Review by: Val Tapia
The biggest challenge of critiquing a spoken word performance lies in holding a legendary musician accountable to the narrative stakes they promise from the stage.
During drummer extraordinaire Stewart Copeland’s Have I Said Too Much? tour stop at the MIM on Tues. June 16, he delivered a highly-engaging, sharp-witted retrospective of his life. Backed by a well-organized presentation of archival photos and home videos, Copeland navigated his early years with Curved Air and major success with The Police with humor and candor effortlessly. In other words, he’s a natural at storytelling.
Having said that, the conversation’s biggest flaw emerged in the second half. It’s when he stated that things will get “a little heavy” and that he’ll be “talking smack” about “certain people”. Read: former Police bandmate Sting.
Not surprisingly, that really never took place. Frankly, the stories of the turbulent relationship between Copeland and Sting have been well documented anyway. To that point, we likely wouldn’t have heard anything “new”. And truth be told, we didn’t, to get to the point.
In short, the sold-out audience just got a diplomatic, generalized version of their difficult relationship. Rightly or wrongly.
From a critical perspective, Copeland’s verbal caution arguably left a glaring narrative void that structural showmanship could not hide. While he spent the first half (70 minutes, before a 20-minute intermission) of the chat teasing the explosive friction that fueled The Police’s creative peak, the second part (lasting 50 minutes) bypassed the genuine tension fans maybe expected to hear.
At times, it was like a calculated retreat that felt less like an organic conversation and more like a carefully crafted public relations dance. Yes, there was plenty of boisterous charm that Copeland is known for. But not as much substantive insight as some fans would’ve liked there to be.
The main reason, in my opinion, for this onstage restraint from Copeland regarding The Police is glaringly obvious. As of this writing, Copeland, Sting and lead guitarist Andy Summers are still in a court battle over alleged unpaid royalties due to Copeland and Summers. By the way, that’s the short answer in case you didn’t notice. But I digress.
In any event, while Have I Said Too Much? served as an entertaining, highly polished evening for casual fans of rock history, the shadow of heavy litigation between the members of The Police perhaps choked the show’s full potential.
The final verdict? 3.5 out of five stars.
