Concert Reviews Home Page

March 23, 2000

Scotland Exhibition & Conference Center - Glasgow, Scotland

by Sam Kington on March 24, 2000

A few comments about yesterday's show.

First of all: the set list remains the same as the Belfast one. Nice to see All this time *and* Mad about you there; all in all, a 2 hour set, which is impressive.

I particularly like the way he's both experimenting on most of the songs (After the rain has fallen/We'll be together is inspired; the intro to Fill Her Up sounds much better; a lot of the songs sound very different with Manu's harder drumming), but at the same time knowing when not to mess with the songs. In particular, Seven Days is much improved, as he's got back to the tightness of the original album version, and hasn't messed with the vocal line.

On a similar note, I was *so* relieved about Desert Rose. There's none of the muffledness and confusion of the TV versions; this live version is great. (Dominic plays Cheb's lines in the first verse or two - nice touch.) He's also singing the vocal line from the remix version, rather than the original, which I think is better.

Roxanne has been reinvented again - the rhythm section in the whole call and response "Roxanne-o" part is one of the best grooves I've heard from him in concert. One question, though: does Chris Botti normally do a trumpet solo in Roxanne? There were three verses of Roxanne-o, which felt like one too many, as if Sting was making up for the lack of a solo.

I was dissapointed with BOTN/When the World. Although it got a huge reaction from the crowd as soon as the guitar riff started up, I wasn't impressed by the piano solo. Every time I've seen Sting previously, he's revamped the solo (the version in the MF tour was exceptional); this solo sounded like a carbon copy of Kenny's solo on the BOTN album, even down to the structure: I could tell what was going to happen next because I was following the album version in my head.

But the show ended on a buzz, which was the important thing; a slight revamp of If I ever lose my faith in you, followed by a good solid Every Breath You Take, which he's still tinkering with. Message in a bottle had everyone singing along, and again the crowd went wild for Fragile.

(All over by 10.30, and the pubs shut at midnight. Bliss.)

by Juan Manuel Santiago on March 30, 2000

I've just come back from my trip to Scotland where I saw Sting live in Glasgow. Here is the review:

I arrived at the SECC (Scottish Exhibition&Conference Center) at 5:30 in the evening (two hours before the show started) and surprisingly one a few people were there. The auditorium would be opened at 6:30 so I went to the merchandising shop to buy some items. Unfortunately the prices were incredibly high. The t-shirts costed between 16 and 20 pounds (between $28 and $34), the coffee mug 7 pounds ($12) and the sweatshirt costed 90 pounds!!! (around $160), so I only bought a t-shirt and the coffee mug.

The support band started at 7:30. It was a band which mixed jazz, ethnical music and a kind of arabian music. The fact is they sounded very well. At 8:30 Sting appeared on stage. He was wearing black trousers and a tight sweater...really elegant. Although I was sitting so far from him, I had got my binoculars with me. The track list was:

A thousand years...nothing special. Same version than in previous shows.
If you love somebody set them free. Some people started to follow the rhythm clapping but in general most people were as cold as the weather in Glasgow that night.
After the rain has fallen. Great song, powerful...
We'll be together. One of the best songs in the night, in my opinion.
Perfect love...gone wrong. Manu Katché did an excellent work with the rap. Many applauses for him at the end of the song.
All this time. Maybe the best song in the night. He played the song much better than in the soul cages world tour.
Mad about you. Another great performance.
Seven days.
I'm so happy I can't stop crying. Unfortunately Sting didn't invited anybody to sing with him as he did in Mercury Falling tour.
Fields of gold. One of my favourite songs. Very sweet.
Every little thing she does is magic. FINALLY the people started to get up from their seats and sang the song.
Moon over Bourbon Street. Great work of the best member of the band, in my opinion: Chris Botti.
Tomorrow we'll see. Sting's voice in its highest point.
Englishman in N.Y. Great song, people singing. Chris Botti was fantastic again.
Brand New Day.
Roxanne. Another fantastic version. It started in an accoustic with a great work of Dominic.
Desert Rose. Unfortunately the song isn't the same without Cheb Mami and he wasn't there. However, Chris Botti did the best.
Bring on the night/When the world...really boring. I think the song should be removed from the show or at least change the way it is played.

(1st encore)

If I ever lose my faith in you.
Every breath you take. Always exciting.

(2nd encore)

Message in a bottle. The crowd singing the chorus. Really great. One of the magic moments in the night.
Fragile.

My conclusion of the show is that Sting always gets the best musicians in the world. Dominic is really great, Manu Katché is as good as Vinnie and Chris Botti is an EXCELLENT trumpet player. Jason Rebello is also a great keyboardist but Kenny Kirkland was much better.

Finally I got some flyers of the show. I'd like to change it for flyers of other shows. People who has got some flyers of other European or US shows and they're interested in a trade, please e-mail privately at: santiago@bart.us.es.

That's all for today. I'll do more reviews when I attend some Spanish shows in June.

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