Thanks to Lithium Sunset for the Ticket Stub
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Thanks to Lithium Sunset for the Ticket Stub |
I just came back from Den Haag. An amazing show:
STEWART JOINED STING!!!!
After If I Ever Lose My Faith In You Sting said: "Ladies and gentlemen...mister Stewart Copeland"! Stewart sat down behind Vinnie's drumset and Every Breath You Take was started! After this fabulous version Sting said: "Come and take a bow, Stewart".
Stewart came on stage during Fragile and stood next to Clark and Butch playing the tambourine.
I still can't believe this "2/3 Police reunion" happened just three hours ago. It's was kind of weird this happened here in Holland.
More about the rest of the show:
- The show was opened by the Columbian female singer Soraya;
- The setlist hasn't changed;
- Two people (Niels and Birgitte) joined during ISHICSC;
- As the band left the stage after Englishman In New York the audience sang the verse over and over again. When Sting came back he joined in for a few lines before kicking into If I Ever Lose My Faith In You.
Tomorrow (Saturday): Brussels (I don't know what to expect anymore).
It's 0:43 and we are just back from Den Haag. The concert was good. The band was in a good mood and there was a very special guest: Stewart Copeland!!!!!!!!!!!! It all looks like a little reunion. Stewart played in two numbers: Every breath (drums) and some percussion in Fragile. It is time to go to sleep. Maybe I send another review.
Statenhal - Den Haag December 13th 1996 Colombian singer Soraya opened with her band. She is a nice lady, and she and her band played a nice set of songs, and she also sang some songs in Spanish. She plays the guitar while singing; you can compare her to Gloria Estefan. In her last song she played the violin, she's a good musician.
But everybody waited for Sting and band and it's such an exiting moment when the band already is on stage and STING shows up into the light. Everybody is shouting and screaming when the first notes are to be heard. Sting, good looking, smiling, freshly shaved, no goatee, no hair, all in black: The big super-star in the spotlights; in a very good mood, Sting's voice was great as ever, and we enjoyed him joking around with the hornplayers.
During the "semi-acoustic set" with You Still Touch Me, I had the idea Vinnie felt a bit uncomfortable sitting in front with a tambourine And Kenny with his small piano, he hardly played it. But Sting was having fun, and it's an excellent song.
I'm So Happy I can't Stop Crying Sting asked for some light on at the audience. Sting choose a guy called NIELS, And he said "I go for the girl with the sign "ME..." She was a good looking light- blond young lady called BRIGITTA. She was wearing a black-leather dress. Sting asked if they were married, Niels said they were not married to each other, they were both single. They sang very good, and got great looks from STING. Having finished the song Niels got some nice Sting-hugs and the girl got kissed by his Stingness.
At the end of 'Englishman In New York' the clarinet-player (Butch or Clark?) is left on stage to play a great solo, which reminds me a lot of Branford's great solo's. And while waiting Sting and band to come back for the encores, ..we ALL kept on singing.. "Oh oh, I'm an alien.....etc.' and Sting came back on stage singing again this well known lines with us, and even at the mic. He is soooooo very kind...
BUT.. then ... Sting said: "Lady's and gentlemen ... STEWART COPELAND" the crowd got wild. You can't believe this, there he was. STEWART COPELAND!!! smiling to us, hugging Sting and walking to Vinnie's Drumkit.... Many nostalgic feelings about old days with The POLICE were going round in the audience. EXCITING. This newly formed band played 'Every Breath You Take'. Then after some great bows, hugs and smiles Stewart left and Vinnie came back on stage for the last few songs.
For "Fragile" Stewart also came on stage to 'play' a small tambourine and he was making fun with Vinnie at the 'goodbye-bows' Goodbye STING, Goodbye Vinnie, Goodbye Stewart, And goodbye Butch and Clark, Dominic, and Kenny. And Sting said Goodnight, see you AGAIN.
The sequence maybe slightly wrong, but these songs were played:
And then it was over. Again we had a great concert. For me it was the 7th and the last on this MF-tour.
Just a quick note that I'm back home after 6 gigs in 8 days......and believe I'm dead meat by now....so you all have to wait a little longer for my review.
All I can say is that I had a fabulous time with all the fans from around the world and of course......Sting & band and crew.
The hightlight of the Den Haag show of last night was really the appearance of Stewart Copeland. Before the concert started the rumor circulated that he entered the hall. We all thought: "yeah......nice joke!!" But when I looked from my place in front of Sting to the right hand side backstage half way the concert......I saw Miles' blond head...and next to him HIS LITTLE BROTHER STEWART!!!!!!! YEAHHHHH!!!!!
When they came to "Every Breath You Take" Vinnie made place for STEWART and he really hit those drums like in the old day.....after 4 beats one of his drum sticks already broke......believe me......this way GREAT!!!!!!
During Fragile he came on stage again and left the stage with the band. He looked great and it was certainly my highlight of the evening.
Some say Friday 13th is a day of misfortune. Well, it's definitely not true if you're able to see a STING concert!
The concert in the Hague of last Friday was already my third STING concert this year, after concerts in Oslo and Rotterdam in March. The setlist has been changed a bit, but that was no surprise after reading the reviews from the US and UK shows. He played less songs from MF and more 'good old' police stuff (Every Little Thing... and Every Breath... for example). It was nice to hear that some of the remaining songs have developed during the tour.
It seemed that STING's voice did not suffer much from the longs months of touring. He was in excellent shape. The band reached their high level again. It was good to hear Vinnie's excellent drumming again.
It was a nice moment when STING called two people on stage to sing with him during ISHICSC. The two did a great job. The ambiance was terrific during the whole concert. It was an incredible concert and it even got better during the first encore, after they finished If I Ever Lose... At first I thought STING was kidding when he introduced a special guest and when I heard him say the name STEWART COPELAND. But it was no joke, it was FANTASTIC! 2/3 of the Police on stage by surprise!!! STING and Stew of all people... Stewart played on Every Breath... and he still knows how to hit those drums! He also played tambourine on Fragile. The night couldn't have been better!
This was my short impression of the concert. It was absolutely fabulous! The people from this list that where also there (Edwin for instance) will certainly agree.
NO, THIS IS NOT A JOKE. THE JOKE WAS THAT STEWART DAMAGED VINNIE'S DRUMS!
It was a really emotional moment. Stewart and Sting had a warm embrace and while Stewart's drumming you should have seen Sting's face. He smiled very satisfied throughout the whole "Every Breath" and you could see that he was listening very carefully to the drums behind him. Sorry Vinnie, but I think he felt the difference. I'm still getting goose-skin thinking about Friday night...
My 2 cent's from the 1st row,
PS: Sorry for the short comment, but I'm still bleary-eyed. We came home from Brussels at 2:30 last night.
PPS: And YES Markus, we took some pictures of his royal ba(l)dness with your cowboy hat. Greetings to all our Dutch friends. Great to share the shows with you!
I just returned from the most beautiful concert of Sting in The Hague. I thought I was prepared for everything that could have gone wrong, after all it was friday the 13th; car breaking down, traffic jams, arriving too late to get a decent place, Sting cancelling his concert etc. But guess what all these things didn't happen. Met some wonderful people, and had a great time.
I was ready for some entertainment when Friday arrived, because I was getting fed up with being behind my books all day for the exam that I had today (monday). And what better entertainment than to see one of the greatest artists with definitely the best backing band in the world?
I had expected to run into a great deal of troubles, it being friday the thirteenth and all, but these troubles were only minor, like not being able to concentrate on studying (no harm done in the end) and a bit of trouble finding the Statenhal when we arrived in Den Haag. Dick and I decided to go for a standing place instead of sitting way in the back, because well, the closer you get to the band the more real it all seems in my opinion.
The support act, Soraya (s?) looked and sounded fine from where we where standing. It's always nice to have a support act that isn't boring.
And then the moment was there... The band got on stage and a few seconds later, the man himself. Hounds of winter sounded fabulous, as I'd expected and I consider this the perfect opening for this show. Especially the extended outro. It was a shame that the outro for Let your soul had completely vanished...
I'd told everyone that if Sting didn't play Every little thing tonight, I'd rush onto stage and make him play it, but fortunately that wasn't necessary. He hadn't played that the first time 'round in Holland. Nor did he play Every breath the first time (if I remember correctly) and who was to know that would be the highpoint of the show!? The rest of the show was fantastic as well, of course. Especially the horn-solo in Roxanne. I think Sting owes us a decent live record this time!
When they got to the front to play You still touch me Sting didn't say that Vinnie was the best drummer in the world (this might answer somebody's question, I think it was Wendy and Dave's), nor did he tell us how much the keyboard cost.
It was a shame that the band didn't start playing Englishman again when all the crowd was singing it after they'd disappeared for the first time. It would have made the evening even more perfect then it was... It didn't take long at all before he came back though
The highlight was after If I ever... though. He called for Stewart Copeland and at first I was shocked to hear that name. But since I was still in a bit of a daze because of my constant studying in the days before my thoughts were "I probably misheard" and "Yeah, joker" at first. But when he came on stage a few seconds later I went nuts... I lost it... I was as quiet as I've never been staring at the stage and seeing those two guys at the same time on the same stage... and I was there!!! I was stupified... Every breath will never sound the same again... ever!
And Stew came back again a second time for Fragile... It was strange to see two of the best drummers in the world, both shaking something instead of actually playing drums.)
The reason why Stew was in Holland probably had something to do with the fact that The Leopard son premiered in Holland this weekend and Stew had been on a film-show according to a friend of mine... So don't get your hopes up about a reunion...
But, Sting did say "We'll see you soon" at the end of the concert and I can't help wondering whether he says that all the time or that it means that either he and his band will be coming back to Holland soon or that we'll be seeing Sting and Stew together soon... (both sound fine to me!)
I am still under the influence of last friday so forgive me for saying this but I actually think the Police should get together again.... And make whatever music they feel like...
The fact that some of Sting's b-sides sound more like jazz again, the fact that Kenny is back in the band and the fact that Andy is doing jazz as well might mean that the Police actually might sound different...????
Okay. I'll stop dreaming now.
I hate to pour cold water on what everyone has said about the show in Den Haag, but...
(i) the sound was awful (and I was next to the mixing desk!); however, this is more a function of the Statenhal itself, which is a terrible place (acoustically).
(ii) the cymbal and vocal sounds were dreadful. Vinnie's roadie was on stage many times (as he was in Brussels), but nothing seemed to help. As for the vocals, it sounded like the mic output was being over-modulated.
(iii) the `semi-acoustic' version of You Still Touch Me didn't gel at all.
(iv) rather than get caught up in the excitement of Copeland's presence, my friend and I actually listened to what was being played, and it was nothing to write home about (as I'm sure boot tapes will confirm). While I admit it can't be easy to play someone else's kit, SC's performance seemed very poor, and he didn't mesh with the rest of the group at all.
In my opinion, Sting should have let Vinnie play, and have SC play tambourine.
Set list for show is as follows:
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