Just back from our little French tour in Lille and Caen. It's the middle of the night here. I've had a wonderful time with lovely people, Jeremy, Fred Berthelot and Andrea who flew from NY, Karel and his girl-friend, Paul Carter and Andy, and one of our Dutch friend who was in Newcastle on the MF Tour and whose name is so difficult to write !
I guess you already found Karel's review for Lille.
Karel, no regret ! Caen was good, but not exactly as good. No change in the song list. A smaller venue but the audience wasn't as great as yesterday. The nice thing was we met some friends (Estelle and Leslie among others) from the French fan club (Fabien, we missed you !)
Jeremy and Fred will probably write in detail, this sunday, about the shows and our trip. Six of us travelled together in my car, singing over Sting on various concerts and TV/radio recordings... It reminded me the "All this time" hysteria on the ferry back from Newcastle. And we know each other much better now !
Dear Dawn and Stephanie, next time, take the plane !
The best is still to come : the one and only Paris concert, on monday night with Cheb Mami, among others, I am sure...
Last detail for tonight : TF1 (French TV) was in Caen filming tonight. The feature will appear during the news roundup (JT) at 8:00 PM this sunday on TF1. Don't miss it.
Enjoy your week-end wherever you are.
I'm back from France where we ingested three Sting shows! I'll have a full review shortly on Stingus, but I'll give a brief run-through right now. Andrea and I met up with Benjamin, Jeremy, Karel, Joanna and Sjoerd in Lille. It was nice to finally meet each other and put a face on those names. Andrea and I braved the cold for three hours in order to be in the front row... it was worth it! The show was great, same set-list (with the re-addition of MAY) but the French audience was so much more enthusiastic than any American audience I've seen. We met Lydia (who kept screaming "Belissimo!" at Sting!) and Guido who were next to us, and Paul and Andy after the concert (somehow I knew they'd be there!) Nine of us went out for drinks and mussels after the concert, and were congratulated for a great show by the people next to our table (they thought we were part of the crew since we were all wearing Sting T-shirts and Jeremy looks vaguely like Dominic!) We had a great time and got to know each other a little better (especially Karel and "Vodka Boy"!)
In Caen we were joined by five members of the French Sting association. They added quite a bit of energy in the front row, and we were treated to another great concert. I should have a picture of the whole group within a few days. The ride back to Paris was a lot of fun. Benjamin provided the transportation (merci Benjamin!), Jeremy provided the entertainment, and we all sang our lungs out! Quite pathetic really, but a lot of fun nonetheless!
And the best was yet to come. Paris. After waiting for five hours in the bitter cold with a dozen fans from the French fan club, we were treated to an amazing concert. Kadja Nin from Burundi opened and did a cover of "Russians" with African drums... superb! Then Cheb Mami... Then the best Sting concert I have been to! (the fact that the band recognized us and interacted with us certainly helped!) Whereas the U.S. concert had more of a subdued jazz-club feel (due mainly to the audience's relatively lack-luster response and the small size of the venues) the Paris show felt more like a pure rock-and-roll concert. Nothing can compare to 17,000 people jumping in synch to Roxanne...what a rush! There's no way you could ever experience that in New York...So the trip ended on a very high note, and now I can't wait for my next concert!
I encourage all Americans to take the leap and experience a European show. You won't regret it...
OK, I should have a more in-depth review of each show on Stingus within a couple of days. Until then, you can check out the new updates on the Sting Compaq site.
You'll see a couple of pictures by yours truly! I unfortunately don't have any pictures of the France shows since security was more severe about photography. If you have any high quality pictures of these shows or any other shows, could you please e-mail them to turningleaf@mail.com I'd really appreciate it.
Merci d'être venu, merci d'avoir écouté, que Dieu vous bénisse, on vous verra la prochaine fois!
As you know by now, I just returned from France where we saw Sting in Lille, Caen, and Paris. A big hello to Benjamin, Jeremy, Karel, Paul, Andy, Sjoern, and of course Fred! Thanks for the ride Benjamin, even if I had to sit on the floor of the car the whole way! It was fun. You should have heard our rendition of BOTN/WTWIRD. We sounded excellent, if I don't say so myself!
Anyway, the shows were amazing and each one kept getting better. As Fred mentioned, the set lists were all the same, but the audiences were so much better than they were at the Beacon, especially in Paris. The band seemed really happy and enthusiastic, and by the second and third concerts (since Fred and I managed to get to the front every night), they recognized us and interacted with us. Kipper and Jason have this little sychronized routine of standing up and turning their heads during certain songs and they are always laughing and poking fun at each other. We were on Dominic's side in Lille and Chris's for Caen and Paris and by the end, they all knew our faces real well. During Chris's solos, he constantly looked directly at us and smiled and laughed (I was making a fool out of myself by really getting into Seven Days).It was as if he was playing strictly for us. He even blew me a kiss during the last curtain call.
The only thing that seemed out of place was the male back-up singer who does this nasty little dance thing as he eyes Dominic during BOTN/WTWIRD. I felt uncomfortable for Dominic who didn't seem too thrilled. But I think both singers sound better than Scream did, even if they aren't as aesthetically pleasing to most people. The woman isn't bad, but the guy is just weird. Their names have escaped me.
After the show in Caen, Danny Q gave Sting's glass of water (with alka seltzer or something fizzy in it) to Estelle, a member of the French fan club, and she graciously offered me the last portion of it. It didn't taste too great, and the next morning I had a sore throat so we were joking around that I had gotten Sting's germs. Also after the show in Paris, Danny told us he'd get us something, but the security guards didn't believe us and tried to get us to leave. Danny came out just in time with a bunch of guitar pics.
Paris was the best concert I've ever been to, as the audience and the band where both amazingly enthusiastic and alive. It was all so surreal. Roxanne was phenomenal as everyone was pouncing in synch. That's the way a Sting concert should be!
I'm sorry it had to end, and now that I'm back in the states, I'll have to comfort myself with my memories...until they return!
I saw Sting live last night in Caen ( France) and it was wonderfull. I only regret that he didn't sang a song from " Mercury album". Roxanne was a magic!
Qualqu'un a vu Sting à Caen hier soir ? J'ai trouvé le concert génial et Sting en grande forme!
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