POLICE, THE
STING'S BIRTHDAY BASH

Formed in London in 1977,  for most of their history the Police’s line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Emerging from the British new wave scene, they played a style of rock influenced by punk, reggae, and jazz.

Their 1978 debut album, Outlandos d'Amour, reached No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart. Their second, Reggatta de Blanc (1979), became the first of four consecutive No. 1 studio albums in the UK and Australia; its first two singles, "Message in a Bottle" and "Walking on the Moon", became their first UK number ones. Their next two albums, Zenyatta Mondatta (1980) and Ghost in the Machine (1981), led to further critical and commercial success with two songs, "Don't Stand So Close to Me" and "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", becoming UK number-one singles too; the former album was their breakthrough into the US reaching number five on the US Billboard 200.
Their final studio album, Synchronicity (1983), was No. 1 in the UK, Canada, Australia, Italy and the US, selling over 8 million copies in the US. Its lead single, "Every Breath You Take", became their fifth UK number one, and only US number one. During this time, the band were considered one of the leaders of the Second British Invasion of the US; in 1983 Rolling Stone labelled them "the first British New Wave act to break through in America on a grand scale, and possibly the biggest band in the world.”
The Synchronicity Tour began in Chicago, Illinois in July 1983 at the original Comiskey Park, and on 18 August the band played in front of 70,000 in Shea Stadium, New York. Near the end of the concert, Sting announced: "We'd like to thank the Beatles for lending us their stadium."
By 1st October ’83, the band were back in Europe and performing at Camp Municipal Narcís Sala, in Barcelona. The show coincided with Sting’s 32nd birthday, and at the concert’s culmination the band and audience in unison sang “Happy Birthday” to the esteemed group’s leader.
The entire proceedings that fine October evening, almost 40 years ago, were recorded for live radio broadcast and transmitted across Spain, and synched by a number of US stations too. Previously unreleased, this fine concert is now available on this new CD for the first time.