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20-10-1978 / New York City, NY / CBGB's / USA The Police embarked on their first tour in North-America and Canada. It was called the "Laker Tour", because they flew from London to New York City cheaply with the company Laker Tour Airline. The 23-concert-tour was planned by Miles and Ian. A&M didn't pour any money into the tour. The low budget affair for which the group took the bare essentials in the way of equipment and travelled on Laker's Skytrain. A&M wasn't willing to finance an US-tour, because The Police didn't have a hit in the UK. A&M only lent the guys some money for a van. Ian, who was already in the US to organize tours for British punkbands, bought the van and drove from Macon, GA to New York, NY (a distance of approximately 700 miles). A day before the tour started Stewart flew straight in, because he had an American passport. The next morning Sting and Andy were still trying to get their visas together at the American embassy in England. When they finally got into the plane they carried their instruments with the hand-luggage to reduce the costs. At 7.00 pm they arrived at the airport with a delay of 5 hours. At the airport Stewart and Miles (who happened to be there) were waiting for them to pick them up and take them to CBGB's. Later Stewart said: "By the time they got through the customers the club was already full...and we went to the dressing room at the back which didn't have a door in it...Sting and Andy got their instruments and went straight on...plugged in...turned around and 'Hello America'". |
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