Stewart Copeland Brings His Police Deranged Show to Dallas for a High-Energy Treat

Whether it was cracking jokes, leading an orchestra, pounding drums or accepting a prestigious award from SMU, Steward Copeland — musician, composer and former drummer for The Police — brought an electric fusion of rock and orchestral music to an entertaining show at The Meyerson Symphony Center on Tuesday night.

Copeland is best known for his work as a founding member of supergroup The Police. Since the band's original breakup in 1986, he has written more than 70 film scores, TV soundtracks and video game soundtracks plus works for ballet and opera. He also has won two more Grammy Awards to go with the five he collected with The Police. Now he can add the prestigious Meadows Award from SMU to his list of accolades. The award is given to "an artist of national or international renown who has soared to the utmost height of their profession."

Previous winners include playwright Arthur Miller, actress Angela Lansbury and musician Wynton Marsalis.

His "Police Deranged with Orchestra" show had been on a hiatus but was brought out by Tom Keck, the director of the division of music at SMU and an avid Police fan. Copeland took the stage with the SMU Meadows Symphony Orchestra for the performance and did workshops with the SMU students as well as rehearsing this piece, which had been performed previously only by professional symphonies. Copeland is essentially an adult kid. He cracked jokes, was animated and bounced all around the stage between songs. It was "be careful giving the drummer a mic" times a thousand, but in the best possible way. Although this was a symphonic night, the rock element was hard to ignore. Copeland brought his regular "Deranged" crew, including Armand Sabal-Lecco on bass. As much as Copeland engaged with each musician and audience member in the room, he keyed in on the bass, which is not a shock. Sabal-Lecco provided the echo of Sting's original bass lines from The Police, which was much needed as a guide through these reimagined yet familiar songs. Copeland's regular band was filled out by singers Ashley Tamar Davis, Amy Keys and Carmel Gaddis, with Dallas' own Samuel Swank on guitar. Most of The Police favorites were heard, if not completely recognizable. In more than one song intro, Copeland almost seemed to relish the fact that the audience might not be able to guess what song they were hearing until it was well underway. A "Police Deranged" album is due out later this year, and this setlist included versions of "Roxanne," "Every Breath You Take" and "Message in a Bottle." Midway through the set, Copeland asked, "What do you call a drummer who loses a stick? A conductor!" He proceeded to guest conduct a song with one drumstick tucked in his back pocket and the other as his wand. His style was a mixture of Bugs Bunny and Bill Murray, but it definitely enhanced the experience. Copeland went even further as he grabbed a guitar to do his best Pete Townshend impression, going absolutely nuts. Copeland turned serious to implore the audience to "come back and check these guys in their day jobs. We're just having fun tonight, but check out what they really do." It didn't take long for Copeland to return with the jokes, reminding the rock fans in the crowd that "before there was Slipknot, there was Stravinsky!" Copeland is a powerhouse and a living legend. To witness his youthful energy and next-level drumming combined with the zest of the Meadows Symphony Orchestra provided a once-in-a-lifetime experience.