Spreading a little happiness...
A funny thing happened on the way back from the rainforest: Sting in concert at the Albert Hall on Thursday, makes a brave attempt to lose his hippy tag and becomes a 'fun guy'.
Make no mistake, Sting is a fun guy. Some people say he's not fun, but they're wrong. He is fun. If you don't believe me, you should have seen him at the Albert Hall on Thursday. He made a joke about his hair-loss. He did a Funny Walk. A girl in the audience proffered a rose and he took it from her with his teeth. Not only did he get his brass section to bop from foot to foot, but he also got his choir, lined up, on ledges on either side of the stage, to do the hand-jive. Do these sound like the actions of someone who is not fun? They do not. Sting is fun. Got it?
Over the years, he has been derided as a self-righteous, over-serious hippy, which is what hap- pens when you campaign tirelessly for ecology and human rights. On Thursday, 'Fields of Gold', 'An Englishman in New York' and 'If I Ever Lose My Faith in You' were reminders that he is, none the less, one of the best pop songwriters in the business, so he could afford to ignore the sneers (let's face it, he could afford anything money can buy). But the mockery must have, well, stung, and now he tries so hard to be fun it hurts.
By denying the existence of any emotion other than jollity, he does his songs no favours. He invited three people from the audience on stage to join in on 'I'm So Happy I Can't Stop Crying' - all very amusing, except that their vague grasp of the pitch really did bring a tear to the eye. 'Roxanne' (a sparse song about a prostitute, remember?) became a cheesy gospel singalong; and the sinister, threatening air of 'Every Breath You Take' was deodorised to pine-scented freshness by a shiny, Stax-brass backing.
The mood was as forced as holding a fake grin for two hours solid. Maybe I was sitting too far from the front to be carried along by Sting's enthusiasm. Maybe the well-drilled musicians could have been more spontaneous. Or maybe Sting is just not a fun person after all, and when someone like that is desperate to convince you otherwise - your bank manager at a Christmas party, say - you'd be forgiven for wishing they'd go off to a rainforest somewhere.
(c) The Independent by Nicholas Barber
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