Here's what happened yesterday (thursday 28th) in Paris. Sting took advantage of a one day break between 2 concerts (Gand in Belgium on the 27th, and Lille in France, tonight) to take part in the recording of the french TV show called "Taratata".
Sting and the band arrived around 1h30 PM, near the studio located half-a-mile out of Paris, in a town called "la Plaine Saint Denis". The studio is an ancient warehouse transformed into a huge set with incredible ligntnings under the roof. The audience sits on benches which have a U-form, and surronds the band.
The rehearsals started around 3h00 PM, with "Set them free" which they repeated 3 times, one for warming up, one for the director & cameras, and one for slight arrangements with the horns (2 pieces) and vocals (2 gospels women singers).
Then, Sting started "I was brought to my senses", and did it 3 times also. But he didn't seem to mind doing it over and over. "I like this song", he said. Myself, I loved the intro, and Dominic's guitar starting on.
Then, Kenny and Vinnie strated jammin', on a jazz style. "I hate jazz!", said Sting, laughing. He seemed in a very good-mood in this atmosphere that he discovered 1 1/2 year ago, when he took part in his first "Taratata" for the release of "Fields of gold: the best of Sting".
The show is a bit like Unplugged, except that it's warmer, the audience is all around, and there's a chat between each song with the anchorman, named Nagui.
Anyway, the rehearsals continued randomly. Sting wasn't sure yet what songs he would eventually perform. So the band did "I hung my head" and "You still touch me". Sting preferred the second one, so they decided to choose it for the show. And did it 3 times, too !
Then, Youssou'N Dour arrived on the set, to rehearse a duet with Sting. Great ! A funny song, a standard -though I had never heard it before-, but I don't remember the name. I'll let you know... ["Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" by The Beatles, White Album]
Another band came in to rehearse their performance (one song). Then, everyone left with a rendez-vous by 6h30 PM for the general rehearsal.
At 6h30, the crew faked the program, with the introduction musical theme. Nagui, then Sting arriving on the set after walking on a red carpet. It started with "Let your soul...". Chat. Then the duet with Youssou'N Dour, then "Set them free", then the guest band, then "I was brought to my senses", then "You still touch me". The show was then supposed to be over, but Sting made an encore which was not scheduled with "When the world is running down" (great keyboard solo by Kenny).
At 8:00 PM, the public entered the set. The actual live recording started at 8:45PM, and lasted 1 hour 10 minutes. Trudie arrived just before 8:OO in a limousine Mercedez, with her latest baby in her arm "Born on December 17th by a cesarienne" Sting explained Nagui. Both the baby and Trudie did stand behind the cameras during the whole recording.
During the show, Nagui explained that, a couple of days after the his first Taratata, Sting wrote a hand-made letter to the crew of the program, saying "I had a great time. Please, invite me again". So they did.
This time, just before heading out of the building, Sting promised everyone that he would come back. So do I !
The show will be broadcasted on France 2 (french TV) on sunday April 7th, around 10 PM (local time). There should be a rerun on the next tuesday night, late around 1:00 or 2:00 AM. "Supervision", the cable and satellite channel of France 2 in 16/9 format will preview Taratata on the 6th. And there will be a broadcast on TV5, but I don't know the date.
The interest for France 2 and Supervision is the sound : Stereo on Supervision, and Digital stereo using a Nicam decoder on France 2. That way, I taped the previous show last year, and I listen to it almost every day.
If you want any more details about this tremandous day, or if you are looking for any Sting related material, or if you have great stuff to sell, offer, trade, please e-mail me.
I've been following Sting's career since my first ever rock concert : it was with The Police, in january 1981. Now, I have one of the nicest record and CD collections in France, to be modest...
Do let me know what you think of this report. Your opinion mean a lot to me.
Have a nice day, wherever you are !
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