Brand New Day: 1999/01

Sting: Closer to Perfection, Further from the Heart - The former Police frontman saved the show towards the end with his classic hits...

That Sting is an excellent musician, gifted with incredible songwriting ability and perhaps one of the best singers the rock scene has ever produced is undeniable. However, his constant pursuit of perfect arrangement balance, in terms of technique, has led him to drift further and further from feeling. The audience, unconsciously, let him know this in the only way it can express itself: through applause or collective euphoria.

It's true, his audience has changed... just as the artist has, but the parameters are entirely different. Because he doesn't understand thirds, augmented chords, sevenths, diminished chords, or dissonant chords; he simply understands feeling, rhythms that move him, melodies that sound pleasing to the ear, that touch his heart. And there he was, ready to unleash his full force whenever the occasion called for it, and what a coincidence: it was during the encore. When Sting, with an acoustic guitar, performed 'Message In A Bottle' and 'Fragile'. Both performances were simple, without elaborate arrangements, simply epic. His perfectly tuned voice seemed to hang suspended and spread throughout the auditorium, filling the night with magic.

Beforehand, as if anticipating this grand finale, the former "policeman" had programmed the end of the show with a series of old gems: 'Roxanne', 'Bring On The Night', 'Spirits In The Material World', and the crowd-pleaser 'Every Breath You Take': staples of every one of his concerts since 1987.

I've never been one to say that the past was better, but circumstances compel me in this case. And it's because... what a coincidence! All five songs belong to his era with The Police or his early solo career. So, you start reviewing your notes and discover that other interesting passages, musically speaking, belong to the same period, and that the rest, despite being well-known songs, don't quite qualify as hits. These are precisely compositions where the musical arrangement has taken precedence over the simple art of combining sounds while maintaining time and rhythm (as any music teacher would say).

And now for another topic. Perhaps a very personal one. About 15 years ago, in my second interview with the singer and actor, I asked him if the breakup of The Police was truly due to artistic growth or an egocentric attitude. Sting's answer at the time seemed convincing to me: "I won't deny that I have a big ego, but I think these musicians are truly superior." He was referring to keyboardist Kenny Kirkland, saxophonist Branford Marsalis, and drummer Manu Catché; today only the latter remains—returning to replace another great, Vinnie Colaiuta. The names are no longer the same: guitarist Dominic Miller, who toured with Sting several times, trumpeter Chris Botti, and keyboardist Jason Rebello, who handle most of the solos, are far from the level of their predecessors, who prioritized good taste over technique.

The problem is that they, like their former bandmates in The Police, shone brightly on their own. The current band accompanying Sting are truly "mere backing musicians." The sound is relegated to the background, and their participation is limited.

I would have liked to ask him the same question because I doubt his answer would have been as convincing as it seemed to me back then.

But that's a different story. He doesn't need anyone to move a crowd. He simply needs a little more heart to get the audience to rise from their seats and cry out for help through a "message in a bottle," and for the bottle not to break due to its "fragility."

(c) La Opinion by Marcelo Rey