I just got home from the show and am too tired to write a review tonight, but I just had to address the girl who got on stage tonight...Congradulations - you looked so wonderful!!! I know you've posted and I know you've had that sign up at other shows. Just wanted to say I'm so excited that that happened for you. By the way, Sting was thrilled and very spontaneous during DR tonight! Will write more tomorrow.
So-so crowd - didn't get up until ELTSDIM. Also, very slow to respond on the Roxann-ooo call-backs (like they didn't know they were supposed to be doing it). One of the worst I've heard, though Message seemed a little better.
You know the people around you aren't big Sting fans when the guy behind you laughs at the lyrics of Seven Days (because it's the first time he's heard them!) and the woman in front of you says *Is this country?* when the first notes of I'm So Happy start up.
Only a few folks knew the new songs.
Unlike Sacramento, I had women behind me and they DID NOT enjoy staring at my butt all night. I tried to sit as much as possible, but my god people, stand up occasionally!! Much of the crowd actually sat through most of Roxanne.
Same set list (which doesn't include Mad About You (!) or TWS anymore apparently)
I had a pretty good seat (which as you know, helps determine my overall opinion of the show) except that for the first 40 minutes, all I could see was the back of some guy's head. Then, he and his date left! Tell me, why do people leave a concert when it's not even half way over???!! Not that I wasn't happy to see his big head go (frickin' huge, as Mike Myers would say), but they had GREAT seats (front row of the lawn, center, totally unobstructed) at $100 a pop. I don't understand how they could leave. Anyway, I digress. Once they left, the view and the show was much better.
I agree with some earlier posts that the shows seem to be on autopilot lately, but I have come to EXPECT that, so I'm not going to complain. I figure, if we're lucky we'll get two MAYBE three more tours from the man....I'll enjoy what I can while I can.
The coolest thing of the night was that Sting broke form at the beginning of DR. He said *OK, where's that woman with the sign that says *Sting, I want to belly dance for you*?* He called the woman up on stage, she drug a friend along. The two women danced during DR. Very sexy - though I'm not quite sure it was authentic belly dancing. Kipper and Jason were all smiles, Dominic was oblivious. At one point near the end, the woman who was the main dancer went low to the ground in a *hair-brushing-the-floor* backbend. Sting stepped over to her and straddled her while she was on the ground and played above her. Perfect view of his crotch (if you're into that sort of thing). When he moved over and she got up she looked stunned and mouthed in big facial movements *OH, MY GOD.* After the song, he gave both women kisses on the cheek and posed for a picture with the main dancer.
If it hadn't been for that little interlude, there would have been almost ZERO interaction with the crowd.
Some Compaq folks were there, but they didn't have the best seats.
Oh, here's the best way to get Sting's attention....be in the front and bring a kid. He shook hands with several young (8-10) girls and played several times right to a girl in front who was about 5. Her father kept holding her up and Sting (and Chris) kept going over to stand and play/sing. Quick, anyone want to rent me their cute kid for Irvine?
Anyway, I guess Pierce Brosnan was there last night (so said the scuttlebutt on the way down the hill).
Love to hear the 14 year old girls talk about how *cute* Sting is.
BTW - here on the Central Coast of CA, DR is getting played on the same stations that play Britney, Back Street Boys, Destiny's Child and all the Top 40 teen age stuff. Yes, it's huge exposure for our man, but I'm not sure I like it.
Thanks for coming, thanks for listing, thanks for being so kind.
I wrote briefly last night, but here are more of my thoughts on the show...
First of all, I totally agree with Maggie on all of her points. The crowd was so strange- practically no one stood or danced through the whole show, and they were pretty quiet through most of Roxanne, they had to be prompted to sing back!!! So confusing, especially since it was a mixed crowd with a lot of twenty-somethings. I'm not surprised that he was on autopilot with such a boring audience (Maggie, bellydancers Sue and Angie, fellow list members and yours truly excluded, of course).
Same set list - no surprise, so no disappointment...but you already know my thoughts on that.
We totally lucked out with seating (thanks SO MUCH to Dawn), we were in the first section behind the pit in the 11th row, and there was no one behind us. I kept trying to figure out how to sneak closer, but we preferred to stay where we were so we could stand the whole time with no one behind us to complain. It was great during ATRHF, we held up our Merlot glasses during "Take me where the red wine flows" and got a thumbs up from Kipper! But again, the real standout moment was DR. So exciting!!!
This was my first time at the Santa Barbara Bowl, and I'm definitely going to check out other shows there, it is such a cozy, laid back environment. I didn't see Pierce Brosnan, but I'm sure he was there because he sat in front of me at the Universal Show back in October. I did, however, sit four over from Darva Conger and her date - the guy on the other side of me took about 3 pictures of her before I asked him why he was wasting his film on the unimportant celebrity. I then wrangled his camera and ran up front and took a bunch of shots. I gave him my email, so hopefully he will send me some copies (of Sting, not Darva).
That's all for now! Just biding my time until Friday at the Greek!
Well, I'm going for it. Sue I know we were going to do this together but I can't wait!
First of all, the Tonight Show last night?? Belly dancer briefly during DR?? My husband said to me, "Hmmm..... wonder where he got that idea?" I have to say though, that is MY part, I'm the dancer and it was all my idea. I'm sad that someone else did my part but, hey I inspired Sting!!!! That's not all bad!
I also have to add that BND came out about 3 weeks after I started belly dancing. The minute I heard DR I had chills from head to toe, and I said to myself, "That's my song. I will dance that song and make it mine." And I have! I've performed to it many, many times. And to answer the question of whether I really belly dance, the answer is yes. I have my normal job, and my 2nd job is a gig at a restaurant here in SLC. I dance 4-5 nts a week including lessons. This weekend I'm performing solo and with my classes at Utah's 21st Annual Belly Dance Festival.
Santa Barbara
The Venue: Excellent. For those of you who haven't been there, it's in the middle of a neighborhood, you would never know it's there. You have to hike up a little hill to get there (Sue thought it was a big hill, I live in Park City UT so it was small to me :) and then once you're up there, the seating is basically carved into the side of the hill. Absolutely breathtaking, if you get the chance to take in a show there, go.
The weather: Beautiful. Cool, summery, breezy, loved it.
What we did: We were awed by the beautiful surroundings, and after driving up the Pacific Coast highway in a convertible Mustang (dubbed the MuSTING) we were happy girls. I saw Dominic walking down toward a reception area they had set up, and that was cool. We went in, they took us to out seats, and we were blown away by how good they were, 8 rows behind the pit on the lawn, aisle seats. The lawn was flush with the stage except for where the pit is, so easy acess to the stage.
After checking out our seats, we went out, had a glass of wine, and then I got a coffee. While I was waiting for it, I heard Sue say "Oh hey Chris, I'm Sue, we met in NJ, blah, blah." He came right over to chat and we three talked for a long time, 15-20 minutes. Not only is the man very talented, he's really friendly. He talked about the tour, he remembered the audience in SLC and said they were blown away by the response they got there. We told him about how Sue and I met over Sting Stuff and he thought that was awesome! I took a couple of pictures of him and Sue, he was really sweet about that too. I showed him my sign, he read it and laughed and said "That's cool, you never know what could happen." We talked for a long time, I'm sure Sue will have more to add on the conversation as she has a great memory for stuff like that. The opening act was coming on, but we stayed out and chatted with other people until it was time for Sting.
So, in we went! Set list the same,we all know it by heart at this point. Sue and I were up danceing from the minute we got in there. The people around us were a little crusty, we got some dirty looks but we didn't care. We were on vacation, at a Sting concert! What could be better?? Little did we know.... All the folks around us lightened up though and we got them up dancing and struck up conversations and stuff. The couple in front of us was so cute, an older couple having a great time.
Sooo..........
In between the 3rd and 4th songs, the lights shone on the crowd and I held up my sign. Sting read it out loud and said, "Hm, I'll get back to you on that!" We were dying! I knew right then that I would be dancing one way or another for Sting. So, we went on to enjoy the show. Sue helped herself to some wine, we danced like crazy. I disagree that he was on autopilot at this show. He was out in the pit area, shaking hands and stuff. no, he didn't talk much, but does he ever?
So, DR starts to come on. Sting says, "OK, where's the lady with the sign that says she wants to belly dance? Let's get her up here and showcase some local talent." I grabbed Sue and pushed and shoved my way to the stage dragging her with me. I think I scared her, she wasn't sure what was going on but I knew in my heart that this was my big moment! We got to the front, ran past the fence (easy stage access) and leaped onto stage. Sting said, "There's two of you?" We nodded, smiling like idiots, and Sting had me go over between him and Dom, and Sue was on his other side. Oddly enough, I wasn't nervous to dance. I love to dance and it was such a rush to be there, with my own song surrounding me, hearing it onstage is completely different from hearing it in the audience. It sounds incredible.
So, he started singing, I had my back to the audience and I started doing slow hip circles to the left and caught Dom's eye. he smiled really sweetly at me, I wondered if he recognized me from SLC when I got his autograph. Anyway, when I came around facing the audience, I realized, "I'm dancing in front of 4500 people!" It was amazing. I kept looking at Sting. He is absolutely beautiful up close (like we didn't know this). I have a set routine that I dance to DR, I did quite a bit of it but I improvised a lot too. My friend Tamara and I were joking a couple weeks ago that if I got to dance for Sting I would have to get really close and give him some, ahem personal instruction on how to shake those hips. So, I was thinking of her and I went behind Sting, grabbed him by the hips and "helped" him wiggle. Firm, very firm!!! Ahhh.... wow.... Sting's butt.... OK, I digress.
I always do a backbend during the bridge. So, I remember thinking, backbend coming up, I hope I can get up after because I haven't stretched. So I do the backbend, I stretched all the way over and looked at the audience from upside down. That was way cool. Then when I brought my head back up, there's Sting standing *right over me*, straddling me, playing that bass, with this look on his face of "This ROCKS!" I was dying. I threw my hands over my face, and was laughing hysterically. I don't even remember how I got up, I'm sure it wasn't all that graceful. But I looked at the audience, going, "OH MY GOD!" I couldn't believe that just happened!! Then I decided I wanted to check out the rest of the stage, so I ran up by Chris. He was pointing at my belly ring, it was cute. I danced by him until the end of the song and he played right to me. It was rad!!! At the end, I came down off the platform and Sting was holding his hand out to me, with eye contact the entire time. I swear he was looking at me like he knew me. He had a very gentle look in his eye, that's the best I can describe it. Knowing, maybe. Familiar.
He asked my name, I had to tell him a couple of times because it was hard to hear. It's all a blur at this point... I remember him putting his arms around me, he kissed me on the cheek... his hands are very soft... Sue snapped a picture... I remember telling myself, Kiss him, you're never going to get this chance again, so I kissed him on the cheek and then we ran off the stage.
I pretty much collapsed after that. I was crying hysterically. I mean, what do you do when you not only get to meet the musician you've idolized for 15-20 years, but I got to do what I did? To my song? It meant so much to me, I was very emotionally overwhelmed. I called my husband, he couldn't believe it. He is so happy for me and I think pretty turned on by the whole thing. I found Sue again, and before we knew it the show was over.
Running down the hill after the show.... Everyone was high-fiving us, yelling there's the belly-dancing girls! It was like a wave of cheering following us down the hill. So many people came up to us to ask about it, we were having our Andy Warhol 15 minutes.
Well, the story gets even better in LA but I really need to do some work or I might get fired. So, I will wriet more later!!!
That's ok Ang.. I've been too tired to type much...
I must say, Angie is an excellent belly dancer. She taught me some moves. Basicaly I winged it up on stage and Ang said I was really good... It was fun and that's what counted.
I was having so much fun that night. See Chris again was fantastic! When I asked if he remembered talking to me and Michelle in NJ and how the conversation went there, he remembered and said, "oh yeah, we were on the side by the fence and she was talking about her cd, etc., right?" YES! Too cool!
We talked to Chris for about 15 minutes or so. I just got my pictures back and the photos of Chris and I turned out very nice. Yippee! We talked about Central Park - he asked if we ere going to go. I AM! Then Ang asked him if he still gets nervous on stage and all.. he said yes, from time to time. Yeah, he really thought it was great that Ang and I met over the internet and that we had just met face to face the day before! That blew him away! When Ang grabbed my hand and said, "your coming with me" on stage, I didn't know what was happening until I started running with her to the stage. It happened so fast! We ran around the fence and up... I gave Sting a hug and kiss and then he put me to the left of him in front of Chris and Jason. When I was dancing I turned around and looked at Jason.. he mouthed to me, "alright!" and gave me thumbs up!Good thing I had plenty of wine in me! I turned around and faced Chris... he was laughing and I was cracking up as well.. it was really funny since we had just talked before the show and he knew who we were! I was loving it!
When the song had finished I walked over to Sting.. he gave me a big hug and kiss and asked my name a few times... I yelled.. SUSAN!! then he gave me the mic and told me to yell it. Toooooooo cool! Then he tried to introduce Angie. That's when I snapped the picture! That came out also...
The next day we were in shock! It was a great night and we still couldn't believe what happened...
The next day was the Greek Theatre show...
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