Police get back on the beat

Chuck Myers, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

The Police are back on the beat.

More than 20 years after the popular rock band made its last stage appearance, the group’s original members, guitarist Andy Summers, drummer Stewart Copeland and bassist and singer Sting will be at KeyArena on Wednesday and Thursday.

Formed in 1977, the Police started as a spunky punk band that quickly evolved into one of the top pop and rock bands in music history.

Given the number of hit singles the Police have to their credit, it’s hard to remember that the group released only five studio albums during its heyday in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Some of the group’s most popular numbers – “Roxanne,” “Don’t Stand So Close to Me” “Driven to Tears” and the timeless ballad “Every Breath You Take” – are still played in bars, restaurants and shopping malls and continue to make the playlist of classic and contemporary rock radio stations.

Much of the Police’s music possessed unmistakable buoyancy, which stemmed in no small part from a punchy, sometimes reggae-charged rock vibe. But there was a dark aspect to the music as well. Through his lyrics, Sting occasionally explored heavy, if not dark, social and emotional topics, including death, despair and destruction.

With each new release, the band’s status as a major rock act solidified and its fan base multiplied. By the release of their fifth album, “Synchronicity” in 1983, the Police had reached the zenith of their success. The group stood squarely at the center of the rock and pop music universe, and many in the music world wondered what the Police would do to top or match the success of “Synchronicity.”

But no album came.

Instead, fissures in the band began to split open over creative and personal differences. And, in 1984, the band took a self-imposed hiatus. Two years later, the trio seemed ready to give the Police a new try, but there was only a failed reunion attempt.

With the Police in a state of perpetual hold, Sting, Copeland and Summers headed off in new directions, launching what have proved to be prolific solo careers for each member of the band.

WHAT: The Police

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday

WHERE: KeyArena

TICKETS: $50-$225; 253-627-8497, www.ticketmaster. com.