The Police ~ Spirits in the Material World ~ Synchronicity Concert [1983]

This live video shows The Police at The Omni Coliseum in Atlanta on 11-03-1983. Originally The Police wanted to release another concert, but were not satisfied with their 08-02-1983 performance. So directors Godley & Creme filmed them again at The Omni in Atlanta, GA, USA on 11-02-1983 and 11-03-1983. Some audience shots from the August performance were still used for the official release. The Police’s Synchronicity Tour ran between July 23, 1983 and March 4, 1984. During the early dates, the band resided at a mansion in Bridgehampton, New York and were flown to the concerts. This was the band’s final tour as a working unit and one of the highest-grossing tours of the 1980’s. “I was never relaxed,“ drummer Stewart Copeland recalled. “I had so much anxiety. And I know how crazy that must sound to people who do real jobs.“ Copeland did however cite the August 18 show at Shea Stadium as the peak of “Policemania“: “Playing Shea Stadium was big because, even though I’m a septic tank (rhyming slang for ’Yank’), The Police is an English band and I’m a Londoner – an American Londoner – so it felt like conquering America.“ The November 2 and 3 shows in Atlanta were filmed and recorded for a live album and DVD. “Spirits in the Material World“ is the is the opening track from the band’s fourth studio album titled “Ghost in the Machine“, recorded at AIR Studios, Montserrat & Le Studio, Quebec, Canada assisted by record producer Hugh Padgham between January & September 1981 and released on October 2, 1981. “Spirits in the Material World“ was written by Sting on a Casio keyboard while in a truck. It was his first experience using a synthesizer. “’Spirits in the Material World’ was written on one of those Casio keyboards while I was riding in the back of a truck somewhere. I just tap, tap, tap and there it was, just by accident. That was the first time I’d ever touched a synthesizer, that album.“ — Sting, Synchronicity Tour Program, 1983 Andy Summers’ presence on the studio track is considerably less pronounced than on the vast majority of Police songs, and in fact, Sting wanted to record it without him entirely. Having written the song on a synthesizer, he wanted for it to use synthesizer instead of guitar, and to play the synthesizer part himself. Summers thought the synthesizer part should be replaced by guitar, and after considerable argument, they compromised by recording the part on both instruments, with a mix such that the synthesizer drowned out much of Summers’s guitar. In live performances this part was played on guitar only, with synthesizer used only for background chords. The bass part for the song is distinctively complex, with music producer and cognitive psychologist Daniel Levitin writing that it “takes this rhythmic play to such an extreme that it can be hard to tell where the downbeat even is.“ This song is based on the writings of Hungarian author and philosopher Arthur Koestler. Sting enjoyed Koestler’s work, and the album “Ghost In The Machine“ is named after one of his books. Koestler believed that outside influences could destroy our spirit and restrict our thinking. The “spirits“ and “ghosts“ Koestler wrote about were the innate higher functions that often get lost in the “machine“ created by governments and corporations. The word “material“ has a double meaning here. In one sense, it indicates the physical world as opposed to the spiritual realm. It could also mean materialism, where a high value is placed on money and things at the expense of enlightenment. Sting explained the song’s meaning in Lyrics By Sting: “I thought that while political progress is clearly important in resolving conflict around the world, there are spiritual (as opposed to religious) aspects of our recovery that also need to be addressed. I suppose by ’spiritual’ I mean the ability to see the bigger picture, to be able to step outside the narrow box of our conditioning and access those higher modes of thinking that Koestler talked about. Without this, politics is just the rhetoric of failure.“ “Spirits in the Material World“ eventually saw single release in 1981 as the follow-up to “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic,“ making it the third single from Ghost in the Machine in Britain and the second in America. The single, while not as successful as its predecessors, peaked at No. 12 in Britain and No. 11 in America. *The supporting act for the band during this concert was The Fixx. Stewart Copeland – Drums & Percussion, Backing Vocals Sting – Bass guitar, Lead Vocals (Backing vocals on Album) Andy Summers – Guitar, Synthesizer, Backing Vocals Michelle Cobbs, Tessa Niles, & Dolette McDonalds – (Female backup singers at concert) #MysticRhythmsLive