Man, what a sweet show!! just back from the show here in Cincinnati. I've seen Sting about 15 times in my life and tonight was probably the best show I've seen him put on. The intro to BND was cool but what stands out in my mind is Roxanne, holy shit!! The middle section of the song sounded amazing!! Same set list as last fall, he looked blonder than ever, and sounded better than ever, with a few squirts from the throat spray. It couldn't have been more fun, damn !!! He will always be the Master...ciao....
What can I say? This was the best show I have seen live or even have on video. Sting looked GREAT!!! The whole band were really loose. They all were having so much fun on stage. About 3 songs into the set, Phil gave Dominic a glass of red wine. That sure did the trick. I've never seen him so relaxed and having fun. He was loving it last night!! Surprise here, no Compaq people around. I was 6th row, center and no Compaq people in site. YEAH!! I stood up the whole time, with the exception of maybe 2 minutes. The people in front and beside me decided to stand the whole show, so I gladly joined them!! Even a few yells, "Just sit down for one song" didn't bother any of us. Same setlist from Columbus, but Sting did play Message. That is a cool song to do by himself.
Tracy Chapman did a great job. Played for an hour. That is the roughest job in the world. Opening up. She had the crowd pretty good though!!
Sorry I didn't get to meet up with anyone. We should have set a time and place to meet. I especially wanted to say hi to Jeff.
I hope this show turns up on video at some point. It was the BEST show ever!!!
Oh, I almost forgot. Everyone was basically wearing the same clothes. Jason had a white shirt on and Dominic wins the award for the best pants. Damn!! I think the girls in the first row was loving it!! It's the lip pants, if you didn't know what I was talking about!
After seeing 3 identical shows on the Mercury Falling tour (and being disappointed about it), I had talked myself out of expecting something different at Cincinnati from Columbus. In view of that, the small variation he made had quite an impression on me. Last night, as part of his second encore, before Fragile, he did a solo acoustic version of Message In a Bottle. I had seen that in a setlist someone posted I think, but I thought maybe it was a mistake after seeing him in Columbus. Well, I thought it was great. During the chorus, when singing "I hope that someone gets my, I hope that someone gets my..." he'd take a rest, and wait for the audience to chime in with the normal "Message in a...", then he'd do a quick descending "Message in a Bottle" line. I've heard him do something like this on live recordings. Man, did it sound cool and the audience went nuts for it.
Other than that, the show was very similar to the one in Columbus. I was on Jason's and Chris' side this time instead of Dominic's, and slightly closer (row L). I thought the audience was slightly more excited to see him than in Columbus, which was cool. They still sat for the slower/ less popular stuff -- Perfect Love... Gone Wrong, Seven Days, Tomorrow We'll See, maybe one or two others. But they showed more patience during these ones which were mostly unfamiliar to people.
During the setup, about an hour before the show, I saw Dominic come out onto the stage briefly for a sec and fiddle with a guitar or something. I was *this* close to shouting out "Hi, Dominic!" at the top of my lungs, which definitely would have gotten a wave. (Unfortunately, it also would have attracted the attention of the entire ampitheater, since everyone else was just chatting quietly and drinking beer - I was too shy.)
A ten-year-old girl and her dad were sitting to my right. Her dad told me he had gotten the tickets for her birthday, and that Sting was her favorite musician. Apparently she and dad had similar musical tastes, unlike her older sister (13 years old), who was very upset that she hadn't gotten a chance to see N'Sync, who had, it seems, been in Cincinnati as well that week. I asked her name and I think she said "Jane" really quietly (she was really shy). She was almost too shy to tell me her favorite Sting song was "Fields of Gold" when I asked but she managed to stutter it out while looking down. Cutest thing ever! Dad bought her a Sting t-shirt for sleeping in, she was very excited.
Regarding the t-shirts, I'm not a fan of any of the ones I've seen on sale (in general I hate black t-shirts, and the white one... is okay but that clock is in the way of his face!). Actually, I like the ones for women, the light blue and white with the slim cut style, simple but cool. Hehe, not enough to buy one and try to squeeze into it though.
In any case, it was a very good show. A couple of other things I noticed during this show:
I noticed this tour he does a neat little fast strumming flamenco riff at the end of "Fragile" which I hadn't noticed before, it's pretty cool. This tour he's also doing Fragile with full band. I'm pretty sure during the Mercury Falling tour he did it solo.
Okay, this one is interesting. I'm pretty darn sure that he was making a musical allusion to -- of all songs -- "Masako Tanga", during Roxanne. I don't think he did this in Columbus. In Columbus, he did a brief segue into "Spirits In The Material World" (no words, just music). He didn't do this in Cinci, but for a minute or so I could swear he and Dominic were playing Masako Tanga and he was doing the descending "e-yo, yo yo..." vocal part. He did this right before last surge to finale in Roxanne. It was brief and subtle, but the fact that it was an obscure, old old school Police song fired me up. Anyone else notice this at Cinci or anywhere else (or was I hallucinating?).
Jason's solo in "When the World Is Running Down..." stole the show. Absolutetly. The crowds went totally nuts for him. It was a very extended solo this show (not that it was short in Columbus), and like someone else noted, Sting and Jason played off one another very well. Sting seemed to be sort of issuing a playful challenge with the bass, and Jason would take it and go wild on the keyboards. Very cool. In Cinci and in Columbus I was quite impressed with both him and Chris. They're very talented guys and they put on a great show (of course I already knew that Sting and Dominic are very talented guys who put on a great show).
One subtle moment I noticed in "Englishman in New York" happens when he sings the line "You can hear it in my accent when I talk" -- he changes his pronunciation/accent briefly -- I think he's trying to make it sound American for a second, as a little joke. Anybody else notice this?
Another funny moment that I haven't seen before was in Seven Days. Someone held up a brew for Sting right before the "I need that beer" line and he pointed at it and smiled.
I listened to his growly vocals in Moon over Bourbon Street and I agree that he's trying to sound like Louis Armstrong. It's... different. Not sure I'm a huge fan of it.
He had Tracy Chapman opening for him last night, instead of Guster. She was quite good. Maybe that was why the tickets in Cinci were slightly more expensive... ?
So I've seen people here complaining about $75 tickets. I had no idea the prices varied so much from city to city - I just saw Sting at Riverbend Music Center in Cincinnati for $25 (plus $8 for the ticketbastard charges/parking.) I think the most expensive tickets were maybe 50-something, but all the seats are great and the sound is excellent. We were on the grass lawn behind the pavillion seats and had a great view. So if you live in the midwest, consider driving to Cincinnati for a great outdoor show in the future.
That said, I just want to add that I thought Sting was EXCELLENT! I had never seen him live, and I was blown away. His band was amazing, and many of the songs sounded better live. (Plus he looked so damn good - Trudie is a lucky woman).
If anybody has any live concert recordings for sale, please email me! I'd love to have some of his live stuff on CD...
I had the good fortune of having been able to attend Sting's Brand New Day Tour's stop here in Cincinnati Ohio. What a show!!!! I was not disappointed. Sting is a very good showman. He really engaged the crowd. I thought the Brand New Day songs sounded great live, especially Desert Rose, which got an enthusiastic response from the crowd when it started up. One song from BND not played was Ghost Story (my fav of the album). I would have loved to have heard it live, but other than that, I had a blast. If there is anyone out there contemplating whether or not they should attend a Sting show, DO IT!!! Its worth it. The man has an.... essence or something... You can feel his energy just being in the same area as him. I'm searching like mad looking for other tour dates close to hear. I plan on taking in at least one more show. Wish me luck. Well thats my two cents. Just wanted to toss them in. Thank you.
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