My sister and I sat in the eighth row left side and were b-l-o-w-n a-w-a-y. The live arrangements allow the new songs to really shine, and I think those who get to go will definitely get their money's worth (no matter where they end up sitting).
From what I've read, the setlist was the same as Tuesday, except that Mad About You was dropped. There was a payoff, though. The crowd went nuts when the one and only BRANFORD MARSALIS casually strolled on stage to join in on Moon Over Bourbon Street (love the new "Louis Armstrong" version!). Sting invited Branford to stay on for Englishman In New York, which definitely electrified the NYC crowd. Poor Chris Botti looked a little lost as Branford took the lead horn parts!
I was excited after Fred's post to spot some celebs. Imagine my surprise when the row ahead of me is filled with little children. Imagine my further surprise when I realize that the one sitting in front of me is Coco Sumner! She and her brother Giacomo were with a nanny and some other friends. Some other people seemed to realize who they were but fortunately left them alone. They're just kids, after all...they don't need to deal with the whole "fan" thing. Two cute moments did happen, though. They were looking around at the audience and pointing out the female fans who were dancing to the music with cries of "Ewww!" By the time Roxanne arrived in the setlist, everyone stood up and they couldn't see. They stood on their chairs but were still coming up a little short. Coco saw me point this out to my sister and quickly apologized for blocking our way. We reassured them that it was more than okay and got back to enjoying the show ourselves.
Highlights for me included the rockin' version of "We'll Be Together" and the arpeggiated guitar intro to "All This Time." "Bourbon Street" was a great surprise as was Jason's solo on "When The World..."
"Diende" was very touching, as was Sting's introduction of it.
Sting let the audience handle the bulk of the chorus work on "Message In A Bottle."
The group has clearly settled and overcome any bugs they encountered at the beginning of the tour. Catch the show if you can--you're in for an incredible show! Here's hoping a live album and/or video is released from this tour. It's definitely time for a new one!
Setlist:
The show at the Beacon last night rocked! It wasn't easy to get there in one piece though.
First of all, my apologies to all the people from the newsgroup that I was supposed to meet up with at 7:30 in the lobby of the Beacon Hotel! I dropped off my car at some lot and was in the theatre around 7:10 when I saw people at the box office. All of a sudden, I had this sinking feeling as I realized I left my tickets at home back in Jersey!!! So I ran out the door, pushed my way past the scalpers, lunged for the first cab I could and told the poor guy that he had to take me to Jersey and back by 8! Needless to say, he laughed his head off.
Miraculously despite overwhelming traffic in the tunnel, I got to my door in Jersey at around 7:40 and somehow flew back to the Beacon by 8:05. Thank God for E-Z Pass! LOL All I could think to myself the whole time was, "Wow, that Cheb Mami opening act is good for something!"
Sting looked as gorgeous as always in his shiny outfit last night. The set list was actually slightly different than the show I was at in Berkeley a month ago. I loved how they faked everyone out by playing the instrumental of Spirts in the Material World in the middle of Roxanne. I did miss hearing Ghost Story though...
My thanks to everyone who let the little petite girl in a black shirt, glasses and hair in a bun cut in front of them to get some nice shots of Sting! Special thanks to the tall girl in glasses and white top in the front row that made room for me to stand next to her and offered to take pics of Sting for me! I truly was in awe of that brilliant, beautiful man. What a voice, what a smile, what angelic golden hair! Last night was truly the best Sting concert I ever saw and believe me, I've seen more than my share...
I wonder what kind of adventure I'll have at Birmingham in March!
Let me preface this by saying that that was the best concert I have ever been to. Ok, granted it was only my second Sting concert (third if you count the Today show), but it rocked. I went by myself (Nobody I know would have payed $125 for Sting) and I had row H center aisle (the right aisle) and eventually worked my way up to the stage. It was actually relatively easy! The crowd was skimpy for Cheb, but I thought he was great! When he was trying to get people to clap with him, not that many people obliged, sadly.
Right before Sting came on, there was this gigantor of a man who was standing 3 rows in front of me talking to some people. He left, and then a little while later he comes back and escorts Madonna to her seat. Since I was on the aisle I had a pretty good view, but I wouldn't really have noticed her if not for the HUGE body guard.
Anyway, the set list was essentially the same except no Mad About You (I pray he plays it Sunday...I LOVE that song), but the Kenny song and Brandford's appearance made up for it, almost!
I made my way up during Roxanne because that seemed to be the first song that most people stood up. There were a bunch of people throughout the whole show that sat there stone cold. I just don't understand. Everyone sat for Desert Rose so I was forced to kneel in the aisle (some usher came around and made everyone get down) but halfway through I saw a bunch of people get up behind me so I just went for it and made it to the stage. BOTN/WTWIRDYMTBOWSA rocked! It was incredible and there was a guy behind me who knew all of the words too and that made me happy! I was banging on the stage and really getting into it and I think I must have looked like I a freak because Chris Botti, who was right in front of me, had this amused look on his face when he saw me. I used my whole role of film and I'm getting it developed right now so hopefully they come out!
Finally, he ended with Fragile, of course, and he stood right in front of me. I could see up his nose if I really wanted to he was that close. And when he struck the last note of Fragile, I was in my glory! Unfortunately, when they all went to shake hands at the very end, everyone seemed to stop right at the girl next to me. But it doesn't matter. It was amazing...an experience I will never forget!
Hope to meet some of you before Sunday's concert! Who's going to Xando's?
Hello list! Fred here, back from an amazing weekend. It all started with Cheb Mami's concert on Saturday. I walked in at 8:00 when the opening band started, and who do I cross in the lobby but Miles Copeland. I've never said anything to Miles in the past because he actually scares me (!) but before I knew it, I was shaking his hand saying "Hie Miles! How are you?" He shook my hand, looked at me straight in the eyes and strained for a nano-second to see if he knew who I was, said "Good! How are you?" And that was it, my first of my daily interactions with Miles! Dawn and Steve were sitting right next to me at the Beacon and we had a blast! People were on their feet for the opening act! They were great, but ended abruptly. Miles introduced Cheb with the same enthusiasm he had when he used to introduce The Police ("IT'S-TIME-FOR-THE-POLICE!") The crowd went nuts for Cheb Mami. People were dancing the entire night. Men were jumping up on stage to dance and kiss Cheb, who they revered as a God. The energy level was unbelievable and everyone had a lot fun. Miles was panicking backstage around 10:30 because people were chanting "MA-MI" for an encore, but Cheb had to head over to NBC for Saturday Night Live. Cheb came on for two encores though, and though Miles soiled his pants, he was visibly happy about the whole thing! I thought the SNL performance of Desert Rose was very good - much better than previous versions. Cheb's vocals worked really well with Sting and weren't competing with Sting's. I'm sure Cheb was in good performance mood too after that incredible concert. Brand New Day was not as good, but you have to consider that it had to be edited for TV. I wasn't expecting BND actually - I was expecting Desert Rose and After The Rain.
Saturday, 4:00 PM. I get to the Beacon and walk around the block... and Dom and Chris walk in the backstage door. We exchange a quick "Hie! How are you?" Then Kipper walks in. I say hello and Kipper shakes my hand, says "What's your name?" I say "Fred" and he responds "Hie Fred, it's nice to meet you!" He seemed like such a nice down-to-earth kind of guy... Andrea arrived after that I believe, and just in time too! We see Sting arrive in his car... It all happened quickly but he obliged with autographs and pictures. I blanked out and didn't take out my camera, but as Andrea was taking pictures, I asked Sting "Me too?" and he said "Sure!" Sting and I turn out to be the exact same size! So... just shy of 6 feet (5'-11" or so) for those who really need to know! Brad Pitt and Jennifer Anniston sheepishly walked right pass us as we were hounding Sting! Steve was unfortunately around the corner and missed it... He arrived after that, and we all hung out at the backstage door with the security guards who were cool with us. At one point, I saw someone address a woman on a cell phone as "Kathryn." So later I asked her "Are you Kathryn Schenker?" She said yes, I introduced myself, but as she was engaged in a cell-phone duel, she asked frantically "Who has a pen?" I gave her my pen, which she later handed out to her assistant. I told her "He can keep my pen in exchange for a backstage pass!" She looked at me and said "Who ARE you?" (in an intrigue manner). I introduced myself (again).. She was impressed to see that I knew all the musicians and crew who came in and that I was seeing so many shows...(actually, we met two British guys who had seen the Mercury Falling tour 35 TIMES!!!!!)
We heard them practice "Fill Her Up" several times. The security guards who had a peak inside told us Brad and Jennifer would be singing with Sting on FHU. We were kind of in a dilemma, because we didn't know what to say to Sting as he would come back out. In the meantime, I met Cheb Mami as he walked in. I don't know how people on the list regard Cheb, but it was an honor for me to talk to him. I told him we were at his concert the previous night and it was fantastic. I asked him if he was scared when people were jumping on stage. He said he was expecting that because the audience (primarily Algerian) was homesick. Cheb was really nice and I'm very happy to have met him. We also saw Miles as he walked in. We told him how great the concert was that night before, and he was about to walk away... But he turned around and said "Oh! You saw Cheb last night? What did you think?" He then said "I'm glad you came!" (you could see the $ twinkle in his eyes as the thought of a legion of Sting fans buying Meli Meli crossed his mind!)
Later, the musicians started coming out. As Kipper came out, Andrea blurted a well thought-out "Hie!" (You had to be there!...) As Sting came out, Kathryn Schenker came over to me, grabbed me by the arm, and dragged me towards Sting's car (I thought I was going along for the ride!) She said "Sting - I'd like you to meet Fred. He's been to every show!" And Sting replies: "Yeah, we've met!" An anticlimactic response, but at least Sting actually recognized me!!! I took the opportunity to ask Sting for backstage passes but Kathryn Schenker said "No way! We'll get in trouble with the fire department." And Sting said "I'd go to jail!" (the Beacon was slapped with a $5,000 fine on Friday for over-crowding.) We met Cheb's bassist with whom I spoke in French. He was happy to hear our compliments. And then, the man of the hour: Nasser! Nasser plays the darbouka (drum) for Cheb, and plays with Sting on After The Rain and Desert Rose. Go back to your tapes of the Today Show, Net Aid and SNL: you'll see Nasser in all of them. He was absolutely delighted about my comments on his drumming on After The Rain. He said it was a last minute decision from Sting who said "Let's see how it would sound with your darbouka." Nasser said that the opportunity to play with Sting was worth more to him that money! We talked to him for a while and then he realized he had to go on! But he said we'd meet after the show and do something!...
The show was great of course. The room was full by the time Cheb came on, which was a nice change. The audience was very receptive to Cheb's set. I'm sure most of the audience had seen Cheb for the first time the night before on SNL, so they knew who he was. Sting got a standing ovation when he came on with 1000 Years. Some people just couldn't bring themselves to stand down! There was a standing ovation after nearly every song, even the slow ones. The crowd went nuts when Brad and Jennifer came on. Brad sang the part of the big shot of course, and Jennifer played the part of the pretty red-head. Brad did a great job! This was the first time I saw the audience dance to Fill Her Up. Steve, Malav, my sister and I managed to get to the stage during BND. It was awesome! We had a blast. When The World is absolutely fantastic on this tour - the energy level is incredible. Dominic recognized me and shook my hand (again!) Later, Sting shook my hand and with a surprised look on his face, said something like "Hey! It's YOU!" That was a great feeling!... We also got a giant high-five from Nasser! The audience really belted out during Message, but they started clapping out of tempo and completely threw off Sting who had to shush the audience. This was definitely the best of the shows I had seen. Desert Rose was also a big improvement - Cheb's and Sting's voice were mixed better and Dom's guitar was not as loud (is Sting's technician reading my posts?!)
We waited for Sting outside the backstage door along with a billion other people. There was no way Sting was coming out that way (we had had our share anyway!) but When Nasser came out, he said "Let's go!" We went over to a coffee shop and Nasser bought us all drinks, which was extremely nice of him. We had so much fun! We gossiped about Sting, Miles, Cheb, Brad Pitt and Andre Agassi (long story!...) We took lots of pictures. Nasser let us all play his darbouka. Then he played and set the place on fire! It was awesome. We exchanged phone numbers, and he expects to be back in the US with Cheb Mami in the Spring. He'll be with Sting in Paris on January 15 (I think?) If you have any pictures of Nasser with the band, could you let me know? He'd love to get copies.
So anyway, that night was just unbelievable. It was really cool to meet up with everyone from the list (Dawn, Andrea, Steve, Stephanie, Malav, Suzanne, Benjamin, the Vegas Show-Girl who's name I can't remember, etc...) There were quite a bit of us weren't there? Well I still have Saturday's show to look forward to... So on Monday morning you can delete my post if you're tired of my rambling and minutia! (I know I am!)
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