I was wondering what everyone who attended the Sting concert at Riverport in St. Louis thought.
I personally thought the concert was great but I absolutely HATE the venue. My tickets cost $135 each (including the Ticketmaster gouge) and were 3rd row in the right section. The view would have been great if the camera man for the "jumbotrons" hadn't been right in the line of sight throughout the whole concert. I live in the St. Louis area and every show I've been to at Riverport has been somewhat ruined by the amateurs that run that venue. From the cluster f**k parking and the bottleneck to get into the show to the ignorant security nazis... a beer is $7, there's no need to continue...
I made eye contact with the Stinger, blew him a kiss and he blew one back!
What did everyone think of Tim, the guy that brought the letter about his wife leaving him for his best friend and wanting to sing "I'm so happy I can't stop crying" with Sting. I couldn't believe he got up there and sang with him, and then the wife came up! We ran into Tim after the concert and got the low down, if anyone is interested let me know!
I really enjoyed the show, but here are some of my "Riverport" bitches and complaints:
It's so anti-climatic when you experience a great show and then having to deal with the frigging parking......
It's not just the beer, it's everything else in the concession stands. $3.00 for a small soda!!! The price of 3 sodas pays for one cylinder of syrup. WoW
For a show that's corporate sponsored, the tickets were way overpriced. I guess the Zuckerman's and the Schankman's have to get their slice of the pie. $75.00 for left center is way to much. I guess I get laughed at last since I shelled out the money.
I would have rather seen some up and coming band to start the night rather than Tracy Chapman. Just to keep the price down. I like her music, but $75.00 plus the legal scalping fee that they tack on.
The music itself was great. I overheard a few people bitching that he didn't play enough Police songs..............but then again I'm still trying to figure out what I did with my referee shirt that I use to wear in the 80's (A little sarcasm there)! I liked the Police, but I would feel ripped off if he played too many Police songs.
Was the Tim thing staged?
It certainly is an interesting story. I met Tim at the Chicago show in December and ran into him again last night. I was thrilled that he got to sing with Sting. Unfortunately the circumstances aren't the greatest. I'll let the original poster fill you in - or there is a good chance that Tim will fill everyone in himself.
As far as the show was concerned.......................the band seemed a little off in a few places tonight. I actually saw Dominic make a few faces and one time during EBYT he must have sang the wrong words on back up - because he made a really odd face and stepped away from the mic mid verse. However, these small distractions did not in any way hinder my enjoyment of the show. This was the first time I was ever close to the stage for a show and I must say that once you have been in the front row, anything less than that is a dissapointment. Lots of great interaction with Sting and Dominic ( I was front-left). I really felt like I was part of a live show. Interestingly enough, I felt like I was the most excited person in the first few rows. I was actually "asked" to sit down by the girl behind me - duh it's a concert, people stand up-, people were up and down leaving to get beer and whatever else through the whole show, and I was shocked that many people left before the encores. Very reserved crowd - except for me. My face hurt from smiling so much. The night was worth every bloody penny I paid for it.
I thought I'd give Tim a chance to tell everyone (it's his story, after all) but then got an e-mail from someone dying from the suspense :) and since I don't know if Tim lurks around here...
During the concert, Sting said "What's this letter, I can't read it up here, pass it to the front". The letter said "Sting: my wife left me for my best friend. Can I sing 'I'm so happy I can't stop crying' with you? Tim".
Sting says "where is Tim, bring him up" and so there's Tim on the stage. Sting asked if the wife was there, Tim said yes. Sting says "Bring her up". She went up, but later (She didn't look real happy being up there but gave Sting a big hug after the song). Sting tells Tim the lyrics are right there (which made the reporter who did the concert review in the Post think it was all staged) and they start singing a duet.
After the concert we were standing around waiting for the place to empty out a bit and here comes this guy Tim. We yelled to him "good luck, Tim" and he came over and talked to us for a while and told us his "wife" wasn't there with him, she'd bought her tickets later and somehow ended up sitting in the same row as Tim. He said she'd filed for divorce on their 3 year anniversary. He was REALLY busted up about the whole thing, to the point that he didn't even seem excited about singing with Sting. It seemed his purpose was to send his ex-wife a message and Tim said she mustn't have gotten the message since the only reason she went up there was to see Sting and that's all she focused on, didn't even care how crappy it looked that she went up there. Personally, if I was the ex-wife I would have had to leave for a while. I would NOT have gone up on stage, even if it is STING. Everyone was boo-ing her (including myself). I thought it was pretty opportunistic that she went up there, seeming oblivious to the fact that her x-husband, who she had hurt terribly, was trying to make a statement in a very big way. Tim said she didn't get it at all, she was just so excited she got to meet Sting.
When Tim left, he was going to try to get his sign back. I hope he got to meet Sting, I thought about going with him in case he got to meet Sting but then I thought he'd dealt with enough opportunism for one night and we went on our way home.
I don't think it was staged because of some of the things Tim said after the concert. I think he's been hurt badly by the two people he trusted most in the world and I don't think he was acting. I hope everything works out for him.
Tim, if you're out there, chin up! Everything happens for a reason even though we don't see it right away.
And sorry to keep anyone in suspense.
This GREED by the entertainment business is beginning to turn me off on this whole concert experience thing. The old days of going to concerts are gone.
I was there in the "cheap seats" re: $30.65 lawn seats. I remember the first tour paying nearly the same price to sit where you did for this show! These ticket prices are REALLY getting out of hand. As usual it was a fantastic experience though. What I've found quite interesting, through the years, is how Sting is able to keep his songs fresh and exciting. He is one of the very few artists who can pull this off IMO.
I also live in St. Louis and I have to agree with you about Riverport. What gets me about the parking is they seem to have no clue about traffic control either entering or exiting. Granted the "bottleneck" off/on the highway isn't under their control BUT the situation the parking lot is utter chaos! It seems to me that everytime I enter the parking lot there's a great amount of employees simply sitting around doing NOTHING. I live down south so I take the Dorsett Rd. exit off of 270 and come in through the park...at least I get to the venue parking lot without much hassle!
The beer situation...Have the "security nazis" ever hassled, in the parking lot, for drinking a beer? I have and I figure they are told to do this so you can be hearded inside to pay for their overpriced stuff. Is it my imagination or was beer $4.50 last year?
I attended the show in St. Louis, at Riverport, and would have to say that I enjoyed the show very much. Granted, the set list was not the set of songs I would have picked, but he has the play people's favorites and stuff from the new album. If he didn't go on tour to promote an album, he probably could do songs that are more unique or of more variety. Overall, I would say I enjoyed the set list though. I don't think any artist ever plays to the extremely hard core fans, because it would be almost impossible to please them. These fans know every song and have their own personal favorites for their own reasons. I love the song "7 Days." I love the emptiness of the verse, along with the timing and ascending bass line during the chorus. I also find it to be a very fun song.
BOTN was a disappointment though, but it was not because it was too long, instead, I don't remember the chorus being played from that song at all. It's not as jazzy as the "bring on the night" version, but the players he's with now are different too. I was also surprised when you thought that Manu's playing was energized. I would have to say that I found it rather bland. During BND, he wasn't doing anything more than keeping time. "I'm So Happy" was actually pretty bland too, but he pulled someone from the audience to sing it with him, so it was ten fold better for us. Overall I would have to say the concert was great, but different shows mean different receptions.
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