After seeing Sting perform last night, I feel totally free and refreshed. I've had my tickets since the VH1 special in May (was it?), waiting for Aug. 9 all summer. The pent-up anxiety and anticipation all let loose last night--it was an awesome, religious experience.
I know you've all read lots of concert reviews, so I'll be brief.
Set list was the same as recent posts (no LYSBYP, Mad About You). He's gone back to picking an audience member to sing along on ISHTICSC. Before they started singing Sting coached the guy, Chris, that he had to sing into the mike, and then said something like, "Don't worry, it's clean, I've cleaned my teeth." And during the encore when he was acknowledging his band members, at the end he pointed to where Chris was sitting and said, "And my special guest, Chris!"
The recent thread about audience ages really hit home--in the row behind me was a family of 6, from parents to a grade-school age girl; there were middle aged men in suits, there were even two grandma types rocking out on the floor! Thankfully, I was in a pretty rowdy section where us rowdy wanna-dance types could rock out together!
Sting graciously received several bouquets during the encore (and took them offstage with him)! He was very considerate, very grateful--more than I expected after reading all the bad email.
And When The World... rocked!!! This was my very first time seeing Sting--I guess some of you have become too jaded--Kenny was absolutely incredible! I think I could see that quite a few more times without it getting old. It was the high point of the concert, although If You Love Somebody was my personal fave, as well as the crazy horn players dancing during S2.
The advertisement for the $175 lithograph cracked me up! I mean, I love Sting and all, but his copy writer went a bit overboard on the adjectives: "High pitched photographic richness, bold color and persuasive enhancements..." And 5000 = a limited edition??? "Only a fraction of Sting fans worldwide will own one." Pul-lease.
Really wish I could go to the outdoor concert tonight at the Gorge! Anyone checking the list before going tonight, have an awesome time!!! (It'll be hot!)
Ali already reported on last Friday's concert in Portland, so I won't go into too much detail. Instead, I'll give you the following bits from local papers...
1996 August 7
Willamette Week
STING, THE SAMPLES
He makes the worst videos ever, and I didn't need to know that
he can fuck for hours on end without climaxing. But "So Lonely"
from the Police's first album got me hooked, and I've been
listening ever since. Post-Police, Sting's work has been
sophisticated, graceful and occasionally profound. THE SOUL
CAGES is an overlooked gem that muses on the spiritual changes
brought by the death of a parent and "They Dance Alone [Gueca
Solo]" is a masterpiece that makes political points in the most
human of terms. But he can also be artsy-fartsy and trite. On
MERCURY FALLING, the new one, Sting comes as close as he ever
has to Muzak, dabbling in country and soul sounds where he used
to stick to Celtic and Latin vibes. His deliciously reedy voice
makes up for a lot - as does his always superb band - and his
deep catlaog of past hits mixed with surprises (he has covered
the Beatles' "A Day In The Life" and Hendrix's "Purple Haze")
usually make for a strong show.
The Samples are a surprising choice for an opening act, until
you remember that Sting toured briefly with the Grateful Dead.
The Colorado band is jangly and generally laid-back, and it has
sold more than 500,000 copies of its independently produced
recordings. OUTPOST, the Samples' major-label debut, is
slightly more adventurous than usual, a rootsy batch of songs
with hippy-dippy lyrics ("Mother Earth, a big blue marble/The
dancing moon, the falling sun/Shine on and on and on") that
rock out from time to time à la the Gin Blossoms.
----------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 August 11 The Oregonian SAMPLES COME TO TOWN, GETS READY TO CROSS PATHS WITH STING AGAIN by Kyle O'Brien The Samples started out in 1987 playing Police cover tunes at fraternity parties in Boulder, Colo. Now it's opening tonight in Portland's Rose Garden arena for Sting, the former lead singer of that groundbreaking pop-reggae-punk-new-wave band. The Samples has branched out since those early days and now performs all its own stuff - radio-friendly tunes ranging from simplistic pop-folk, to straight-ahead rock, to Police-ish upbeat reggae. And although lead signer Sean Keylly still sounds a bit like Sting in the high register, he has mixed in Michael Stipe and Jackson Browne for a sound more his own, albeit without the distinctiveness or depth of those rock crooners. So how did this group, which just released its major label debut, OUTPOST, on MCA, get the opening spot? Well, it's not because Sting thought he'd like to hear how his songs sound by another band. "We got to meet Sting about three yaers ago in Las Vegas," says Samples drummer Jeep MacNichol. "Sean asked him 'You don't think we sound too much like you, do you?' and he said 'No, I don't think you sound like me at all. Maybe influenced.' But he liked our stuff." "Early on, you know, Sean had the high voice like Sting, and my drumming sounded a lot like (Police drummer) Stewart Copland (sic), so we were always compared with the Police. But we're on a new label now, and our management has set us up with some great shows." Whatever the reason, the Samples now is in a position that most major-label rookies would beg for: an opening spot for an influential pop star. For those unable to attend tonight's concert, the Samples have added its own Portland show, Monday night at La Luna with The Why Store.
----------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 August 11 The Oregonian ALTHOUGH STING HAS MELLOWED, HIS LYRICS, VOICE AND SOUND STILL HAVE BITE by John Foyston Sting's mellowed some. Not surprising that the 44-year old father of six is a very different man than the angry young bass player who formed the Police (sic) in 1976. More to the point, he no longer wants to be that 25-year-old. And if some fans and critics continue to clamor for the admittedly harder-edged work of the Police, Sting has deservedly won huge new audiences with the jazzier, more introspective material of albums such as his latest, MERCURY FALLING. Sting continues to effortlessly incorporate all manner of influences in his work. MERCURY has hints of country, Latin, Celtic, and other echoes overlaid on its jazzy basics. And Sting's voice hasn't lost a thing over the years. If anything, his rich, slightly tattered tenor has grown only more distinctive and emotive - perfectly suited to the weight of his thoughtful, reflective lyerics about love and loss and estrangement. Sting appears at the Rose Garden at 8 p.m. Friday. Tickets are $21.50-$40. Fastixx.
----------------------------------------------------------------- 1996 August 11 The Oregonian AFTER A POP BUZZ, STING LETS REAL EMOTION BE by Marty Hughley The Northeastern English city of Newcastle is know for its faded industrial economy, hard-drinking soccer fans, and hardscrabble street culture. Yet somehow it produces pop stars of an almost patrician stripe. Sure, AC-DC's Brian Johnson is from the area, but so are such refined types as Bryan Ferry, the Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and, of course, Sting. In a Friday night show at the Rose Garden arena, the former Gordon Sumner played the role his fans have come to expect of him: Strong yet sensitive, artistically ambitious, erudite, alternately broodingly mysterious and playfully sensuous. It's almost as if he is perfecting the image of the pop star as country gentleman. Ferry and Tennant at least have an arch sense of their own upscale images; Sting seems to be making an earnest grab toward significance. Stature he has. Still devilishly handsome and charismatic, he had a naerly full Rose Garden in his hand from the moment he stepped on stage. His voice was rich and resonant, a more rounded and nuanced instrument than the yelping tenor of his days with the Police. And he undoubtedly has mastered his craft as musician and composer, stocking his tunes with melodic and rhythmic subtleties. But ever since he pushed the Police past compact pop/rock/reggae tunes and into brainer fare, many rock fans have been divided on whether Sting is an uncommonly articulate artist or a smug, pretentiously overreaching superstar. Nothing's likely to solve this disagreement, but the bassist/singer's lastest material appaers to award points to his detractors. Sting opened his show with "The Hounds Of Winter," a typically pensive tune from his latest album, MERCURY FALLING. Next came "I Hung My Head," an outlaw ballad so stiff that it doesn't work even as a genre excercise. "I Was Brought To My Senses" began like an English folk ballad and then took on a softly chugging Brazilian feel. It was a nice concept musically but dull in effect until horn and piano solos broke the mood of ennui. Then it was on to the platitudes and tepid groove of his early solo hit, "If You Love Somebody, Set Them Free." Just when he began to seem like an empty pop Adonis, the chilly exterior gave way enough to a real sense of connection. "I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying" is an awkwardly country-ish tune about divorce, but Sting's invitation to man in the crowd (also divorced, it turned out) to come onstage and sing the chorus with him was an effective bit of male bonding. With his horn players dancing as though they were on "Shindig," one could overlook the overblown lyrics of "Synchronicity II." In fact, it was a batch of old Police songs that pumped life into the show. Kenny Kirkland's piano solo in "When The World Is Running Down" was especially dazzling."
I suspect a review of the Samples will appear in Wednesday's Oregonian (so the reviewer can combine both Friday's and Monday's shows into one review). If there is anything relative to Sting, I'll post it. If anyone want's my review of their performance, drop me a note and you shall have it (it's already on the way to you Eron).
Overall, I wasn't impressed with these articles. I don't think they were very well written or researched. But I guess you can't expect everyone to follow Sting the way we do.
As for the show itself, I liked it - but not as well as THE SOUL CAGES TOUR and definitely not as well as the ...NOTHING LIKE THE SUN tour. I won't even try to compare it to the shows I've seen by Crowded House and Peter Gabriel (it would be a waste of time!
Anyway, to make a long story short (too late!) here are some things I didn't like...
...as well as some things I did like:
Today, I bask in the afterglow of seeing Sting three nights in a row: Friday in Portland, Saturday in the Gorge in Eastern Washington, and Sunday in Vancouver, B.C. Each experience was different in many ways and Sting failed to disappoint.
I'm glad the Portland experience was the first one, because it was by far the poorest of the three shows. The sound in the Rose Garden was lousy, my seat was lousy, I was in a bad mood because I passed on getting a Row 2 floor ticket, and the set was the predictable 17 song set we have all come to know so well. Why focus on the negative though? It was absolutely awesome to be in the same building as our hero for the ninth time. The goatee is back. The guy he chose to sing with him on I'm so Happy was nervous as can be, didn't know most of the words, and according to what Sting told us the next night, was shaking so bad that he made Sting nervous. The concert ended after 90 minutes, and like Sting, I returned home that night and set off for the Gorge on Saturday.
If there is a more beautiful setting in the world to see an outdoor concert than the Gorge Amphitheater in George, Washington, I'd like to see it. Situated on top of a cliff that overlooks the Columbia River, the background for the concert-goer is a splendid sight indeed. All you see are miles and miles of hilly terrain and the river down below. Stars shown up above for the duration of the concert, and Sting came on shortly after the sun set behind the hillside. (BTW, the opening act was Samples, same as in Portland). Although I had reserved seats not far from the stage, I chose to sit on the grassy hillside well up and back from the stage so that I could enjoy the scenery and listen to Sting's music at the same time. The crowd was into the show in a big way (especially for the Police songs), and get this --, a fellow named "Nate" was chosen to sing with Sting this time. He did a fine job. Midway through the show, as the rum was settling in and the stars began to shine a bit more brightly, I began praying that this would be the concert that Sting goes beyond the usual set list, adds a few songs, and stretches the concert another hour. Of course, he didn't, and the show ended 90 minutes after starting. For you folks that like to sit as close as possible (as I do), take a break sometime, especially if it is outdoors, and sit far away from the stage to experience a concert in a brand new way. Better yet, next time Sting comes to the Gorge, treat yourself to traveling to see him there.
After returning home again on Sunday, I debated whether I should actually go see Sting again in Vancouver. After all, I had the experience Saturday that I had been looking for. My foot was in pain from twisting my ankle after the concert, and it would be a 6 hour round trip drive and hassling with the border crossing, etc. I came up with just about every excuse I could think of, but the thought of having Sting 130 miles from me singing the songs I love without me there didn't make sense, so I set out to do what I originally promised myself I'd do & see Sting for the third night in a row. I got to GM Place about 7:00 for the 7:30 concert and hassled the scalpers into getting a fairly decent seat next to the stage, 10 rows up. Not a bad seat. Something was different this time. They were filming the opening act of Jan Arden. She was interesting and funny. I began to believe they would film the Sting concert, and sure enough they did. I noticed signs posted on my way out that said the concert was being filmed for broadcast. Let's hope it is, because this concert was the absolute best exhibition of Sting on stage playing for the cameras, with his voice in the best shape possible, and an audience really into the show. The images on the camera monitors were great with the lighting on stage. Since the show was being filmed, I think he felt compelled to lengthen it a bit, and sure enough he threw in LYSBYP and Mad about You, and also All Four Seasons! What a treat. This lengthened the show to about 110 minutes. Here's hope for all you floor fans that are back a bit from the stage: Sting was talking about how this was his favorite part of the show, as we would see in a minute. A fellow was holding up a sign that said "I'm so Happy I could Sing", and guess who Sting picked to come on up? Yep, it was him (Ross), and he did the best job I think anyone could do. He knew the words, he had the moves, he could sing, and at one point Sting just turned it over to him. He even had the courage to say: "Back to you Sting". This show was the perfect one of the three, and technically it was flawless. Sting's voice was almost gone by Fragile, but I like it that way sometimes.
There you have it: three shows with personalities as different as the boys in the Police. Individually they were great, but together they were beyond belief. On to Mountain View!
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