The Police - three guys and all - rock the AT&T Center...

The reunited Police - once the most popular band in the world and today among the top concert draws of the season - had this audience of 11,000 people at the AT&T Center on Tuesday on its feet before it even hit the stage.

Even Hannah Montana didn't do that.

Of course, it took Bob Marley's 'Get Up, Stand Up' to provide the irresistible message. It's party time. Piped in music never sounded so good. And it worked.

The Police's opening song 'Message In a Bottle' proved to be the perfect rousing, syncopated power pop wake up call. Sting, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy Summers would be relentless in that quest.

"Where are you? I can't hear you," Sting inserted mid-chorus.

'Synchronicity II' began with a grittier-than-remembered opening chord sequence, a midrange electric guitar punch to the head from and a band unafraid to mess with time signature

'Walking On the Moon' was a sing-along from the first.

"Before I had this job, I was a school teacher," Sting said before launching into 'Don't So Close to Me'. Copeland's drumming, along with Summers' insane solos, elevated 'Driven to Tears'.

Sting sang 'Hit the Road Jack' mid-song during 'Hole In My Life'. 'Truth Hits Everybody' pounded like an eighth-note jackhammer.

'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic' lacked bounce without the keyboards, but made up for it with skeletal structure that lacked no fun at all. Sting's range carried the evening.

But these guys make a lot of noise for three musicians.

'Wrapped Around Your Finger' - with Copeland making a shimmering percussive mishmash on gong, cymbals, bells and kettle drums was the foundation for Summers' fingered chords and Sting's undulating bass figure - was hypnotic crowd pleaser.

They all were. The Police never strayed from its song list.

The playful 'De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da' gave way to the moodier, groovier 'Invisible Sun' held down by Summers chunky guitar riffs. 'Can't Stand Losing You' remains the Police's best rock song, shifting keys and played the loudest of all this night.

The show began with the Police bathed in bright white spotlights, but by 'Roxanne', the preferred color was red. If their signature, breakout hit sounded rather dinky over TV speakers from the Grammy Awards earlier this year, it certainly roared here.

The encores included 'King of Pain' and 'Every Breath You Take'. No surprise.

There were no surprises this night. The Police are rightly among the season's hottest tours because of precisely that fact. It's solid. And that's enough these days to be hailed as the saviors of the flagging concert business.

The Police fit the bill.

Opening act Fiction Plane was an edgy delight, too. Instantly memorable, 'Two Sisters' takes Jan and Dean's Brian Wilson-penned 'Surf City' fantasy to the modern outer limits a la modernized Police.

Sting's son Joe Sumner leads the three-piece rock band, playing bass with his thumb like his dad, singing like a young Sting and jumping off speaker cabinets like the Police of yesteryear.

© San Antonio Express News by Hector Saldana