of “Stairway to Heaven.”

The Fixx played next, and they were cool. They had some hits at the time: “Saved By Zero” and “One Thing Leads to Another.” They definitely had a good energy and light show. Plus, their style fit in well with The Police.

So I have to say that The Police were way better live than I expected. They always seemed more like a studio band than a good live act. But I was pleasantly surprised. They were really high-energy and sounded great, even in an acoustic hell hole like the Orange Bowl. My big complaint, though, was the overcrowding. It was really uncomfortable to be mashed among so many people sweating in the South Florida heat for the entire day. But other than that—good times!

Here is the Police’s setlist, courtesy of setlist.fm:

  1. Voices Inside My Head
  2. Synchronicity I
  3. Synchronicity II
  4. Walking in Your Footsteps
  5. Message in a Bottle
  6. Walking on the Moon
  7. My God
  8. De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da
  9. Wrapped Around Your Finger
  10. Tea in the Sahara
  11. Hole in My Life
  12. Spirits in the Material World
  13. Invisible Sun
  14. One World (Not Three)
  15. King of Pain
  16. Don’t Stand So Close to Me
  17. Every Breath You Take
  18. Murder by Numbers
  19. Roxanne
  20. (encore) Can’t Stand Losing You / Reggatta de Blanc
  21. (encore) So Lonely

16 thoughts on “The Police with The Fixx and Eric Burdon and the Animals: 10/28/1983”

  2. Hey just found your page. I too was at the concert I was 15 and other than Cheap Trick this was my first Big Concert. My mom drove me and a friend down from Ft Lauderdale She waited out in the car God Bless her. People coming upto her trying to sell her drugs while I was in listening to an awesome concert… I live in Sydney Australia now. Saw them in ANZ Stadium (Orange Bowl equivalent) in 2008. No mom this time but had a laugh watching people light up….

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    • Wow – That’s way cool! It’s a small world. Funny how many people I’ve met through the blog who have been to some of the same shows I was at. Rock on!!

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  7. Funny, when I was at that concert, albeit never having seen The Animals before, “House of The Rising Sun” was kind of a highlight. Also, to me, The Fixx was way better than expected, and The Police were almost disappointing. Although we still used them in our homecoming float that we built the very next day. It had the three stripes, and said, “Synch the Spartans.”

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    • Yeah, probably due to expectations. Mine were very high for the Animals and low for Police, and kind of tepid for Fixx. So Police exceeded my expectations and Animals fell way short. Still, a cool show. Thanks for adding your memories.

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  9. I was a 12 year old who was taken to this show by my parents who were in their early 30s at the time and still into music. I remember quite a lot about the show actually. The Animals were just OK, and the Fixx, I recall my Mum saying they sounded nervous and not that tight.

    The Police were brilliant, as witnessed in the video from that tour recorded in Atlanta a few days later.

    The biggest shock for me at Orange Bowl was the drugs, EVERYWHERE. Weed of course, but I remember being pretty freaked out in the men’s toilet, seeing this spaced-out girl walking around, saying: “Does anybody have an LUUUDESSS?!”. I had no idea what she meant, but always had the memory, and years later, of course, I figured it out.

    Does anyone else recall the Police doing a “tea break”. It was either right before the show, or perhaps before the encore, but I remember it showing them backstage and drinking tea!

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