I just got home from Houston, so couldn't post last night. Gotta say, it's different when your seats are in the back . . . Probably a grand total of 6 of us standing and dancing. And no, everybody else in Houston wasn't dancing, either, particularly not the hundreds of Compaq employees who got the best seats. I'm going to get my gripes out of my system, then tell you what I liked best, because it was a good Sting concert.
Concert was in Jones Hall, nice symphonic place, but sound not consistently good. Sting's mike on opening song (A Thousand Years) gave him this echo-y quality that didn't enhance his voice. They seemed to fix it pretty quick, though. I like ATY, but disagree with others who think it's a good show-starter. This Houston group seemed about to nod off.
I would have to call the Houston crowd a bunch of Police fans, not Sting fans. Yes, they sang for Every Little Thing She Does, Roxanne, EBYT, and Message. They kept their butts glued to their seats for Bring on the Night/When the World is Running Down, my guess because Sting's arrangement is not what they heard on their old Police albums. It drove me crazy to see them all sitting there like lumps.
Sting sang for 2 hours pretty much to the minute. Not a lot of chatter; his comments have already been reported by others.
I kinda liked the Moon Over Bourbon Street voice--though I would describe it as Louis Armstrong-style. Maybe he was rehearsing for tonight's NOLA show; there are some people there who will appreciate it. Also, for this song, he jams a hat on his head (so he can grab it as he sings, "The brim of my hat hides the eye of a beast . . ." But when he took off the hat after the song, he had definite "hat hair," and kind of a Dennis-the-Menace upright lock on the back of his scalp. Personally, I found it endearing.
Next--if Lily (Lillie?) Hayden opens for him in NOLA, hope that she doesn't "play" her violin on Desert Rose. It detracted from the song. And they (the whole band) delivered this wonderful song, which has much complexity and nuance, as if they were doing We'll Be Together. Clash. Thud. I wish I could have heard Sting do it with Cheb.
Last "gripe"--Still no tour program; T-shirts are ugly and over-priced (so what else is new?); not much of anything interesting to choose from. They're also still pushing the signed lithographs (which debuted during MF tour), but now claiming that only 2000 of the 5000 printed are actually signed by Sting (lucky me, I got one back when they first came out).
Here's the set list from Houston:
First "encore"
Second "encore"
Don't get me wrong; I love the man and his music. I will see him again, I hope, when this tour comes back to States in the spring. It's just frustrating to have paid so much money, including travel and hotel costs, and watch a dud audience drag things down.
Darn, forgot to tell you more of the good stuff! He was looking pretty fine. I kept wishing he would get sweaty and take off that jacket, but no . . . .
Lots of energy, swinging hips and happy feet on the up-tempo songs. And he smiles a lot. Love to see him smiling. Lighting for show is very well done, enhances the music, contributes to mood. Must say, the red lights for Roxanne remind me of the set for the Police video.
Great voice. This is the earliest on tour I've heard him; guess I got used to his laryngitis style of delivery. So it was a delight to hear him sounding good. And man can he hold a note. Got some applause for it at one point. In fact, got more applause for that one note than Houston audience gave Dominic Miller total when Sting introduced him (but I digress into my disdain for Compaq employee duds again; sorry).
He looks like he is having fun. And if Stingis having fun, then he's going to put on a good show. Go (if you can get tickets). Enjoy. Sing. Dance. Make the most of it. Who knows how many more years he'll do this?
This is a long post. A lot of this stuff, I'm sure some of you already know, so.....
What a concert! I don't know where to start.
My first comment has to be about Sting's voice. I've been reading remarks here about how good he sounds, but I didn't realize! I am not exaggerating when I say he sounds as good as he ever did with the Police, maybe better. Is that possible? He is reaching all those incredible notes. On at least two songs, Seven Days and WTWIRD, he reached and held notes for so long, everyone went crazy. I wonder how someone rejuvenates their voice like that?
My second comment is about Sting himself. He looks marvelous. I mean, he always looks marvelous, but he looks younger, like the clock has been turned back. (BND!!) His hair is very blonde and longer, much better than the buzz cut he had for a time. Very tan, too, but then he's been in California for a while, hasn't he? He's been laying out in the sun in Malibu! Hmm, now what a sight that would be! Oops, sorry. LOL
One sour note, he hasn't lost those pants yet! They have to be the same (or most likely, some just like them) that he wore when I saw him on the MF tour, the Today Show, Rosie and Letterman. My sis even said something about it. She said she could understand him liking that style of pants, but did they all have to be the SAME COLOR?
There is nothing wrong with this band. Everyone sounded great, totally relaxed. I had been concerned about Chris Botti, he seemed out of place the few times I had seen him on TV. Not anymore.....he fit like he had been performing with Sting for years, moving around a lot on the stage. As far as Scream, I know some of you guys have expressed your desire to meet the singer on the far right, LOL, so don't jump on me for saying this....but to me, they were almost superfluous. At one point, I started feeling sorry for them.....didn't they get tired, moving the same way all night?
I'm not gonna give the set list, unless somebody asks. I believe it's the same. He didn't do Big Lie Small World or Ghost Story, but didn't somebody say he had already dropped those? Oh, and I just realized he didn't do Mad About You, either. There were a couple of surprises....on Fill Her Up, somebody came strolling out and everybody went nuts, thinking it's James Taylor. But then we got a look at this really weird hair-do and realize it's Lyle Lovett. He sang a couple of lines and strolled off. Cheb Mami wasn't there. I was disappointed, I wanted to hear him. Sting did something different with We'll Be Together....more rock....it sounded really good. Roxanne was especially good. I've heard a bunch of different versions of that song....this one seemed to be a combination of those, an extended one. I didn't care for his singing in Moon Over Bourbon Street. He sounded like Maurice Chevalier. Strange. On Seven Days, the lyrics "he'll murder me, in time for his tea" he sang as "he'll moider me".....comical sounding. He did Message In A Bottle in it's entirety.....is that new? It might have been the best of the night. It reminded me of him singing it so many years ago on the Secret Policeman's Other Ball. The crowd sang the whole song with him. Speaking of the crowd, this Houston bunch was on their feet, dancing. Okay, my last comments are about how Sting interacted with the crowd, how totally at ease he was and FUNNY.....he truly seemed to be having a blast. He didn't talk about the earthquake and what clothes to put on or flubbing Seven Days, which I was glad of.....I wanted something new. After A Thousand Years, he said, "I feel sorta high up here (talking about the stage in relation to the audience). Can you see up my nose?" Later, he talked about the Tantric sex thing (I think somebody in the audience asked if he could still make love for 5 hours.....not sure, though) He said he and Trudie don't do Tantric sex anymore.....now, it's Tantric shopping......you shop for 5 hours and don't buy anything. The crowd loved it. After Fragile, when everybody lined up and took their bows, Sting went around shaking hands and continued to, even after the band had walked off the stage.
This is a new Sting, especially after the MF tour. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that he'll come back in the summer. I'll gladly pay $82 again.
Just wanted to let everyone know how wonderful last night's concert here in Houston was. Sting was outstanding, as were the rest of the band. The accoustics were phenomenal at Jones Hall. No Cheb last night, but we were given a nice surprise when Lyle Lovett (who's from Houston) came out briefly on "Fill Her Up."
I had great seats in the 4th row on the aisle stage right and so I was ready to make the dash up to the stage at any moment. Unfortunately the security guys were not about to let that happen. Nor did they like it when I stood up to dance (they made me sit back down every time unless the rest of the audience was standing). Finally they let me and one other girl go up to the stage right at the end for the second encore. I got to shake Sting's hand twice and Dominic threw me his guitar pick.
The set was pretty much the same as the last few shows, with "Message in a Bottle" included, but no "Lithium Sunset." Sting seemed to be really happy and interacted well with the crowd. He came over to the very front of the stage (stage right--right in front of me) and danced there for a while. The first three rows were all occupied by Compaq people which was a shame because they were not as into the show as most of the rest of the audience.
I smuggled a camera in but because I was so close I had to be rather discreet with it, so I did not get many pictures. I'll post the ones I got when I get the film developed.
Another highlight of the evening was meeting up with Cindy and Mayra from the list before the show. In all, it was a truly memorable evening.
Oh yes, Sting was wearing the same pants!
Check out the Houston Chronicle album review.
"I may know many things, I may be ignorant"
What can I say, it really was great! Since Sting wouldn't come to Dallas, my husband and I went to Houston. It was my first Sting concert and what a show it was. I don't want to bore anyone with information that has already been relayed so I will try to offer a slightly different view.
GREAT! That's the best way to describe the concert. I think that had I not been in the balcony and fighting a cold, I would have used a stronger adjective, although it was still incredible being that it was my first "live" Sting experience. My Husband- David, and I took two days off and drove 4 hours from Dallas to see this concert. It was well worth the trip.
The opening act was Lili Haydn, a very stylish, voluptuous and exotic performer. I think Bruce Westbrook, from the Houston Chronicle, said it best, "After violinist-singer Lili Haydn's half-hour opening set of energized ethereality, Sting emerged "..."Haydn also returned to help make the new Desert Rose even more dramatically insistent with her frenzied playing." I disagree with those who did not like her musical style. I think she is talented and will do well in the future. After the concert, David and I ran into Lili at the T-shirt stand and began talking. We bought her CD and she was kind enough to autograph it for us. I must give her credit for maintaining such elegant composure when a drunk bimbo approached her and droned on about how jealous she was that Lili shared the stage with Sting and how he had a good rapport with her (he kissed both her cheeks at the end). "He is very married you know" she retorted. -You go girl!! Trudie's got nothing to worry about with such class acts working with the tour. Anyway, her album is good, she offers real, raw, honest eye-opening lyrics backed by strong emotional melodies. It's deep, dark music though, not for the weak minded. My favorites include track #5 'Take Somebody Home' about a mother one paycheck away from the street with a daughter who wants to adopt a homeless person they pass out in the cold, #6-'Faithful One', #8-'Mama', and the hypnotic, yet robust #9-'Daddy'. It's Rock with strings.
Now on to Sting, as Bruce continued "wearing baggy black pants and a close-fitting black leather jacket. His stage decor had a tasteful minimalism accented by handsome lighting." Those pants again!!! Thank heavens for the stage decor, from my bird's eye point of view the stage decor made up for band's miniature stature. The designer offered a lot of visual effects with little material, and without cluttering the stage. Gels, long white vertical banners and a star like background made the set fantastic. I would guess there were at least 6 different settings created. From colorful 60's style blobs on the floor to those heavenly white banners, the stage gave much to look at.
I think it was a great idea to open with 'A Thousand Years' -what a beautiful and poetic song! It opens the album and since this tour is to promote the new CD I find it only fitting. Before I got the album my friend Spencer sent his favorite lyrics from ATY...
"I maybe numberless, I may be innocent
I may know many things, I may be ignorant
Or I could ride with kings and conquer many lands
Or win this world at cards and let it slip my hands
I could be cannon food, destroyed a thousand times
Reborn as fortune's child to judge another's crimes
Or wear this pilgrim's cloak, or be a common thief
I've kept this single faith, I have but one belief"
What a way to think of the many lives that have passed through the millennium!
Thanks, Spencer, for bringing those beautiful lyrics to my attention. You've gotta love the way the album begins with 'A Thousand Years', then ends with the haunting prelude to ATY.
"Sting maintained a steady bass groove while singing in fine voice, often holding notes or repeating lines with a single, long breath. "
Now, let's talk about that Tantric voice! Those Yoga lessons sure have helped his breathing techniques. He's really mastered hitting and holding notes. What form! I also loved the play list and the order he chose to perform the songs, although I was disappointed when he left out 'Mad About You' -one of my favorites. Oh, the passion in that song! What longing!!!
"He had an easy-going rapport with the crowd - chatting and joking without overdoing it - and often exhorted fans to clap or sing along." I have to give Sting credit, he really did seem to be enjoying himself and having a good time , you really did feel that he cared about putting on a top rate show and giving the audience their money's worth. When the show opened, it was obvious I was one of thousands there to see him, especially with the view from the higher tiers but as the show was beginning to close, I felt I was watching him perform in a nightclub with maybe 30 fans. He becomes so personable and comfortable you begin to think he's playing just for you. I agree with Coleen, the audience did respond enthusiastically to a lot of the police stuff but I swear, Sting sped up most of the hits that you know he's performed 'a thousand times' (Haa haa haa, sorry couldn't resist like "Every little thing", and other Police classics.
Security seemed pretty tight as far as not letting people into different sections or near the stage. I think Deborah Lee was right when she mentioned how Compaq people occupied the first three rows (and beyond) and were not as into the show as the rest of the audience. I was sad though because nobody stood in the balcony to dance and I wanted to, so badly, but my cold confined me to my seat.
Here's a funny little note, at the end of the concert I found their bows very egalitarian. They don't take their bows like Musicians but more like Broadway performers -everyone gathers in an equal line at the front of the stage, holds hands and takes one long, simultaneous bow. I haven't seen any of his other shows so I don't know if this is tradition, but I would guess Sting picked this up from his time on Broadway.
"A thousand years, a thousand more, a thousand times a million"... I could see him and the band! What magic to hear him perform live! David and I look forward to seeing him again in the future. Also, I hope that on the November 20th "Saturday Night Live"; appearance they can bring both Cheb Mami and Lili Haydn on stage, Lili's energy and sound really added to the performance of "Desert Rose". Thanks, Honey, for a wonderful birthday gift and thanks to all the fans who wrote the reviews before mine and prepared me for such a great show!
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