Nothing Like The Sun: 1987/88

'New' Sting is soaring - He does it all 'wrong' and gets it so right...

In the accepted music biz methodology, Gordon Sumner is doing everything wrong. 

First, he puts the kibosh on the biggest band in the world, right at the height of their creative (and commercial) power.

Then he compounds the situation by placing the simple, infectious reggaefied rock that brought him fame on the back burner while he explores his jazz leanings.

To top it off, he starts quoting heavy-duty authors in interviews, does political songs, even lends his name to bodies like the North-South Project, which aims to raise awareness of third world issues. (Other Project members include Corey Aquino and Willy Brandt.)

But he's been able to pull it off artistically, and keep his mega-audience, because first and foremost Gordon Sumner - aka Sting - is an A1 entertainer. And Monday night, the 36-year-old former Police leader performed a minor miracle, turning the cavernous barn that is BC Place Stadium into a warm, intimate venue with the feel of a Greenwich Village jazz club.

Battling a sore throat that had forced him to cancel a show in Edmonton on Saturday, Sting led his ace seven piece band through a two hour set, with two encores. He alluded to his illness early on - noting that a Vancouver radio station had broadcast a report he was being carried about "on a stretcher," he cracked: "I was a stretcher 'cause I wasn't invited to Wayne Gretzky's wedding."

But aside from the odd strained moment when he tried to reach his upper range, his voice was fine.

The New Sting has cast aside his virile rock star persona for an unkempt, hip English professor look: his blond hair is long and hangs over his eyes, his suits are loose-fitting and casually chic. He also plays down the star trip and concentrates on his music - he still knows how to work the crowd (13,000 at a scaled-down Dome) into a big roar, but he looks far more comfortable when he's playing the guitar rather than simply prancing about the stage.

Maybe that's because his band is so good, he just gets off playing with them. Saxophonist Branford Marsalis and keyboardist Kenny Kirkland are the stars, killer players with an incredible feel for the music they play. Sting allows them a lot of room to solo, and they fill the space with one musical high after another.

The concert focused on material from Sting's last solo album, '...Nothing Like The Sun', with a couple of selections from his first solo album, 'The Dream of the Blue Turtles', and a few Police hits here and there (including 'Every Breath You Take', 'One World', 'King of Pain', and a radically revamped 'Don't Stand So Close To Me').

Sting's video setup deserves a special mention. At the start of the show, the light from outside shining through the roof spoiled the effect of the light show and the giant video screen, but once things got dark the video setup provided great closeups of Sting and his band.

The sound was great, to boot: during 'Fragile', there was an incredible video vignette of Sting on acoustic guitar swapping notes with percussionist Mino Cinelu, and the sound was so crisp you could hear Sting's fingers sliding up the frets. BC Place should hire his soundman, permanently.

(c) The Vancouver Sun by John Mackie