What a day!
I want to write this down while it's still fresh in my mind. I'm not quite all here at the moment, and won't be for some time I imagine, so if there are any glaring spelling errors or incomprehensible sentences, I'll apologize now.
First off, I'd like to thank everyone who responded to my urgent request for information on the tour manager name. Holly, Ross, and Wendy & Dave, in particular, thank you for wishing me well and giving me the information I needed. I'm sorry for not responding sooner but I'm a little superstitious and I didn't want to jinx myself by saying I hope this happens or I hope that happens. As it turns out "this", "that" and a whole bunch of other @#$# happened!! I am one lucky-ass S.O.B., I tell you. I don't know what I did to deserve this but I thankful it happened. Anyway, here's the story:
Let me preface this by saying that I write for a magazine (English) in Nagoya, Japan. My editor told me that I had a chance to interview Sting because someone he knew had a connection to the Japanese tour promoter. The operative word here being "chance" and to make a long story short the interview fell through. So, that left me on my own to meet Sting. And although I was disappointed, it might have actually been a blessing in disguise because if I had interviewed Sting I don't think what happened would have happened. I'll explain why later.
Sting played in Tokyo on Sunday and was scheduled to play in Nagoya on Tuesday. So the reason I was asking for information on the tour managers name was to find out if 1) Sting would arrive in Nagoya on Monday or Tuesday 2) Where would he be staying? One phone call to the Hilton answered both questions. Ian Copeland indeed did have a reservation and would be arriving on the 2pm Shinkansen from Tokyo.
My friend Aya, who is a vetern groupie knows all the ins and outs of meeting celebribities, bought us platform pass and went up the waiting room. Those trains are about 500m long but we spotted some event staff so we knew which car he was in.
The next thing I knew I was face to face with Dominic. So I say, "Hi" shake his hand and ask him if Sting is around. He points behind him and - TADA! - there is Sting walking with his manager (I don't know if it was Ian, Miles or Kim - I'm assuming Kim is male).
JAKE: Hi, I'm Jake.
STING: How're you doing? [We shake hands and as we do there's a spark of electricity between us. It was probably because of an overload of nervous energy on my part. Or maybe it was something cosmic... (yeah, right)] Anyway there was an audible snap and a strong jolt when it happened.
JAKE: Great. It's a real honour to meet you.
STING: Thank you.
JAKE: I've got some books for you because I heard you read a lot when you are on tour.
STING: Thanks. What are they.
JAKE: There's a couple there by Ray Bradbury and a few others. I hope you like them. I find his writing and your lyrics are quite similar.
STING: [Sting shrugs as if to say I have no idea but it sounds interesting] Thank you.
JAKE: How are you liking Japan? Are you keeping out of trouble?
STING: It's great. [notice he didn't answer the are you keeping out of trouble part]
I then show him the magazine I work for, give him my business card and ask him if he has time for and interview. He asks the tour manager who says quite abruptly "No, we have too many interviews to do today."
Sting apologizes and I ask him to sign an autograph (on the Message in a Box CD) which he does. By this time we are at the taxi's and Sting gets in, waves and he's off.
Aya heard the Japanese tour manager tell the driver to take Sting directly to the the hall and the rest of the members to the hotel. So, we jump on my motorcyle which was on the other side of the station, and as traffic rules don't generally apply to motorcyclists in Japan, we arrive at the hotel just as they are checking in. We wait for about ten minutes, then Vinnie and Dominic come down. I approach them and ask them to sign the Mercury Falling CD. I tell them both what great muscians I think they are. Just typical star-struck fan style flattery. But, then Vinnie starts asking me questions about my work and what I do in Japan. I mentioned that, among other things, I am a bass player and we talked about this for a bit. For me this is unbelievable. I'm standing there shooting the shit with Vinnie and Dominic for about five minutes in the Hotel lobby. And the most surprising thing was the Vinnie was so kind. I mean, he did just answer my questions, we carried on a decent converstation. He was just the nicest guy!
Finally, we I give them my card and tell them that if there's anything they need while in Nagoya that I was there man. This is a pretty big boast because, although I've lived here five years, I am not any more "the man" than the average guy on the street.
Then, at Aya's behest, I ask Vinnie for a back stage passes. He says that if I hang out here [the Hilton Lobby], he'll see what he can do. I tell him that I'll be here, and he and Dominque go and have lunch in the Hotel restaurant - in plain view from where I'm sitting.
Kenny then comes down stairs and I talk to him for a few minutes and get him to sign the MF cd. He was really friendly too! At this point, I'm thinking that something must be wrong. This can be happening so easily. I'm going to wake up any minute.
Next, the tour manager appears and I approach him about a back stage pass and he says "No passes" and walks away. After chatting with the band members, he was seemed very cold and unaproachable. This leaves me a little disappointed but I figured it was a long shot. No harm in trying, right?
Over the next hour, Vinnie and Dominic and Kenny then all go up to their rooms and re-appear about an hour later. Vinnie comes over to me and says your last name is Keel right. OK. You've got two backstage passes. Give your name at the door and you can pick them up. I'll see you at the show. So. I'm thinking, How #ucking lucking can a guy get?
Well, not as #ucking lucky as I thought. Flash foward to the ticket gate. I give my name and there is a delay while one of the event staff goes off to check for the back stage pass list. I told them Vinnie got me the pass so they said "Yes, they were informed of that but just wanted to check with the tour manager." This is the tour manager from the hotel lobby who said "no passes", so although Vinnie had OKed it with the Japanese Staff, the manager vetoed it. He said I had already had a chance to talk to Sting at the station. So I was #hit out of luck. Now, as I'm sure you can imagine, I was more than a little disappointed. Howeer, the fact that I've got front row seats about two meters from Sting does cheer me up significantly. This again was Aya's doing, bless her heart. She waited in line for five hours to get tickets when they went on sale back in the spring. There is nothing in the world like front row. If you've ever been there you'll know what I'm talking about. It's better than I had imagined. It's better than sex. That's about the only way I can describe it.
I was so close to the band that when Dominic and Sting came to the edge of the stage, a couple of times I had to duck to keep from getting hit with head stock of their guitars. They were literally standing right in front of me. This is unbelievable! I've been spoiled! I'll never be able to go to another concert again unless it's front row. I mean Dominic dropped his guitar pick and it landed on my feet. They were literally that close.
OK, like that's not enough. I hold up my sign that has a little stick drawing of me and Sting singing "I'm so happy." My stick figure is playing bass. There's a big ME with and arrow pointing at my stick man and a big YOU pointing at Sting's stick man. So, I hold this up after about the fifth song. The event staff who was crouched right in front of me tried to get me to take it down but I held it up long enough for Sting to read it. He doesn't say anything but when "I'm so happy" comes around a few songs later he says:
STING: This next song's about divorce. Now [pointing at me] there's a guy here who wants to sing with me, but he's not Japanese. He's from North America.
JAKE: I can pretend to be Japanese.
STING: No, I'm looking for a Japanese guy to sing with me. Who wants to sing with me. You? [pointing to a young man in the audience]. Do you know the words? OK. C'mon up.
OK at this point I'm thinking how am I going to live with myself having come so close to getting up on stage with Sting only to have it snatched away. So, I yell out. "Let me play bass!" and I frantically make the appropriate bass playing gestures.
STING: Can you play bass?
JAKE: Yeah, no problem.
STING: All right then. C'mon up.
So I jump up on stage. Sting hands me the bass. I put it on and look out into the audience (it's a small venue, 3042 seats) and everyone is yelling and clapping. This feels like some fantasy day-dream. I can't believe this is happening. I mean I'm standing beside Sting - THE MAN - wearing his telecaster bass that I've seen in thousands of pictures. I remember thinking how nice the bass felt and how much like bare wood the neck felt. A lot of the varnish had been rubbed away through use. I turn around and look at the band. Vinnie gives me the thumbs up sign and Kenny smiles at me. This is no shit. This is really happened.
Sting does the regular intro with the Japanese guy - How old are you? - Are you married? - Is that your girlfriend in the audience? Have you ever been in a Turkish prison? (No, he didn't say that).
Then Dominic starts the song off, and we're away. Thank God that I had been practicing this song for the past week, because, obviously, I would have made a real fool of myself if I couldn't play it. The song actually doesn't follow a set pattern with verses and chorus and two of the choruses have an irregular chord stucture AND a big key change thrown in for good measure. Not your standard country tune. Anyway, I played it well without any major $uck-ups. The Japanese guy and I sang the choruses together, though it was probably hard to hear my voice as I was a little off-mic. I made eye-contact with Sting and the rest of the band members while we were playing. They were all really enjoying it judging by the look on their faces. I was enjoying it too (massive understatement). I remember thinking to myself I'm up here playing with the man I consider to be the best singer/muscian/songwriter in the world - my idol. And if that's not enough, I'm surrounded by some of the best muscians on the planet. This is the greatest moment of my life. It has to be. What could be better?
So when the song was finished, Sting thanked the Japanese guy then he said to me, "Thank you! You did a great job! I'll pay you later." To which I replied, "Thank you so much! I am forever in your debt." I handed him back his bass. We shook hands again. I jumped off the stage and that was it.
Well, actually that wasn't it. After the final encore, the band took one of their bows right in front of me and I shook hands with the band again. Sting said, "Thanks." Dominic made that bass playing gesture and said, "You were good." Kenny said, "Your a great bass player, man. Good job." And he kept shaking my hand, for like ten seconds. The Horn player said, "Good job." And that was it.
Well, almost...
As the road crew ripped the stage apart Aya asked Danny (Stings bass tech.) for the set list which she got and gave to me. I also got Dominic's guitar pick which, as I said before, fell at my feet.
So, it's finally over...
Except...I spent about thirty minutes talking to the main sound engineer as he torn down his sound board. We talked about the highlights and lowlights of the tour, Sting, this mailing list, the internet, Sting's house, David Letterman, etc. and I got some great inside information from this guy. But you're all going to have wait until I'm fed and rested because I can hardly type any more. But, for now, suffice it to say that the sound engineer said this show was one of the best of the tour because the audience was so energized (Almost everyone stood for the entire concert) and they put in a lot of additional stuff (which I'll tell you about in a later post) He also said that I did a great job. And that it was only second time Sting had let someone from the audience play bass (as if my ego weren't big enough by this point).
OK. Enough. Done.
So, as I said before, what a day! Now, the question remains, what do I do with the rest of my life. I mean it's gotta be all down hill from here doesn't it?
I'll fill in the blanks (i.e. conversation with the sound engineer and concert review) later.
As promised here is my post-concert conversation with Mike Keating, Sting's sound engineer. He's a big, white haired gentleman with a pronounced southern drawl. I talked to him while he was tearing down his sound board after the show. If the conversation seems a little illogical at points, remember I just got off the stage after playing with Sting. It was amazing I could walk, let alone carry on a conversation. Anyway, here it is in it's entirety. Oh, and if you wonder how I can remember the conversation in such accurate detail, just remember Clinton's policy on gays in the military: Don't ask, and I won't tell.
JAKE: Do you know if anyone took a picture when I was up with Sting?
MIKE: No, idea.
JAKE: Just thought I'd ask.
MIKE: It's a valid question.
JAKE: You got a lot of work ahead of you tonight?
MIKE: About fifteen, twenty minutes.
JAKE: You off to Osaka tomorrow?
MIKE: I'm off ot Osaka tonight... the last train out.
JAKE: Is this all your own gear or does it belong to the hall.
MIKE: My friend, Ernie-san here, has a crack crew working for him. He's the boss.
JAKE: There gunna load it up and ship it down?
MIKE: Yep, they got it all under control.
JAKE: Have you been on the whole tour with Sting?
MIKE: I've been on the last three tours with Sting.
JAKE: Right... He [Sting] says that he's got quite a crew...that you're like a bunch of pirates or vikings or something and that you go and terrorize the world for a year at a time.
MIKE: Pretty much.
JAKE: Is it true.
MIKE: Yep.
JAKE: I envy you guys. What's a guy gotta do to get a job doing this?
MIKE: I don't know. Basically be out of your tree.
JAKE: Where in the States are you from?
MIKE: Near Philadelphia, Deleware. Where you from? What brings you over here?
JAKE: I'm from Vancouver...
MIKE: That's where Bryan Adams is from.
JAKE: Yeah, that's right.
MIKE: He's a good friend of mine.
JAKE: You know Bryan Adams?
MIKE: Yep, I was on a Bryan Adams tour once where we where the opening act. A band called The Hooters (?) opened up for them and I was working with them.
JAKE: That's great.
MIKE: Yeah, he's a great guy... a great guy.
JAKE: Did you like the song he did with Sting and Rod Stewart?
MIKE: Yeah.
JAKE: What do you do when you're not touring with Sting then?
MIKE: Oh, I tour with other people. I work for a sound company.
JAKE: Right. Sting's all right to work for, then?
MIKE: He's great to work for.
JAKE: Really?
MIKE: Yeah, he's great to work for, except he doesn't want to take a break. We've been on the road since February.
JAKE: Right... I saw you guys in Vancouver....August 11th... It was a good show.
MIKE: We recorded that show.
JAKE: Yeah, they were talking about airing it, but I heard they aren't going to do it.
MIKE: No, there not going to. The band played horrible that night.
JAKE: Really?
MIKE: Yeah, lots of mistakes.
JAKE: I couldn't hear from where I was sitting....Tonight's show was great wasn't it?
MIKE: Yeah, tonight's show was really good. In fact, I've got the tape in my pocket and I'm going to listen to it on the train.
JAKE: Would there be any possiblity of getting a copy of just the song I played on?
MIKE: Nope.
JAKE: Can't be done?
MIKE: Not unless I wanna lose my job... It's a touchy subject...
JAKE: That was one of the biggest moments of my life...
MIKE: I'll bet.
JAKE: It was unbelievable.
MIKE: Yeah, what are you going to do for an encore?
JAKE: I don't know, man. I'll just go home and die or something. It just get any better than that.
MIKE: No, don't do that. I'm sorry, but I can't give you a copy of the tape.
JAKE: Well, maybe it's better that way.
MIKE: Yeah, it might be. Better for me that way. I'll tell you that. It's only the second time he's done the bass thing [invited someone to play bass].
JAKE: Right. I was just lucky I guess. I'd heard he done it once before...Did it sound all right?
MIKE: Yeah.
JAKE: Man, that was such a thrill for me.
MIKE: Yeah, I bet you got a real kick out of it.
JAKE:... so are you back to Tokyo after Osaka.
MIKE: Nope. Down to Kyushu first, then back up to Tokyo.
JAKE: How were the audiences up in Tokyo?
MIKE: Great.
JAKE: Tonight was petty wild. I was surprised, you know, because Vancouver was pretty dead compared to this.
MIKE: Yeah, tonight was great.
JAKE: I've heard it's been pretty hit and miss throughout the North American tour. Some concerts, everyone's up on their feet. Others everone's sitting down.
MIKE: Yeah I thought Vancouver was a big flop.
JAKE: I was surprised. I mean, I thought they'd be a lot more subdued here in Japan.
MIKE: So, are you here on vacation or business or what?
JAKE: No, I teach, work for a magazine, and play in a band. Try to keep busy.
MIKE: Right.
JAKE: Has Sting had any trouble bringing guys up on stage?
MIKE: He's only done it twice in Japan. The first Tokyo show he didn't do it.
JAKE: How big's the crew you brought over from the States.
MIKE: Not very big.
JAKE: Yeah, I see quite a few Japanese crew busting their butts tearing down the stage.
MIKE: Yeah, I suppose there's only about four, seven, eight... nine of us.
JAKE: Right... How were the acoustics in here?
MIKE: Pretty good.
JAKE: Has Dominic been playing bass on "Fragile". I didn't notice at the Vancouver show.
MIKE: Yeah, for the whole tour.
JAKE: The band just seemed great. I met them at the hotel. They were really friendly.
MIKE: [Laughing] Yeah, what would you expect?
JAKE: I don't know. You read tour books about what bands are like on the road...
MIKE: You meet a lot of jerks out there.
JAKE: I heard that one guy proposed mariage up on the stage.
MIKE: Yep, you heard right.
JAKE: The crowd went wild with that I heard.
MIKE: What are you on the internet or something?
JAKE: Yeah.
MIKE: Well, that seems to be where rumour-mill central is.
JAKE: Yeah, after every concert somebody on the internet is posting a review.
MIKE: Well, maybe it'll be your turn tonight?
JAKE: I guess, eh? If Sting wants to know where rumor mill central is he should check out the police/sting mailing list.
MIKE: He doesn't pay any attention to that.
JAKE: We know that.
MIKE: Say all you want on the internet. He doesn't read any of it. Doesn't listen to any of it. Doesn't pay attention to reviews in the newspaper.
MIKE: No, his old soundman just happened to be there?
JAKE: Did you watch it.
MIKE: Nope.
JAKE: I guess you've seen enough Sting for a lifetime...So where would you say the best concert has been.
MIKE: Man, you know, that's a really tough question. I thought tonight was a really good one and I'm not just saying that.
JAKE: Yeah. I really liked "Mecury Falling" at the end. I mean that just kicked.
MIKE: Yeah, and I thought they played "World Running Down" really well tonight.
JAKE: Yeah, with that little jazz thing in the middle.
MIKE: Yeah, that little jazz thing was cool.
JAKE: I've never heard that before.
MIKE: Anything new I like.
JAKE: Was that new tonight, the jazz thing?
MIKE: Yep. You can put that on the internet if you like.
JAKE: Have you been to Sting's house.
MIKE: Yeah, we recorded the album there.
JAKE: I'm sorry, what's you're name. May I ask?
MIKE: Mike Keating. It's in the program.
JAKE: Nice to meet you. I'm Jake. I bought the program in Vancouver, but I didn't buy it here being the cheap bastard I am.
MIKE: It'd probably cost 150 bucks here.
JAKE: Ah man. Tell me about it. The ticket here was like 100 bucks. But it was definately worth it, for me anyway.
MIKE: Yeah, I bet it was.
JAKE: Damn. I wish I had a picture though.
MIKE: Yeah, you can go back and post this on the internet. That was only the second time anyone's ever played bass.
JAKE: Yeah, it was such a big thrill for me. I mean it just hasn't really sunk in yet. Just fucking unreal...Do you need a hand with anything.
MIKE: Just wind in this big cable right here and that otta just about do it.
JAKE: So you got a big night ahead of you.
MIKE: Well, the big night's behind me. It's all down hill from here.
JAKE: Yeah, It's a shame about that Vancouver show. They spent a lot of money on that fucker. I told the production manager and the floor manager, "You know what? If you're ever gunna record a gig, just don't tell the band. You know just bring the stuff here and just do it. Soon as you tell those guys, they start fucking up.
JAKE: That's muscians for you...
MIKE: Well, it's just Murphey's Law I think.
JAKE: What exactly went wrong? Blown guitar solos...blown strings...
MIKE: Yeah, you know. It was just bad. We don't have and REALLY bad shows. But by our standars of what we normally do, that was a bad one...Is that you're friend waiting for you up there? [pointing to Aya - the one who got me front row tickets and helped me figure out how and where to meet Sting].
JAKE:Yeah, she's very patient. We've been at it since about noon. We went to the station to see Sting. Waited at the hotel. Came down here. I'm such a big fan, it's not even funny. It's kind of pathetic you know. A twenty-nine year old guy - it's like, get a life.
MIKE: [laughs] Would you like a beverage or something diet cokes and some water in there. One for each of you.
JAKE: Thank you so much.
MIKE: Take one for your friend there.
JAKE: I guess I should go. Thank you so much for chatting with me tonight.
MIKE: It was my pleasure.
So, that was my converstation with Mike the Sound Engineer. Looking back on it, there were a lot of questions I could have asked him or questions I should have followed up on but my brain was not firing on all cylinders at that point. I hope you noticed I plugged the mailing list, for whatever good it did. You never can tell.
Coming up... the concert review.
Sorry for the delay in this post. As promissed here is the review of the Nagoya, Japan concert - 9/24/96. The venue was Shirotori Century Hall. It's relativly new hall with a capacity of 3042, and according to the sound engineer, it has good accoustics. I had front row seats (about two meters from Sting!) so I could hear the stage mix which I think is clearer and quieter than the hall mix. Dominic was running four amps two of which were small Mesa Boggie studio amps. I can't with certainty recall the other two amps - Vox springs to mind but if they were, they weren't the old style Beatles/Who ones, but rather newer models. If they were Vox I'm surprised because I thought they went out of business.
The Stage set up was the same as I'd seen with dominc stage right and Kenny stage left and the Vinnie and the Horns posiitoned in between.
Sting wore what looked like black track pants,a purple vest and army boots.
The audience was really energized [contrary to the Nagoya audience I saw for the TST tour]. The floor stood for the entire concert. The balconies stood about half the time. Lots of dancing, clapping and singing.
This was one of the best concerts of date, if the sound engineer is to be believed (and why shouldn't he be?). And I definately concur.
Dominic does this really stacato off beat chopping that really drives the song. You may be interested to know that when Dominic steps to the edge of the stage to deliver a solo, he gets this really "spaced-out" emotionless look on his face and he stares blankly out into the audience not at his guitar neck. It's rather disconcerting to see a guitarist solo like this. I'm used to seeing contorted, painful expressions - pursed lips, gritted teeth, skinted eyes - the lot. Dominic seems to be in some kind of moon-man, voodoo trance or something.
Super long "BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" at the begining. Sting's voice was in top form - rich and soulful.
Between songs here Stings says: Domo Arigoto. [auidience screams] Konbonwa Nagoya [auidience screams] That's the only Japanese I know. It's over now. How do you feel. [you guessed it, audience screams] Hai. Hai. Hai.
Great. Used the backing vocal track again.
Sting introduces the band at this point.
Big audience clap along during the beginning. Dominic rips out that statcto chopping again over minimal bass and keyboards. Works great!
I think Kenny is using a different sound program on his synth. It's more chimey (is that a word) and bell-like. Nice subtle horns in the background. Female backing vocal track again.
Vinnie counts this in on the high-hat as Sting bellows one...two...three...four. Very powerful. .The audience does a major sing-along/dance-along. I hold my sign at the end of this song.
Beautiful sax on this. The audience led the audience in this fast clapping in the middle sections. The horn guys really seemed confinent and the audience responded well by mymicking their dancing and following their clapping cues. When these guys stepped forward for solos they totally scam on the women (I asume they were women) in the audience. Major eye contact - winks - pelvic thrusts - the whole nine yards. I think I even caught one suggestive gesture made with sax mothpiece - I won't go into details.
Near the end Sting yells "OK Vinnie! Let's go!" But something goes slightly askew and his drum fill as it is about twice as long as it was during the Vancouver show. I think this was unintentional because Sting and Vinnie both had surprised looks on their faces. Then then they started laughing.
Sting pointed out various women in the audience when I sang "I'm Mad about you." I figure that kind of stuff is better left to Vegas performers but then again what do I know.
STING: This next song is called, um... I'm So Happy, I Can't Stop Crying" You know this song right? [talking to me] There's a man here with a sign that says he wants to sing with me but your not Japanese...
ME: I can pretend, I'll do my best.
STING: [laughing] No you're not Japanese, You're North American. I'm looking for a Japanese man, I think to sing with me. Anybody want to sing with me? C'mon don't be shy. Lot's of women but no I can't have a woman up here. [talking to a guy in the second row] You wanna sing? You know this song? [the guy shakes his head] No, you see, it's difficult. [Another guy waves his arms] You can sing this song? [the guy says yes and the audience screams].
ME: Can I play bass?
STING: This guy wants to play bass? Do you know how to this song on bass?
ME: Damn right!
STING: Right then. Up you come.
Sting then talks to the Japanese guy who incidentally is weraing a Def Leapord t-shirt.
STING: What's your name?
KOHEI: Kohei.
STING: Hi, I'm Sting? How are you?
KOHEI: How are you? [audience screams].
STING: How old are you?
KOHEI: I'm 20.
STING: You're 20 years old, so you're not married.
KOHEI: Yes.
STING: You are married?
KOHEI: Ah..nonononononono! I'm NOT married [audience laughs].
STING: You're not married?
KOHEI: Yes. [Japanese seem to have trouble answering this negative questions].
STING: Now this song is about divorce.
KOHEI: I don't think about the future.
STING: You don't think about the future... So is this your girlfriend.
KOHEI: It's my sister.
STING: That's your sister...[Sting pretends to be contemplating something lecherous - audience laughs] Do you have a girlfriend?
KOHEI: Ahhhh. I'm afraid not.
STING: So let's teach you this song. Give me a chord Domonic. [Domonic plays some notes] No give me a chord, and F# Chord.
STING and KOHEI together: I'm so happy that I can't stop crying. I'm so happy I'm laughing through my tears.
STING: You know this song. So you sing the chorus, I'll sing the verse. And when you're not singing, just clap and look sexy. You can do that. It's easy. All right here we go.
KOHEI: Gamarimasu [I'll do my best].
And off we go. Kohei did a great job! Sting even draped his arm around him at one point.
I'll refer you to my previous post for how it felt to be up on stage with Sting. The strongest memory I have of it was when Sting looked over at me and gave me this pursed lip - raised eyebrow - knod, as if to say "Hey, your not half-bad" At least I hope that's what he was saying.
At the end he thanked Koyhei and then says to thanks.
STING: Thanks. You were great. I'll pay you later.
ME: Thank you so much! I'm forever in your debt!
Short and sweet. I actually have no recollection of this song. I actually sat down for a second when I got off stage as I couldn't believe what had just happened to me.
Giant pounding bass intro. Domonic plays an acoustic guitar (with a sticker of Gerry Garcia on it) and does a really funky solo. One of my favorite songs of the night.
Sting's watching opening howls sent shivers down my spine.
Huge audience partication. Great as usual. Screaming trombone solo - goes on for about three minutes and continues even when Sting starts singing again. Outro kicks!
The most noticable difference here is the jazz bit in the middle. Kenny plays a really outside solo. Then the band slowly slips into this fast jazz thing. Sting plays a lot of quick decending and assending jazz style lines. Vinnie is mostly on the cymbols. Near the end, Sting drops the bass down to the low and and starts hammering. Vinnie starts to lay into the snare as they shift slowly back into rock form. Very long but very cool!
Horn players do their mega-funky swimming monkey dance. These guys are all over the stage for this song! Dominic's guitar is awesome.
Sting leans on the speakers stage left as if he's bored and just smiles out at audience for a minute. The audience really resonds to this. Rap bit was cool as usual. Stings did a really exagerated walk during this bit. The trombone played tuba on this song. The sax played a beautiful solo.
Sting jumps up on a monitor and dances around when he returns to the stage. Wierd intro. I think it was a prerecorded track. Sounds like a rap turnable being spun.
Followed seemlessly from "Faith". Nicely done. Tasteful horn fills. Sting holds that "Please" for twelve seconds - I timed it.
Again no break between songs. Horns are all over the stage again. They chase Domonic Miller around the stage for a while then they both fall on there knees before Dominic and trade solos back and forth. Great stuff! Dominic is standing right before me as he solos and does a couple of pick slides down the strings. Kenny does the same "Rescue me" during the outtro that I noticed at the Vancouver concert. Just rips. Song ends then they start this little blues number for about ten seconds then they end it for real. Sting the horns and Domonic all do a big guitar hero jump at the end. The audience is screaming. It was this song where Dominic dropped his guitar pick. It landed on my feet. So I quickly picked it up and jammed it in my pocket.
Danny (Sting's bass tech.) brings out Sting's guitar and puts it around his neck then stands behind Sting and with his arms around him plays a country a couple of licks from a country song Sting says, "That was very good Danny." You're fired!" Then as the synth plays the opening cord, still #ucking around, plays a lick from another country song (I don't know the name). Quite a contrast to the way "Fragile" is normally played. Domonic on bass for this song.
Sting and band take bows (I get to shake there hands again - see my previous post for details):
STING: Nagoya! Domo Arigoto! Siyonara!!!
Best concert of my life. That's all I can say.
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