When Sting announced, "We`re the Police and we`re back" from the Staples Center stage at the Grammy Awards, he heralded a tour that has long been a dream for music fans and the concert industry alike.

"We`re all looking for the kind of thing that kicks our business in the ass, and something like this definitely fits that bill," says Arthur Fogel, chairman of global music of Live Nation and president of the promoter`s international touring unit the Next Adventure. TNA produces the tour in association with RZO Entertainment.

"I am confident that we`re on the eve of the biggest tour of 2007," RZO partner Bill Zysblat says.

The tour begins May 28 at the GM Arena in Vancouver. The band - Sting, Stewart Copeland and Andy Summers - will play arenas and stadiums internationally through the end of the year. Included on the route is a headlining performance at the Bonnaroo Music Festival June 16 in Manchester, Tenn., and a July 28 stop at Fenway Park in Boston.

Fogel`s team has a history producing Sting`s global tours, and last year wrapped massive international runs by Madonna and U2. Similarly, RZO has worked the last several Sting tours, "so, we were involved at the first hint of a Police tour," Zysblat says. "We are responsible for all financial matters other than local show costs [which are the responsibility of TNA]."

A Police tour has been on the wish list of those both within and outside the music business since the group split in 1984 following the release of its most successful album, 'Synchronicity.' Asked how long this tour has been in the works, Fogel says, "Several years for me. It was just a long process to sort of move it from talk to pushing the button."

Details were announced at a Feb. 12 press conference at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, Calif., at which the band showcased its remarkable onstage alchemy with live performances of several songs. At the press conference, Sting says he became open to the idea of reuniting with his bandmates a few months ago.

"This light bulb went off in my head: I`m going to call Andy and Stewart and tell them we should do a tour," he says. "I thought, well, it will surprise them. It will surprise the world, and it`s surprising me, too. It`s very healing. It`s a part of my life I`ve sort of run away from for 25 years."

Interest in the weeks leading to the tour announcement has been incredibly high. "While we have not yet seen the public`s reaction, the industry buzz is at a level I have never seen,' says Zysblat, who has in the past 30 years worked on tours including David Bowie, Pink Floyd and the Rolling Stones."

The plan is for the Police to tour North America through the first week of August, then play the United Kingdom and Europe, returning to North America in late October. The rest of the world will follow, including Mexico, South America, Japan and possibly Australia and New Zealand through the end of the year. About 80 shows are on the books, including 24 cities in North America.

"There are definitely parts of the country and cities that we aren`t going to get to," Fogel says. "But we have some flexibility when we come back later in the fall to put in some other places."

Still, multiples in major cities are likely, with a double at Madison Square Garden in New York (Aug. 1 and 3) named out of the box. The band first headlined the Garden in January 1981. "It was the first arena show they had ever played and they sold out," MSG Entertainment president Jay Marciano says. "Their performance [this summer] at MSG will undoubtedly be one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year."

Fogel is known for being conservative in his projections, but the buzz leading up to the tour indicates that the band will play multiples in many markets. Billboard`s own calculations put the gross potential at more than $200 million.

"The reality is somewhere between the hype and the conservative," Fogel says. "From day one I thought it would be a big tour that incorporates eight to 10 stadiums in Europe, eight to 10 stadiums in America, and I`m sticking with that."

Best Buy is the North American sponsor of the tour and will conduct the presale orchestrated by Ticketmaster. Tickets will be scaled primarily at $225,$90 and $50, falling somewhere between U2 and Stones/Madonna prices. "If you look at some of the Web sites and chatter, people are expecting a lot higher than that," Fogel says.

Fans won`t be disappointed, Fogel concludes. "This is one of those things that`s going to be exactly what people want it to be," he says. "That`s my assessment."

Taken from M&C