The news that former Police drummer and prolific film composer Stewart Copeland is doing a spoken-word tour led me back to his 1978 single “Don’t Care,” which he released under the moniker Klark Kent. Copeland made a good foil for Sting in The Police, which became a band forever identified with their 1983 hit “Every Breath You Take,” one of the most insidiously two-faced songs of that decade. Listening to “Don’t Care” reminded me how cheerfully crass The Police could be, as you can hear on 1980’s Zenyatta Mondatta. Sting put his name on “De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da” and “Don’t Stand So Close to Me,” two singles that almost make you forget the later, middlebrow Sting. Copeland’s show on Aug. 4 at City Winery should contain some dish about Sting, with whom Copeland apparently disagreed during the sessions for 1983’s Synchronicity, the final Police album. As Copeland — an unflappably energetic person whose career is multifarious — likes to describe his role in The Police, he simply sat back and drummed while Sting and guitarist Andy Summers did their respective things. Summers and Copeland filed a lawsuit in 2025 against Sting about royalties from Police hits including “Every Breath You Take,” which continue to fascinate four decades after The Police disbanded.
7:30 p.m. at City Winery
609 Lafayette St.
