Thanks to Dave & Wendy Dunn for the Ticket Stub
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Thanks to Dave & Wendy Dunn for the Ticket Stub |
After his excellent performance on Simon Mayo's Radio 1 show back in November 1994, Sting was invited to come back and perform again on Simon Mayo's show. However, instead of Sting performing a few acoustic numbers, a mini concert was planned, with Sting receiving backing from his full band. Tickets for the show were given away on Simon Mayo's show in the weeks leading up to the concert, but luckily for me, the "Outlandos" fan club were given an allocation of tickets. I was offered tickets (which were free), which I naturally accepted. The tickets themselves were nothing special - large red tickets with just the details of the time and venue of the concert - Thursday 15th February 1996 at the BBC Radio Theatre, London. However, also with the tickets were special "tour laminates", with details of the Radio 1 concert on one side, and a new black and white picture of Sting on the other. Exclusive to this show!
Anyway, we arrived at the BBC buildings at 10.15, and the doors were eventually opened at 11.15. The theatre was quite small, and all seated. The stage was quite small, yet comfortable. Simon Mayo appeared a few minutes before midday to "warm up" the audience, i.e. he wanted to make sure that we would make enough noise when Sting appeared. After describing our first cheer as "crap", we certainly raised the volume for the second attempt! Then the band took their places. Dominic Miller on guitar, Vinnie Coluita on drums, Kenny Kirkland on keyboards (who came on stage with the aid of a walking stick), four backing singers (two black females and two males, one black, one white) and a small horn section consisting of a trumpeter and a saxophonist. They were dressed very casually. Simon Mayo then introduced Sting in a very grand way...and on strode Sting in a very thin black and white "zebra" shirt, black jeans and brown boots. His hair was cropped short again, and his shirt was very open...he was very much the rock star...
Sting was obviously not used to such an early concert, as his opening words were: `Thank you. What time is it? Let's go!', at which point the band launched into "Synchronicity II", loud and rocky as usual. The horn section was used throughout the song, and indeed throughout the whole concert, sparingly yet effective. As soon as the song finished, the now famous spray appeared to soothe Sting's throat. It seems the rehearsals and the promotion was being to take it's toll. Sting restrained himself a little for the remainder of the set, but not too much. It was the only time he sprayed his throat - other lubrication was provided by "Highland spring water". Following "Synchronicity II," came "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You," and Sting proved true to form by forgetting the first line! Then almost immediately came "If You Love Somebody Set Them Free," which I think was probably the best song of the set. It was the new arrangement, similar to the version performed at the 1995 Japanese concerts. It mixed elements of the new "Brothers In Rhythm" remix, the version on the 1991 tour and the original - absolutely great! The backing singers were prominent on this track, and I must say that they were very good. I'm not very keen on backing singers, but these were very good, again, only used sparingly. Then "Seven Days" was introduced, with some great guitar from Dominic, followed by "Englishman In New York" which featured excellent keyboard work from Kenny, but surprisingly no saxophone. Then came the now familiar opening to the new single, "Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot." The edited version was performed, and the extended outro was particularly good. This completed the Radio 1 broadcast. However, this was not the end for all the fans in the BBC Radio Theatre. "We're gonna do some more. There's no point in getting up if you're not gonna sing...this is called "This Cowboy Song"...," and Sting and band broke into a rare live performance. Sting didn't sing in his high voice for this, to save his voice I guess, and about half way through, the song was cut short to be replaced with the thumping bass line of "When The World Is Running Down..." What a great version! Kenny Kirkland was predictably superb, and Vinnie threatened to take the song into overdrive with a powerful performance. The horns were also very effective. Then it was all over... There wasn't really time for anymore - Sting and band were off to rehearse and record a live set for the UK TV programme "The White Room" to be broadcast on Channel 4 on Saturday 17 February. I think we all went away quite satisfied! It was a shame that he didn't play anything else from the new album, but I'm sure we won't have long to wait.
After the show, I met Kenny Kirkland, who kindly posed for a photo with me...
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