The Police 1982 Tour

The 1982 Police, Ghost in the Machine Tour, was a dream come true, at least, for me. Twelve months earlier, I was making a living nailing up aluminum siding, and now here I was working on The Police Tour rolling across America at rock & roll speed. You can imagine the feeling of pure euphoria traveling with one of the hottest rock bands of 1982 and having all the great perks of touring amplified by the band's huge success. It was truly AMAZING!!!!

I'd like to share a few snippets of that tour, excluding when Sting gave me the finger and Larue and Eric had bad blood between them. Our boss, Guy, was in so tight with the band and management that when The Police were on stage he would sometimes watch their dressing room. With crystal clarity, I remember nights hanging with Guy in the dressing room, vibe sucking, and thinking is this real? I'm Twenty four, and getting paid to do this, my god, it's good to be alive!!!

Stingo and the boys always had top shelf items. They had fun things to do while waiting to go on stage, like, arcade games and a ping pong table. The dressing room had bottles of fine wine, platters of gourmet food and a four course dinner waiting for them after the gig. The Police could do no wrong and were enjoying themselves in every way possible!

Another visual I have from that tour was when we were counting large sums of money from the merchandise sales of the night's concerts. I would watch Guy walk out of a gig night after night with a t-shirt box full of cash and just take the money and run! Like I said in my book, Guy loved flying on the band's private plane and when he walked on board with a box full of cash it only added to his high flying times.

 This tour had a lot of learning episodes for me. One that stands out in my mind is the time I made the naive mistake of leaving an after show party before my lady friend. At the next concert, the band's bellboy read me the riot act because the chick had tried to get friendly with Andy the guitar player. When Andy found out how she had gotten into the after show party, that was all she wrote. Looking back, I must say the first couple times out on the road I was star struck and green. After getting my ass chewed out, I learned this was a business and one little misstep could derail your career permanently! That tour changed me and allowed me to grow up quickly and get ready to climb my way up the ranks. On a happier note, I remember when we all got our tour jackets and how everyone was so proud to be part of the experience. The amount of blow on that tour reached the point where Guy, as a goof, had a black t- shirt made for the band and entire crew that said GAKK ATTACK. Gakk was the nickname for coke. The shirt had a picture of a shark that looked identical to the shark in the movie Jaws. Blow consumption was off the charts and the drink of choice was single malt scotch.

One night, all popped up on a long overnight drive Larue reflected the same unreal thought on how his life changed, compared to his previous job of running an ice cream distributor. He told me a great road story from when he was on tour with Peter Frampton. It was the night the band played in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sweet Connie the queen of groupies, who, was immortalized in the song We're an American Band by Grand Funk Railroad came to the show and performed her act. Larue didn't need to go into detail; I'd heard all about Sweet Connie, though, I'd never met her. As we drove into dawns light the both of us wanted this lifestyle indefinitely and saw nothing but a bright future. As I've detailed in my book, it was hard to believe two years later we would become bitter enemies.

As far as the women on that tour, Sting appealed to babes from all walks of life and the girls hanging around the backstage door didn't look like the chicks on The Pretenders Tour. These young ladies were dressed in hot, sexy, trendy clothes of the eighties and wanted to party wildly! There's more in the book about this tour, what I've written about here were some additional things I thought worth mentioning. One last story…..while flying on the band's plane in rough weather Guy was concerned they would crash. He told me Sting assured him in a very upbeat voice that the plane had Rolls Royce engines and handled brilliantly in bad weather. Plus, the plane had such a large wingspan that if the engines were to die out it would be able to glide to the ground safely, that's how confident Sting was!

Next installment, on the road with The Clash!

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U2 1982 Tour

Upon finishing the Pretenders gig Eric and I boarded a jet to New Orleans to start touring with an unknown Irish rock band named U2, which gets its name from a US spy plane. We were amped about working together with Rick not in the mix. Neither one of us knew much about the band considering how new they were to the US music scene. Eric and I met U2 as we were all checking in at the same Holiday Inn. My first intro to Bono was when he jumped out of the shot gun seat of the nine passenger station wagon he and the band were driving for most of the tour. Out steps Bono with a bible in his hand, I'm thinking, this  dude with a mullet and bible is the lead singer? Instantly, Eric and Adam, the bass player, struck up a friendship. I remember one time Adam asking Eric how he scored so many women and his reply was "I just turn on the charm!" With Eric having so much freedom on that tour, and me being in charge with his watchful eye guiding me, he got laid every night. Eric was a bitch magnet and looking like Steve Stunning didn't hurt either! I have to tell you, I was amazed to see a rock star in awe of one of the road crew, the first and only time!

 So, as I was saying, Bono was not the Bono of today, he was a young buck who'd not to long ago joined the ranks of a another up in coming rock & roll outfit touring the USA. Watching him holding that bible I kept thinking, he's not going to get laid that way! While we were meeting the band, the road crew pulled up in another station wagon and after five minutes of hellos it was crystal clear they were as straight as the band. No card games on this tour or drinking wildly into the night or womanizing. They were the most sober bunch and were here to do one thing, which was, their job! Merchandise sales were horrible and a lot of shows were not sold out. We played a bunch of club dates and the shows were one right after another, this was my first taste of a grueling tour which keeps you in constant motion day after day. Sick as it sounds, for me it was the perfect environment for learning the ropes and becoming a proficient concert merchandiser. Some nights when U2 played college gigs we'd party with some campus girls which was always great fun! On the last part of the tour we opened for the J Giels Band and from day one they treated all of us like less than zero. The merchandisers made both Eric and I feel invisible. I believe the band and road crew picked up the same vibe from the Giels band and crew. As I mentioned, in my book, U2 kicked the living shit out of the J Giels Band musically every single night and I loved how hard and from the heart U2 played. But, all the audiences were interested in was the J Giels Band. People didn't know what to think of U2, they weren't booed or anything but, people didn't really respond.

Again, U2 was the most sober straight rock outfit I ever worked for and looking back, the greatest part of that tour was watching Bono grow in leaps and bounds under the guidance of the band's manager Paul McGuiness. Instantly, just looking at McGuiness you could see the band's future was bright, the dude knew his shit! On the other hand, looking at the band, no one could have predicted how huge they would become. They didn't reek of super star, and all I saw were four young struggling Irish lads hoping to make a dent in the US rock scene. A couple weeks into the tour Bono got the look in his eye, which was STRAIGHT TO THE TOP!!! He started looking and feeling real comfy on stage and skillfully learned his trade of being a brilliant front man. Other than that, the tour was low budget compared to traveling on the Pretenders Tour. When we got word that our next gig was with the band The Police and we were going to be playing nothing but arenas I couldn't wait to bolt. Don't get me wrong, I loved U2, but the fun factor was nowhere to be found and in my eyes touring's all about having fun while doing your job! I was looking forward to hooking up with Larue who was already working The Police gig and back to hard partying! So, after a couple of months on the road with U2 we both said our goodbyes to all and Eric and I drove the van to Dallas, Texas to join The Police tour. A week or so earlier, I'd been talking to Larue on the phone and he gave me the skinny about the engagement and said "O'clock you're going to have the time of your life, see you when you arrive! Dear lord, Larue was so right!

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Next installment on the road with The Police.

 I'm thrilled & proud to announce that the The Golden Notebook Bookstore| 29 Tinker Street | Woodstock, NY 12498 | 845-679-8000 is now selling the paperback version of my book ROCK MY WORLD