The Police Play Final Gig - With Real Police 8/8/08

The Police took to the stage with actual cops at their final concert after the New York City Police Band appeared onstage with the rock trio to perform.

Singer and bassist Sting, guitarist Andy Summers, and drummer Stewart Copeland stepped onstage to thunderous applause from the audience at New York's Madison Square Garden on Thursday (07Aug08).

They played a cover of the Cream song Sunshine Of Your Love, before being joined by around 20 drummers and musicians from New York's police band for a rousing rendition of their hit Message in a Bottle.

The uniformed officers sang along and banged their drums as frontman Sting strutted across the stage wearing a police cap. Four songs in, Sting applauded his bandmates for "your musicianship, your companionship, your friendship and your understanding".

Later in the set, Sting introduced his three young daughters, who danced and took photos as the band played Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic. The concert marked the end of a long string of 150 concerts - staged for 3.7 million people and grossing more than $350 million (£175 million) - since the band reunited for a comeback last May (07).

Sting told the crowd: "The real triumph of this tour is that we haven't strangled each other. That's not to say it hasn't crossed my mind, or Stewart's, or Andy's."

The gig served as a fundraising benefit for two New York public TV stations, with the band offering up exclusive seats to benefactors of state-wide TV networks Thirteen/WNET and WLIW21.