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First of all, I'd like to thank Cheb Mami for opening. If he didn't, I would have missed the beginning of Sting, because the traffic was bad, the fog didn't help, and finding parking was hell. I know I'm not really being fair to Mami, but the guy didn't sing one word in English, and it's hard to pay attention to something you don't understand. I found "Abbey Road" being played during the intern enjoyable, though. You have to be really fucking good if you're going to invoke the Bealtes before you come on stage. And Sting was.
ON - 9:00
(first encore)
(second encore)
OFF - 11:00
I've never seen Sting before, with the exception of the Net Aid performance. I had no idea what to expect, if he was good live or not, if he played a 90 minute show or a two hour one, if he reworked older material, or stuck to the recordings. I had no idea if he would do a lot of new songs, or a lot of old ones.
I had an excellent time. I love the new album, and it was great to hear most of the songs from it played live. They seem more realized in concert, and really shined. Unfortunately, a lot of the audience seemed to zone out during A Thousand Years, After The Rain Has Fallen, Perfect Love...Gone Wrong, Fill Her Up, and Tomorrow We'll See. (Brand New Day and Desert Rose were pretty well accepted by the crowd.) During Fill Her Up, Brad Pitt ran on stage with Jennifer Aniston in tow, and sang the James Taylor part of the song. I never expected to hear a gem like Moon Over Bourbon Street, which was fantastic, with Sting doing his best Tom Waits impersonation. I was really surprised that there was so much jazz, it was really wonderful to hear most of the songs rearranged in some way or another. The musicianship was great, the song selection was great (of course there are songs I would have loved to have heard, but he can't play everything in one night), and the performance was outstanding. Sting even spoke about how being in small venues allows him to actually hear the crowd:
"I can hear everything you're saying. [points to one person] 'He looks younger! What did he have done?' [points to another person] 'He was better with The Police!' [points to another person] 'Can he really do it for five hours?' I no longer practice tantric sex. I'm trying to teach my wife tantric shelving... that's where you go shopping for five hours and don't buy anything. She doesn't like it!"
But *I* liked Sting.
Here's my long review of Sunday night at the Beacon (borrowing my mother-in-law's PC quickly while I'm away from home).
The show was great! I thought it had so much energy. Sting obviously loves NY! Even though I was almost in the back of the Orchestra section (where the sound bounces off that low ceiling) I thought the sound was great! Much better than San Diego.
Here's the song list (or what I could read of my handwriting in the dark!)
(At this point he pauses to talk about it being their last night in NY, it's great to be in NY, he loves the Beacon, it's cuddly, he "can hear what you're saying" - points to front row - "he looks different, must have had something done... or... he was better with the Police")
(At this point he talks about how the painting by Edward Hoffer (sp?) inspired him to write this next song...)
(Afterward Sting talked about how he forgot some of the words but it was ok because he could just "do do do do do" along.)
(Sting tells the story of how Kenny's parents would make him practice his scales and arpeggios after school everyday and Kenny would leave the window open so he could listen to the kids playing on the street so Sting turned the story around to what it would sound like playing in the street while listening to Kenny practice!)
(At the end of the song Sting tells another story about Kenny's sense of humor - of how Sting thought Diende was a beautiful woman's name and Kenny says, "No man, it's an abbreviation." Sting says, "An abbreviation...for what?" Kenny says, "For Diende my D***!")
First encore:
Second encore:
This was one of the best concerts I've ever been too. Of course I had to get some "merchandise" while I was there. Picked up a t-shirt and poster. Hope you all enjoy the rest of the tour!!!
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