Thanks to Kris & Pascale for the Ticket Stub
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Thanks to Kris & Pascale for the Ticket Stub |
Well, he first came to the Rocktemple Paradiso. And yesterday evening was a great intimate concert. We all had a great time, including the band. They played for 2 hours. I won't post the setlist, for others have said to do so, and so many people were grabbing lists from the stage, I guess we will see it more then once anyway. The live performance ads just a little more swing to the new songs every now and then. In my opinion that's just what it takes to fit in with the rest of the set during live performance. Although there were sacred moment also (a good thing for Paradiso used to be a church). So: this is very much OK, and I mean VERY MUCH!
And a little tip: If you are going to the show, don't take your little inflatable yellow sax with you and wave it in front of the man's face. He does not like it. Although, you will make it to the stage, and will be introduced as a member of the band at the end...
I want to share my sting-experience I had last Saturday with you.
As you probably know he did a pre-concert at the Paradiso in Amsterdam Saturday-evening. We started the day though by travelling to Amsterdam and paying a visit to the 'Bourbon Street' bar near Paradiso. We arrived at approx. 12.30. As we had to stay outside the bar for a while I noticed a tv-cam. I knew then Sting should arrive there any minute now. He arrived at 12.40 and walked straight toward us. I streched my arm and shook his hand, stumbled something like 'how are you?' or something. He answered something like 'good to be here'. Dominic was with him along with some people of the management. They got into the bar and we were allowed to follow.
We were with approx. 45 people in the bar as Sting started on stage with 'Lithium Sunset' and Dominic played the guitar. He also did 'I Hung My Head' and did 'Message In A Bottle' with probably the biggest Sting-fan, Ed Citroen (he played the guitar). We also got the chance to ask him many questions. I asked if he ever looked into the internet-sting-pages (including this news-group). And yes, he occasionally does.
It was a great happening, I took a lot of photographs. In the evening we went to the concert. Great, Great, Great. I really advise you to pay a visit. Nice tour-book also.
Well is there a better way to spend the weekend.
Short after 20:00 the door of the Paradiso opened. It was a real bottleneck but we had the pole position, the earning for waiting all these hours in the cold. We went to the stage and got a place directly in front of Sting´s microphone. During the time until 22:00 we could see the tracklist on a piece of paper, lying on the ground on the left side of the microphone. We were heavily discussing the tracklist and then suddenly Danny Quatrochi came and changed the tracklist. He gave the old one to the audience.
Exactly at 22.00 Sting came on the stage, clothed with a zebra shirt, which was great for all photographers. He said that they were still making errors in the songs ... we think he was a little bit nervous this evening. He already said at the Bourbon Street Cafe, that it is much easier for him to perform to big audiences than to smaller ones like at the Paradiso.
Sting opened with "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You" and a great version of "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free" before he started with the new song material. Before the a capella part of "I Was Brought To My Senses" he told that originally Kenny should sing this part because he can sing it much better... but then Sting took that part while Kenny substituted the guitar in the original version with some keyboard sounds.
After "Fields Of Gold" Sting used the spray for his vocal chords. He made a little gag and sprayed it under his arms too.
Most of the new material was really rocking compared with the album versions. Specially "Twenty Five To Midnight" was great and the horns did a great job on it.
"Roxanne" came with a tuba-solo by Carver Gayton, which was a heavy break in the song but sounded very funny and it was the only song where Sting did his typical jump. OK, the man´s getting older and yoga is more about stretching than about jumping...
They finished with a great medley of "This Cowboy Song" and "When The World Is Running Down", where Kenny did an incredible job. Then they did a break, but they don´t left the stage. They were sitting down behind the boxes; Dominic and Vinnie were smoking.
While "Englishman In New York" two fans directly in front of me (everybody knows of whom I´m speaking ....) waved her yellow plastic saxophones in front of Sting´s face. He was a bit irritated by that and grapped the saxophones away. He promised to give them back later.
After the first break everybody was blowing up his DSA ballons and threw them on the stage. While "She´s Too Good To Me" Sting kicked one with his bass away. Before he called the two fans on the stage, gave the saxophones back and they took place beetween the background singers and the horns. They really gave us a great virtual saxophone solo during the first encore ("She's Too Good For Me", "Nothing 'Bout Me", "Lithium Sunset"). Then they did a second break and the two fans had to leave the stage.
It was about 24:00 when the light was dimmed to a blue and moody atmosphere and Sting came back to bring us "Fragile" on his Chet Atkins acoustic guitar.
After show we ran out of the Paradiso to see Sting and band again. All people went to Sting while I was waiting near the band bus. One after the other band member came, gave me an autograph on the tour book I bought a few minutes before. I want to give my special thanks to Janice and Kenny who where very kind. Janice really made the greatest effort to sign the tourbook.
The Band:
The tracklist ... grapped from the stage:
Here is just a short review about the two shows Sting performed at the Paradiso in Amsterdam last weekend.
The capacity of this venue (which used to be a church) is about 1,000. The setlist on both nights was almost the same as the setlist at The Academy. The only difference was the fact that "Valpara(d)iso" and "La Belle Dame Sans Regret" weren't played!
The four backing singers (Monica, ?, Dolette and Janice) performed their last show with Sting here in Amsterdam, because they won't be present during the rest of the tour!
On Saturday Sting, Dominic and Vinnie visited the fanclubmeeting at a small bar (capacity: 100) near Paradiso from 1.00pm to 1.30pm!!! Acoustic versions of "Lithium Sunset", "Message In A Bottle" and "I Hung My Head" were performed. Sting also took time to answer some questions.
O.K. I don't have time for a detailed review, but here the set list. It was the same for both nights (09 March and 10 March):
I'll try to write a more detailed review later, but I just don't have time at the moment.
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