Back in the day, I loved going to concerts. Back when gas was cheap, and the hours on the road didn't matter, and I could buy the concert gear without bugging my eyes out at the price. I still love music. I still love the idea of seeing the people who made the music rock out on the stage, and the astounding musical talent that they showcase, which often gets left behind by the spectacle of who they are.

A group of us (me, J, J's mom,and LeenGreenBean) jumped in the car and trekked east to catch the Police/Elvis Costello concert at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee. I love the Marcus Amphitheater, one of the better large venues to watch a concert. With the advent of large video screens, and the amphitheater's bowl set up, I doubt there is a bad seat in the place.

And getting there is usually not bad; it's right off the highway and if we'd been paying attention, we would have had no trouble getting there. As it was, we only had to circle back once.

It was German Fest, which I didn't know until I got there, and of all of the fests to go to, this one had me at hello. I'm way German, and I work with a lot of German language/culture folk, so I loved being there for this. All around were people dressed in Alpine wear, with jaunty hats and lederhosen. A band sang German language covers of popular eighties songs, which I didn't notice while I was dancing to it. The place was mobbed. In search of a quick bite, I settled on "reuben rolls" which is a Rueben sandwich in egg roll form. With dipping sauce. And, I know...horrible fried food that I shouldn't eat, and OMG, fried corned beef and sauerkraut in an egg roll wrapper? But it wasn't bad. They had something called German Pizza. I'm not sure what that was. They had a stand devoted to herring. No, I'm not kidding. Herring. In various forms. You could get brats, of course, and that is what LeenGreenBean did, but not after seriously considering sauerbraten.

Next, we weaved along the midway towards the amphitheater, where booming music was already filling the air.

I thought that a name as big as Elvis Costello might have an opening act, but as we found our seats, we realized that he'd been on the stage for a few songs already and it was just past the time listed on the ticket. I wish we'd been there for his entire show,but the songs he sung were among some of my favorites. What's so funny about Peace Love and Understanding?, Watching the Detectives, and a duet of Alison with Sting. His band included a theremin which is probably the first time that I've actually seen the instrument played. Elvis was just a great time, for the few songs that I saw, but there wasn't enough demand for an encore, and the roadies started to efficiently wisk away his road equipment and set up the next bit.

Now, I should probably confess that my belief in the great views at Marcus were shaken last night, in that a giant bank of speakers were obscuring part of the view of the video screen at the back of the stage. I'd paid $50 a ticket, and if I'd just bought the grass seats (which were $20 less), I could have sat where ever I wanted and had a better view and been more comfortable. A lesson that I'll try to remember if there are future visits. However, there were other video screens that afforded us in the thin air of the upper seat some decent views.

The Police came on stage next, and I have to say, they are a rickety looking bunch of fellas. This was near the end of their tour, and they looked pissed off and tired and some thought, a little drunk. But then they started to play. Song after song that I loved and hadn't heard in years. At one point, Sting said "Before I started with these guys, I was a teacher. I had a mortgage. I had a pension." He paused. "What the hell happened?" Then they launched into Don't Stand so Close to Me.

And to some extent, that statement could resonate with a lot of the people there. What the hell happened? The crowd was largely .... ahem....older. Not that it is a bad thing, but the songs were all songs from our youth, and here we stood, listening to the trio of old men play them again, and looking back on our youth, on the first time they'd hear Sting wail "Roxanne" and remembering how young we'd been, the mistakes we made, the chances we took or how "Can't Stand Losing You" really hit the truth of how they felt during their first heartbreak.

But I continue to be impressed by the artistry of a true musician. The band can play, and they can rock, and they haven't forgotten how to make the instruments wail or how to make the people scream. I was particularly impressed by the drum and percussion talents of Stewart Copeland, who pounded the skins with a single minded intensity, and a hyper energy. Andy Sumner looked...robotic and angry, but as the night wore on, let loose wails of guitar genius. And Sting ... well he was Sting. He sang well, and he didn't lecture, but there were pleas for children and charities shown from time to time. He played an ancient looking bass guitar and danced around the stage like a much much younger man.

It was a concert of old songs, and no Sting songs, just Police standards and hits and favorites. They played two encores and that was it. The concert was over.

It was late, and the crowd shuffled off to their cars, to get lost in the mishmash of construction inflicted on I-94, to get stuck in the long lines of post-concert traffic and to say to their friends and loves, "It was so much different back then." And then get home and fall into bed, grateful that the band didn't keep them up too late. After all, old people need their sleep.