A reunion tour always makes you ask an uncomfortable question: "How did I get so old?"

Looking around at my fellow Gen-Xers, and often equal numbers of Boomers, I wonder, am I, and what I'm about to see, tragically unhip?

But if a band is still at the top of its game, when the lights go out, the doubts dissipate and you're transported back in time.

Last night, The Police took me, and he rest of the crowd at the Sprint Center, back to 1983.

Of course, it helped to set the mood that the opening act was the living, breathing Elvis -- Costello, that is. He wasn't wearing a skinny tie, and the glasses were less oversized, but the hits were all there:"Pump It Up," "Every Day I Write the Book," "Allson" and, of course, his closer "(What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love and Understanding." It was good. So good, in fact, that you'd almost forget he's the opener, not the main attraction.

But then it hits you: The opening notes of "Message in a Bottle." From the first, it was clear this was going to be good.

Listening to The Police, it's hard to believe these guys haven't played together in more than 20 years. Are the guitars still driving? Yeah. Does Stewart Copeland still bring the beat? Witness "Wrapped Around Your Finger." Can Sting still hit and hold the notes (Roxxxxxaannnnnne!) Definitely. The band's hiatus makes you forget just how good they really are, though the threesome showed its rustiness by playing it safe on many of its classics and avoiding ad-libs .

The hits were all there -- "Walking On the Moon," "Spirits in the Material World," "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic," "De Do, Do Do, De Da, Da Da" and "Don't Stand So Close to Me" (thankfully the original version, not the remake with too much synth on the greatest hits album). My husband did miss "Synchronicity," which did seem a strange omission, given that there was some stuff that was filler (which did seem to dull the crowd's enthusiasm at points) and that the show ran only about 100 minutes, a bit short for the price and the band's catalog of music.

The highlights were a stripped-down, almost mystical, version of "Wrapped Around Your Finger;" "Roxanne" -- always a classic; "King of Pain" (although I can never hear it without thinking of Weird Al's "King of Suede"); and "Every Breath You Take," THE song that defines The Police.

I've seen quite a few reunion acts, and although I've never been disappointed, with some (Blondie, Depeche Mode), the music is definitely more nostalgia than now. But that's not the case with The Police. When their songs are played on the radio today, they're every bit the hits they were in the late '70s and early '80s. That's what brings out people who paid $100 to $200 bucks each to see a band that hasn't made a record in more than two decades.

I'm not saying the band isn't showing the years. Andy Summer looks his age. And Sting has traded his Billy Idol hair for stubble on the face, but you've got to give the guy credit for still rockin' it out in a black tank top and not looking too bad.

Was it as good as it was 25 or 30 years ago? I can't make the comparison given that I was too young to drive the band's first time around. But am I glad these guys got it back together one more time? Definitely. The Police are one of those bands that you just have to see live. Thankfully they've given all of us who missed them the first time that chance.