The red stars on the towers of the Moscow Kremlin don't often meet the big western stars, so two of Sting's gigs in the Great Kremlin Palace (March 13 and 14) were a great sensation for Russia. The media went crazy and sometimes we felt nearly into Sting-mania. The tickets (from 15 to 100 US dollars) blew out in under 2 days and on the days of the concerts tickets were selling for around $400 on the black market. The special black "ZIL" limousine (a type of Russian goverment special car) with the license number STING 77 took Mr. Sumner around Moscow. The shows were not commercial in the truest sense because the local Alfa bank paid for everything to promote the concert, and the ticket money went to a local charity.
It was standing room only in this former Palace for the Communist Congress - and the "New Russians", in fur, gold and diamonds occupied most of the first fifty rows. It was obvious they didn't bother themselves what kind of artist they want to see - he's *The Big Star*. But the rest of the audience was warm and excited to listen to Sting.
The March 13th concert was the first in his current world tour. Russians call it "wet" - the program was not perfectly cooked yet, and the band was a little afraid of the new audience, new programm and bad acoustics of this monstrous official Palace.
Sting's band is the same that recorded the Mercury Falling album, which is now firmly on the top of the Russian charts - with no spare copies in the shops - and in the Top 5 in U.K., with the exception of the Memphis horns. If you already have listened to Mercury Falling and have the old live double (non United States) album Bring On The Night, you can mix the impression to generate a picture of his sound. Sting shows himself as a grown-up, tired, obsessed with what-is-the-meaning-of-it-all problems, but still powerful musician. The improvisation and personal instrument-playing possibilities of, say Mr. Kenny Kirkland, are bound very tightly to the pop-format of the concert. Everything was well rehearsed and prepared long before the concert including every little gesture and musical "improvisation". Sting moved rarely and slowly; it's the father of six children on the stage, not the rock-rebel or jazz-pop-classic genius in free flight of the fantasy. In this critic's estimation, the show was performed not to expand on any of Sting's horizons, but to bring music from his most recent album directly to the people.
The second show was much more relaxed because of even better sound. The set list was copied from the night before with Russian "How are you?"'s for the audience, one-time Sting jumping, one-time moving from left corner to the right corner (the most visible gesture during the whole show) and an improvisation of "When The World Is Running Down". The problem is, despite any lack of Sting doing anything surprising during his show, the audience - as well as myself - visibly and audibly liked the show. When the music is this good, even a less than perfect stage presence can't dampen the overall concert.
The concert was filmed by the main Russian TV and they were allowed to shoot first three song to 15 television companies from all around the world. SET LIST: "If I Ever Lose My Faith", "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free", "King Of Pain", "Hounds Of Winter", "I Hung My Head", "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot", "You Still Touch Me", "Seven Days", "Fields Of Gold", "25 To Midnight", "4 Seasons", "It's Probably Me/Sister Moon", "Shape Of My Heart", "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic", "Roxanne", "Englishman In New York", "This Cowboy Song/When The World Is Running Down", "Every Breath You Take", "She's Too Good", "Nothing 'Bout Me", "Lithium Sunset".
While not contributing articles to Consumable or doing publicity for concerts in Russia, Oleg Pshenichny reports and writes on rock and roll in Russia for several of the country's top newspapers.
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