The Las Vegas opener was a disaster, at least for the fans. The sound in the Hard Rock's "Joint" was unbelievably muddy. It sounded like the sound man liked sitting in a car with the bass turned up to 100, and all the other levels at 1. The booming sound completely obliterated the other instruments. I never heard Dominic Miller for the entire concert, and I had great seats in this small venue. The keyboardists were both muffled, even during the few solos. After a lifetime of concerts, this was one of the worst for sound.
His voice was in fine form, and was fairly clear for most of the songs. He performed nearly all of the new album, with only a few favorites. The second encore produced a clearly mixed, beautiful rendition of "Fragile," which made me wonder how good the concert might have been if the sound had matched THAT mix for all of the previous songs.
For the $200+ ticket price, it was a complete rip-off. He gave a good performance for 2+ hours, but without hearing it, I would have been better off at home listening to the stereo.
Here is the setlist for last night's tour opener at The Joint in Las Vegas. It was the longest Sting concert I believe that I have seen, clocking in at 2 hours 15 minutes and including 26 songs (6 songs more and 1/2 hour longer than the Mercury Falling shows that I saw.)
Encore
2nd Encore
There were many surprises in the songs played. Also surprising was that there were only four Police songs played and the first was played nineteen songs into the set.
The crowd was a capacity of 1400, making it the smallest crowd of any Sting concert that I have attended. Ticket prices ranged from $50 for standing room only to $150 and $200 for seats. For tonight's and tomorrow's shows, those jump to $75, $200 and $300! In the standing area that I was in, the biggest drawback was that it became very noisy during the softer numbers. Also, they were not selling any tour merchandise, at least that I could see.
Most of the songs had the same arrangements that have been used on past tours with some exceptions. The band sounded very well rehearsed and even though Sting mentioned at the end that there had been mistakes, I didn't notice any.
A Thousand Years may be too subdued for an opening number, especially when the tour moves to large venues. If You Love Somebody was very strong. After The Rain segues into a new, less funky arrangement of We'll Be Together, which I prefer to the original. Perfect Love featured Manu Katche doing the French rap, coming down to the front for the first part. Seven Days was one of the best received songs of the evening. Prior to Fill her Up, Sting mentioned that a Vegas reporter had told him of a large percentage of people who after having committed crimes head to Vegas and said that this character was heading there too.
Moon Over Bourbon Street was rearranged having a more New Orleans jazz sound to it, with Sting adopting a gravelly vocal. The two songs about prostitutes were played one after another, with Roxanne losing the reggae mid section of the last tour and having Sting repeating "sell" a lot. The Bring On The Night medley is tiring for me, after 14 years of playing it at every concert.
Desert Rose was minus Cheb Mami, but Sting sang the introductory Arabic lyrics. I am looking forward to hearing it with Cheb at the Universal City shows. Before fragile, the front doors were opened so that everyone in the casino could hear the song being played.
There was no opening act, but Cheb mami is opening the 4 shows in Universal City and Aswad is opening in Santa Barbara.
The bad news is: Bring on the Night, Roxanne, and Fragile remain in the concert.
The good news is: this is the best concert Sting has put on in years! Let Jeremy and Bill tell you a bit about it.
25 songs, 2 hours and 15 minutes, no opening act
The treats:
The details.
Setlist was as follows:
Encore
The set was pretty plain, Miles was seen running around at the start of the concert, the venue was small and comfortable, Sting looked energized and great, Security was rampant (you would have thought Clinton was there) but Jeremy says "where there's a will, there's a way". Sting was wearing what appeared to be a fake leather top and pants with pockets near the knees. The backup girls were a band called "Scream".
Ran into Dominic 3 hours before the show. He graciously signed Bill's ticket and was a complete gentleman. Bill said "it should be a great show tonight". Dom said, "It's the start of the tour". Bill mentioned that he is going to the next 2 shows as well, and Dom said that he appreciates the fact that anyone would even go to the first show.
Was great meeting Maggie and her husband Bill, as well as the gang from St. Louis.
Now we gotta go gamble and pay for the shows.
Pretty sure this is the best Sting show we've been to, but Tomorrow We'll See.
I hope I'm not repeating anything. I just got back to work from the Vegas show! I have 116 emails from y'all and I don't have time to go through them, so if this set list and a review of the Thursday show is already old news, just skip right on by...if not, here goes a quick message. I'll try to write more later.
WOW - Great, fantastic, mesmerizing. What can I say.... I got to listen outside the door to about an hour of practice the day before the show and it was a little rough, to say the least. The show was 100% better.
Sting flubbed a few lyrics on the new songs, but he apologized for it at the end. I had an awesome seat - 5th row right in front of Dominic and just slightly to the side of Sting. I was in front of the guy from Compaq who IS CREATING THE STING WEB PAGE AND IMPROVING IT. More on this later (Monday). He told me about all the improvements that should appear in about two weeks. I was sitting behind Bill Silva WHO IS A BIG CONCERT PROMOTER ON THE WEST COAST OF CALIF. They were personally escorted back stage by Miles (more on this in a later message, too.) I got to talk with Dominic, Chris (the trumpet player) Ian and Miles, (Stew must have gotten ALL of the personality in that family), but alas, no Sting and no backstage pass.
Sting's voice sounded great, strong and high. He was drinking tea with lemon and squirted some throat spray half-way through. The audience didn't get up and dance as much as I like, but half of them were dressed like they were going to a cocktail party anyway (only in Vegas would you wear a fur stole to a concert!)
The trumpet was not nearly as annoying as it has sounded on TV. It blended a lot better and didn't blurt out in odd moments.
Sting chose some odd songs off past albums (I think) songs I love, but weren't hits. It was great to hear them.
Here's the list:
Encore
2nd Encore
I may have missed a song in my delerium, but I think this is it.
Have a great time all of you who have shows coming up.
It was great to meet list members Tim and Rachel from St. Louis (new to the list, but both HUGE Sting fans) and Jeremy from England (who you all know) and Bill from Seattle (who you also know). It was great!!! talking with you. Now my husband knows there are more people like me, he just think's we're all crazy!!!
Wish I had time to write more, but I've got a million things at work since I've been gone 2 and 1/2 days!
First off, it's good to be back--I have been off the list for about a year, and I've missed the Sting news terribly!
Second, if this is old news, big apologies, but I gotta share anyway!
My best friend and I were at the tour-opening show at the Hard Rock in 'Vegas, and ohmigod, what a great concert!
Since most of you, if not all of you, have probably read countless reviews and music list postings, I'll spare all that. Suffice it to say, it was one of the best concerts I've attended in many, many years. Sure, it was rough around the edges, but to me that only adds to the rawness of the excitement of the night. And oh, he really and truly is in excellent vocal shape!
Quickly, it was great to meet Shelly and Scott, and I saw Luuk (didn't meet him, though), and the people around us were wonderful and just as excited as we were. It's a night I'll soon not forget, including rubbing elbows (literally--I was a bit drunk) with Dominic, and Chris the new horn player (what a cutie!!) at the Hard Rock bar after. We saw Miles and some other of His entourage, but nothing will compare to hearing Sting sing once again.
We have tickets to the show closer to home, of course, but I'm afraid it may pale next to the electricity in the Joint that night.
Hey--it's great to be back!
Peace and Sting.
My wife and I attended the opening night of Sting's world tour in Las Vegas. We sat about 11 rows back, center. I just have to say that I first saw the Police in a small bar in Germany in 1978 and didn't even know who they were until about 2 years later....but I have been a Sting fan ever since I saw them in 1978. I have seen him numerous times and the gig in LV was awesome.
He seemed so happy to be there and perfrom. I have seen him some times where it was just another gig or not feeling well. This time, he was ready.
That is the best thing about seeing the very first shows. Sting likes to start out with small venues that are more intimate because it allows him get the band and the music tight. Also, it is very easy to hide, musically speaking, in a large arena with the sound turned up. It is easier to hide mistakes. So, seeing the first shows, you see really raw performances, some mistakes but you see Sting excited about new material.
Here was the best part...his voice. It sounded very young and crisp and the high parts were just like the Police days. For some of you that are not sure about his new music and the recent performances, you have got to remember that Sting likes his music to evolve. Even since the CD came out, the songs have already started evolving and changing. That is the best part about his musicianship. He is always changing and growing....I love it.
For those of you going to the shows....get ready....he is at his best!
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