Nothing Like The Sun: 1987/88

Sting wows crowd at IU's Assembly Hall...

Sting delivered the second of two nights of concerts at state colleges with another exciting performance in Indiana University's Assembly Hall Wednesday night.

Though it seemed hard to imagine that he could top the show he presented at Purdue University's Elliott Hall of Music Tuesday, Sting did indeed draw upon even more energy and excitement for this concert. Nearly 7,500 fans skipped watching IU's victory over Wisconsin to attend the show, making it a near sell-out (only half of the 17,500-seat hall was used).

At this show, the former frontman of The Police appeared even more limber and in better humour, and his extraordinary eight-piece group seemed even more like a great ensemble than a collection of all-star players.

While Sting stuck to the same playlist used for the Purdue show, it would be wrong to say this concert was merely a repeat performance.

Dressed in loose-fitting black silk trousers and jacket, Sting opened his set with 'The Lazarus Heart' from his new album, 'Nothing Like the Sun'. He seemed to take great pleasure in watching his fans who, despite the steep pitch of the venue, stood to dance and cheer.

"I've got a stiff neck looking up there," said Sting with a laugh as he pointed to fans in the upper reaches of the facility.

"What's the game you play here, basketball? And what's a Hoosier?" he asked amid much laughter. "I saw the movie," he added with a knowing chuckle, adding that "this is a lot better."

Fans swayed near their seats while Sting worked through the first half of his show, which included strong performances on 'We'll Be Together', 'Englishman in New York', 'Sister Moon', 'Rock Steady' and 'Murder By Numbers'.

Sting again told the amusing anecdote about how Jimmy Swaggart once claimed the latter song must have been written by Satan. "I wrote it," he said. proudly tapping his chest as fans cheered.

Winding down with the 7/4 rhythm of 'Straight to My Heart', 'One World Is Enough' and 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free', Sting's flamboyant keyboardist Delmar Brown again dazzled fans with his amazing, soaring vocal accompaniment to 'Consider Me Gone'.

The first set closed, after 80 minutes, with 'Bring on the Night' and 'When The World Is Running Down'.

Following a brief intermission, Sting returned with the sombre 'They Dance Alone'. which featured brilliant percussion work from Mino Cinelu, who was incredible throughout the evening.

The second set was short, featuring only the Police hit 'King of Pain', the new 'Be Still My Beating Heart', and the sensitive pairing of 'Fragile' and Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Wing'.

As with his Purdue show, Sting returned alone for his first encore and played what fans most wanted to hear: 'Roxanne', the song that first established The Police. Joined by his band, he also offered 'Fortress Around Your Heart' and 'Don't Stand So Close'.

He returned again to encore with 'The Secret Marriage' and 'Message in a Bottle'.

(c) The Indianapolis Star by Jill Warren

Sting's concert leaves mark on Bloomington...

Last Wednesday, former Police lead singer and current solo mega-artist, Sting treated 7,500 Hoosiers of all ages to 23 songs that he has written and performed during his illustrious musical career. The three-hour show, which was held at the Assembly Hall, clearly showed why Sting is so popular.

The concert began with an elaborate drum solo which led into the first song on Sting's current album '...Nothing Like the Sun', 'Lazarus Heart' which immediately led into 'Too Much Information', a song Sting wrote and performed while with the Police. He then sang four of the songs, 'We'll be Together Tonight', 'Englishman in New York', 'Sister Moon', and 'Rock Steady', from the new hit album.

After this first set of songs, Sting paused to ask a very poignant question.

"What is a Hoosier?"

He then proceeded to clarify the identity of the writer of the next song. "About three or four years ago, Jimmy Swaggart said that this song was written by Satan, by Lucifer. I wrote this song!" He commenced to play 'Murder by Numbers', a single originally released on the Police's biggest-selling album, 'Synchronicity'.

The British pop star went on to perform, a new song, then a reggae-style version of 'One World', a song from the Police's 'Ghost in the Machine' LP, and then two songs from his first solo album, 'Dream of the Blue Turtles'.

Sting concluded the first part of the concert with the title song from his 1986 concert movie, 'Bring on the Night'. After a 20-minute intermission, during which the performer changed outfits, he energetically reappeared and performed, 'They Dance Alone', current Billboard hit 'Be Still My Beating Heart', and 'Fragile', a highly political song.

Sting planned to conclude his solid performance with 'Little Wing', a song originally done by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, but the enthusiastic crowd vehemently demanded an encore.

Although the crowd requested he sing the classic 'Roxanne', Sting claimed "I have to sing that at every concert, give me a night off. Everyone gets a night off, even Jimmy Swaggart got a night off." The crowd, however, would not be refused as he reluctantly belted out a slower version of 'Roxanne'. After that he continued with 'Fortress Around Your Heart', and 'Don't Stand so Close to Me'.

He then departed the stage again. The crowd, however, again wanted more. He reappeared for the last time and performed 'Secret Marriage', and, upon request, concluded with 'Message in a Bottle'. 

The audience reluctantly left the arena, longing for more, but it was a bittersweet departure, for Sting clearly delivered as solid a performance as anticipated.

(c) The Herald Times by Patrick Hallagan

Sting breathes life into the rock concert...

Music fans tired of rock concerts featuring affected stars churning out stale renditions of radio hits needed to be in Assembly Hall at Indiana University last night.

There, Sting showed an appreciative audience how a concert should be played.

Even Sting's entrance was unorthodox. None of this smuggling the star in under cover of dark so he can suddenly appear centre stage, bathed in light. No, no. Sting let his band open the evening. As each of the band's eight members began to play, a solo spotlight shone on the performer. Finally, the last spotlight came up on Sting, standing at the side of the stage where he had been watching the proceedings - unnoticed.

With a simple wave to the audience and a smile he moved the band into an excellent rendition of 'The Lazarus Heart', off his latest album, '...Nothing Like the Sun'.

Sting's songs are like nothing else being played on the radio today. The music is undeniably pop with a strong undercurrent of jazz and reggae. The lyrics are filled with social consciousness. In concert, the driving rhythms and catchy lyrics provide the same blast of fresh air they do on the radio. 

And Sting's fans know these songs inside out even the unreleased numbers off the new album. When Sting began singing 'Englishman in New York', the crowd immediately chimed in. The performer looked down from the stage after the first verse and said, "Here, you do it," to which the entire crowd responded by chanting, in perfect unison, the song's chorus, "I'm an alien. I'm a legal alien. I'm an Englishman in New York."

In addition to the tunes off the '...Nothing Like the Sun' album, Sting performed a number of songs off his. previous solo album, 'Dream of the Blue Turtles', as well as many old hits from his days as lead singer for the Police.

But few of the songs were performed as fans might remember them. Sting is an excellent musician and not afraid of tampering with his own songs.

A prime example is 'Little Wing'. On Sting's latest album, this cover of an old Jimi Hendrix song is a pleas- ant little tune full of wispy synthesizer sounds with only an excellent guitar solo to even hint that Hendrix may have once played the song.

In concert, the song was hot, Steel guitars screamed. Drums thundered. And Sting's voice reigned soulfully above it all in a performance Hendrix would have been proud of. The song proved that although his forte may be reggae-flavoured pop songs, Sting can rock with the best of them.

Later in the evening, Sting did an about-face from his 'Little Wing' transformation by taking one of his classic rock hits, 'Roxanne', and playing it simply on acoustic guitar with Branford Marsalis backing him up on sax. Even in this simpler form, the song shone.

Although Sting's lyrics are filled with social commentary, he refrained from preaching the issues to the audience, letting the songs state their message. However, he couldn't resist commenting on TV evangelist Jimmy Swaggart's recent fall from grace.

When introducing 'Murder by Numbers', a song from the Police's 'Synchronicity' album, he told the story of how Swaggart had claimed the song was written by Satan. "I wrote the (expletive) song," Sting said.

Flaws? Sure, there were a few. My personal gripe was that Sting didn't play the bass. Let's face it, throughout his days with the Police and during his first album, the bass was Sting's trademark instrument. He played it in all his videos and not to see him play it in concert was kind of a let-down.

Also the show was two or three songs too long. It tended to bog down in the middle of the sets. And I would have preferred to hear fewer of the songs off '...Nothing Like the Sun', in favour of 'Love is the Seventh Wave' and 'Russians' off Sting's first solo album.

But those audience members who left after the first encore in a rush to get to their cars first, missed the evening's best moment.

As the show's finale, Sting appeared alone on stage with his acoustic guitar and began singing another old Police hit, 'Message in a Bottle'. The audience joined in, softly. No- body screamed; no one was obnoxious. The crowd just sang evenly, like a choir. By the first chorus, Sting was no longer singing. He just played.

There's something about one man playing guitar on stage while an auditorium of young people sings, "I'll send an S.O.S to the world. I hope that someone gets my message in a bottle," that makes you feel really good about the future. The song itself is one of hope, ending when the singer awakens to find a reply to his S.O.S. in the form of "a hundred million bottles washed up on the shore." As Sting and the audience enthusiastically entered the final chorus, the beat picked up, hands clapped feverishly and voices rang out. It was a wonderful, optimistic way to end an evening with a true musician.

(c) The Daily Journal by Michael Aldrich

Fans love Sting - and all that jazz - Area concert-goers, others like 'new' music...

"We'll be together tonight...".

Familiar screams could be heard from Assembly Hall at Indiana University in Bloomington Wednesday night, but not for the basketball team.

Instead, they were directed toward Sting, former member of the rock band The Police, on stage as part of his 'Nothing Like The Sun World Tour'.

Sting's eight band members performed as smoke billowed from the back of the stage. As the beat changed, so did the fluorescent purple and green lighting.

Dressed in black, Sting performed songs from his new album 'Nothing Like The Sun' and oldies but goodies from his Police days.

Between songs, the native of Newcastle, England, warmed fans up by making jokes about Hoosier basketball, especially those involving Purdue. He performed at Purdue Tuesday.

"Do you have a good basketball team?" Fans responded wildly.

"That's what they claimed at Purdue."

The Rev. Jimmy Swaggert's recent confession that he visited a prostitute was another target of Sting's humour. Swaggert has condemned one of Sting's songs.

"He said the song came from hell. He said that Satan wrote the song. But I'm the one who wrote the song," said Sting just before performing his 'Murder by Numbers' hit.

That song was a hit to Crys Hansen, community relations specialist at Reid Memorial Hospital. The six-year, die-hard Sting fan attended the concert with Indianapolis friend, Cary Woods.

"I really enjoyed his new music, but loved his rendition of old Police songs, like 'Murder by Numbers', Hansen said, "He really jazzed that up and made it into an almost different number."

Hansen complimented the band on their ability to follow Sting's beat changes from rock to jazz.

"The music he plays now is an extension of what he did in the Police. It's a jazzier type of music with a more 'up' feel to it," Hansen said. She last saw Sting in concert when he was touring with the Police promoting their 'Synchronicity' album in 1983. Richmond dentist Tom Ringenberg said he thinks Sting has grown up since leaving the Police.

"Sting's new music is more artistically mature because of the jazz tempo and light percussion." By the end of the two-and-a-half-hour concert, almost everyone, including occupants of nose bleed seats (the highest, most distant seats from the stage available for purchase), were dancing as bright lights shone on fans, encouraging them to sing. "He's just like that, he likes to get the audience involved. That was obvious when everyone screamed to hear 'Roxanne'," Hansen said.

(c) The Palladium-Item by Ann Quigg

Sting brings something for all to Assembly Hall...

If the incessant shrieks and screams of adolescent girls are any measure of success, pop star Sting could have put on a dandy show all by himself at Assembly Hall Wednesday night.

A simple gesture, a look askance, a little dance anything and everything brought roller coaster screams from the audience.

Sting did nothing to discourage such behaviour, mind you. Especially during his encore, when he tossed away his silk jacket and performed bare-chested.

But just as Sting knows how to play a teen-age crowd, so too, does he know how to reach a wide variety of music lovers of all ages. As has been the case with his solo albums since leaving the popular rock group The Police, Sting's live show Wednesday was an engaging mix of Latin and Caribbean rhythms, tightly arranged songs and brilliant though controlled musicianship.

It was a noticeably diverse crowd that descended upon Assembly Hall. And it seemed as though everyone went away hearing what they came to hear.

The show was performed in two sets with no opening act, consisting primarily of music from 1985's 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles', 1986's 'Bring On the Night and last year's 'Nothing Like the Sun'. The radio hits, such as 'We'll Be Together' and 'If You Love Somebody Set Them Free', drew the most animated audience response, though ballads such as 'Fragile' and the vampy 'Consider Me Gone' were received warmly as well.

Much of Sting's new music has been called neo-jazz, not so much because of the music itself as because of the treatment it gets from Sting's excellent complement of backing musicians. The eight-piece band was led by accomplished jazz players Branford Marsalis on reeds and Kenny Kirkland on keyboards. Marsalis, in particular, often played off of Sting's reedy voice to create a layered texture with the help of the versatile keyboards of Kirkland and second keyboardist Delmar Brown. 

Percussionist Mino Cinelu, drummer Marvin Smith and bassist Tracy Wormworth set down the reggae-inspired rhythms that dominated the evening.

Unlike most pop-rock outfits, the electric guitar seldom received top billing in Sting's musical mix. Jeff Campbell's ample talents only got one real workout, appropriately enough on Sting's interpretation of Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Wing'. And then, Campbell probably went a little overboard.

Sting pulled out a handful of his Police hits, with 'King of Pain' benefitting nicely from the jazzy treatment and Marsalis's serpentine saxophone lines. 'Don't Stand So Close To Me', however, sounded like an overly slick hotel lounge band's interpretation, completely missing the catchy pop hook it had in its original version.

No one seemed to care, however. Sting was in their midst, and there was no doubt that the charismatic performer could have been successful with practically any approach or playlist.

(c) The Herald Times by Mike Leonard