Concert Reviews Home Page

March 8, 1991

Hartford Civic Center - Hartford, Connecticut, United States

by Ross Storey on March 11, 1991

I saw Sting live on Friday night in Hartford, CT. It was really an out-standing show, rivaled only by the Yes show I saw last year. It wasn't as down as I thought it would be; the band rocked pretty hard. Sting sang really well, despite the fact that he can no longer hit the high notes. He found interesting ways to get around it. His bass work was acceptable, too. The drummer, Vinnie Colaiuta?? was really good, better than Manu Katche IMHO, though not as good as Hakim or Copeland. Dominic Miller really played well, tasty most of the time, but firey in his solo spots. The most impressive member of the band was keyboardist David Sancious. In addition to playing some great keyboards and guitar, he added a midi saxophone controlled by a small breathing device with notes controlled by his right hand on the keyboard. It looked and sounded wondrous and difficult. Also, singer-percussionist Vinx added backup vocals for some songs.

Concrete Blonde opened up, and do they ever suck. I expected a pretty good, hard rocking alternative band and got a musically boring and talentless performance of uninspired songs. That should bring on the flames, but really they were not good. Vinx also opened by playing about three songs. He is an outstanding singer and percussionist. Not having much of a backround in Africanmusic, I think I would have been bored of him if he had played longer, but his performance was intriguing. His first album comes out next month, and Sting is on it.

Oh, the set list for the show. In no particular order, he played:

Roxanne (too slow)
Message In A Bottle (super)
Every Breath You Take (new arrangement with a rocking end)
King Of Pain (as on the single)
If You Love Somebody Set Them Free (wow)
Fortress Around Your Heart (a bit slow)
Fragile (encore)
All This Time (show opener)
Mad About You (much improved from the album)
Jeremiah Blues (really, really cool)
Why Should I Cry For You? (I hate this song)
The Wild Wild Sea (outstanding, a real highlight)
The Soul Cages (neat song, great bridge at the end)
Ain't No Sunshine (a cover of a song by Bill? Withers - it was really good, hope he puts it on a single)
Purple Haze (yes, and it rocked hard, the best cover of this song I've ever heard)
Bring On The Night / When The World Is Running Down... (the show stopper of course, Sancious really kicked on the keyboard solo, I missed the chorus of Bring On the Night since they moved straight from the verse to When...)

Anyway, it was exciting. Don't miss him if you have the chance to see a show. It's worth the money.

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