Thanks to Dave & Wendy Dunn for the Ticket Stub
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Thanks to Dave & Wendy Dunn for the Ticket Stub |
........hot off the press.........well telephone!
Dave has just phoned me to let me (and you) know about the Sheffield concert. Why am I not at Sheffield I can hear you asking? Well Dave had to go away for a few days on business to Sheffield, whilst I stop at home. Strange but the same thing will happen next week as he's in London on the 5th, guess where he will be going that evening?
Sheffield Arena is another one of these ice-rinks which they also use for concerts it's quite large at 12,000 seats (Newcastle is 10,000). As Dave's ticket was bought at the last moment he was stuck at the back so didn't have a fantastic view but it was OK.
First thing the two backing singers that were at Newcastle have now gone. We will have to wait and see if we get them back for the London shows. The crowd were subdued at the start of the show, this could be due to the lack of loud Outlandos and DSA people! Well no surprises to the set list just the same as usual. Dave got the impression that "Roxanne" was slightly shorter than the version he played at Newcastle. Paul Carrack joined Sting on stage again but this time he sung on "Let your soul" and "Lithium Sunset". "Demolition Man" this was very loud and had everyone in the arena up and dancing, Butch and Clark were excellent.
"ISHICSC" he had three people up on stage. One guy who said he was married but he was actually divorced! He forgot he was divorced! Another guy who was bald, so Sting did all the old "haircut" jokes. Plus a young woman, when Sting asked her age she said "19". Stings response was that she was to young for him, she couldn't keep her hands off Sting and kept on kissing him! She asked if she could have his towel, Sting said "Ok you can have it as a present". But she didn't want a clean towel she wanted one covered in Stings sweat! So she proceeded to wipe him down with the towel, she kept the towel round her neck while singing but occasionally would take the towel and flick it towards the crowd.
Last thing of note, before Synchronicity II Sting asked if there was any Boro fans here tonight. As you all know Sting claims to be a big Newcastle United supporter (which is strange because he was a Sunderland supporter as a boy!) in the north east we have three big football teams Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough (the best team). There is a big rivalry between all three teams - we all hate each other! Anyway when Sting shouts out this question one lone voice shouts out "YES"! "Well" says Sting "You've just beat Newcastle 3 - 1!!! Lone person jumps up and down with much joy, excitement and shouts of triumph, whilst the rest of the arena looks on at this strange site! Yes - Dave was that lone person: "YIPPIE - we stuffed the Skunks"! What have you got to say about that Mr Sunset?! BTW Guido - We love Ravanelli; OK I will stop talking about football now.
Overall view Sting was as usual excellent.
As it's Wednesday it must be Sheffield. By a marvelous coincidence I (Dave) just happen to be have a pressing business engagement in the city, and Wendy through gritted teeth managed to purchase one of the few remaining tickets. No longer can she taunt me with the question "how many times have you seen the Police & Sting" - as tonight's show makes us level on concerts attended. My offer of taking the mobile phone and giving her a call at the start of "Hounds of Winter" so she can at least enjoy the show brings no reaction other than a whitening of the knuckles and the emission of steam from her ears. You've seen Tom and Jerry cartoons when one of the characters slowly reaches boiling point....you get the picture.
Sheffield is the UK's fifth largest city and the Arena is yet another characterless ice hockey stadium - how we miss the older, smaller venues like the City Hall - and how fortunate we are that in London Sting chooses to play the 3,000 seat Royal Albert Hall. It is one of the largest indoor entertainment venues in the UK (over 12,000) but the far end of the arena is curtained off, and a third of the floor area is unseated and empty, so this figure is heavily reduced for tonight's show.
Wendy has extracted some revenge by obtaining a ticket offering a position at the back of the hall about 2 kilometres from the stage but at least I'm here! Last night's youthful crowd [who watched Boyzone and Louise] have been replaced by an older audience - lots of couples many of whom are only too happy to remain seated.
Sting opens with the now standard Hounds of Winter, and a perfect set follows - exactly the same set in the same order as all of his Irish and UK shows to date. The main difference from the recent Newcastle show was the omission of the two female backing singers - no idea why or if we'll see them again - but I didn't notice any backing vocal tapes to replace them. Paul Carrack - introduced by Sting as "One of my favourite singers" - helped out on vocals during Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot and returned for the penultimate song, Lithium Sunset. He again performed the acoustic You Still Touch Me with Kenny on "US$7.5 dollar organ" (it's gained value since Newcastle), Dominic Miller on his acoustic which he had "hired for the evening" and Vinnie "the world's best drummer" on tambourine.
When Sting talks to the audience he does so at the same points in the set, between the same songs. Tonight he jokes about how cold it is and not dressing properly - same attire as Newcastle by the way, black waistcoat and pants - and takes sips from what he says is his cold medicine. His voice continues to sound very good. Outlandos didn't order tickets for the Sheffield show, so there was no easily identifiable section of the audience that was up and out of their seats from the start of the show. It took a while to get the audience going, and inevitably, it was Every Little Thing She Does that finally got the front sections of the crowd to their feet. Usual routine on I'm So Happy, another local radio competition winner (Radio Hallam) and two others. One a folically challenged chap - "I like your haircut" says Sting polishing his head for him - and a girl who was beside herself but at 19 years old was "too young" for Sting. One guy forgot he was divorced and explained he was there with his girlfriend - cue taunts of being a "heel" from Sting, and the girl asked if she could have his towel but complained that there was no sweat on it, so Sting allowed her to give him a towel down. Their performance was bearable, but not as good as that of the Newcastle volunteers.
Just before launching into Synchronicity, Sting asks if there are any Middlesbrough fans in the house. A lone voice (mine) shouts confirmation - "well you have just beaten Newcastle 3-1" replies Sting. Oh Joy! The biggest football game of the season - which I am missing but Wendy is watching at home - goes our way and the bearer of that news is Newcastle United fan, Sting. I'll admit to fretting about missing the game, and apart from Sting announcing from the stage that I had just won the lottery, I can't think of anything that I would have preferred to hear at that moment in time.
Butch and Clark continue to be a dynamic presence trying to whip the crowd up, and contribute to a storming version of Demolition Man which has everyone, even those on the sides of the Arena, up and rocking out of their seats. Roxanne, seemed a lot shorter than the lengthy version performed at Newcastle. The version of Lithium Sunset currently being performed is simply superb and a magnificent way to bring the show to a climax before the final, and inevitable, Fragile.
Overall then, another consummate performance with no surprises. Its good to see Paul Carrack guest on some songs, and whilst its a little disappointing not to hear songs other than the standard set, I guess its understandable. You expect the Mercury Falling material alongside a mini-greatest hits collection, but Oh how great it would be for just the inclusion of 2 or 3 'new' songs. But most of the 10,000 audience will only see him once on the tour so I guess those of us that see him on a few occasions just have to bite the bullet a little and settle for what Sting clearly considers to be his best, or at the very least, his favourite set.
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