Nothing Like The Sun: 1987/88

Sting, all-star band dazzle Salem crowd...

It seemed Sting was as eager to leave Salem as he was to arrive for his sold out ',,,Nothing Like The Sun' concert July 19 at L.B. Day Amphitheater on the State Fairgrounds.

Apologising for taking the stage an hour late, Sting told the crowd of about 9,000 people that "we just flew in from Canada, where the U.S. Customs found us very interesting."

All was forgiven when Sting and his all-0star band whipped through an intense jazz-pop-rock and Third World rhythm musical performance that was high in quality if short on quantity. The 15 song, 1¾ hour show included only a one song encore - The Police's 'Don't Stand So Close To Me '86'.

Seeing former Police lead singer and songwriter Sting and his talented group in Salem was more than worth the trip, despite the abbreviated length of the show.

The band displayed its varied musical backgrounds and diverse style by soothing the audience with melodic pop-jazz tunes ('Be Still My Beating Heart'); making the crowd stomp its feet to jazzy be-bop sounds ('Englishman In New York') and rocking their socks off with Jimi Hendrix' 'Little Wing', which featured two grinding guitar solos by Jeff Campbell.

The band was at its musical showcase best on 'Consider Me Gone', a cool jazz song from Sting's previous 'Dream Of The Blue Turtles' album.

Sting and alto saxophonist Branford Marsalis employed a call-and-response style as Sting would sing ''consider me'', and Marsalis would answer back with sax.

A snappy use of breaks highlighted the group's solos during the song - among the best being Delmar Brown's scat singing that matched the keyboard riff.

Also impressive was keyboardist Kenny Kirkland's choppy, piercing blue note-filled piano solo reminiscent of Thelonius Monk on 'Bring On The Night'. The piece was particularly fitting as the 95-degree weather cooled and dusk settled in on the cosy arena.

This was only the second non-State Fair event to be held at the battleship gray concrete amphitheater since its construction last summer. The venue, named after the late state senator noted for his legislative support for the State Fair, features comfortably contoured seating, impressive acoustics and crow's nest look-alike spotlight towers located behind the audience.

As day turned into night, Sting set a romantic Latin mood with his politically potent songs about Third World injustice.

He dedicated 'If You Love Somebody (Set Them Free)' to South African political prisoner Nelson Mandela, saying, "He's been in prison a long time" and adding that he would also like to dedicate the song to all the "children in South Africa's jails."

He underscored his political themes with passionately played versions of 'They Dance Alone', which acknowledges the Chilean dance of the mothers of "the disappeared" ("their only form of protest," Sting said), and the acoustic guitar-laden 'Fragile', written for Portlander Ben Linder, who was fatally shot during a Contra attack in Nicaragua.

Sting had dedicated the song to Linder at his March 29 Portland Memorial Coliseum show, which was considerably longer - three hours - than the Salem performance.

I had seen both shows and left Salem disappointed that Sting omitted a lump-in-the-throat solo acoustic version of the Police's 'Message In A Bottle', which was a successful crowd sing-along hit in Portland.

Also mysteriously absent from the Salem concert was 'We'll Be Together' - the first and biggest single from '...Nothing Like The Sun'.

The Salem audience saved its biggest ovations of the night for the classic Police tunes 'King Of Pain' and 'Don't Stand So Close To Me '86'.

It was intriguing how Sting and the group revealed new dimensions in the Police songs. In the middle of 'King Of Pain', following Campbell's rock guitar riff, Marsalis slid into a raging jazz rock tenor sax solo. The duo did the same again on 'Don't Stand So Close To Me '88' as Sting took off his black captain's jacket and unveiled himself bare-chested, while singing the lyrics dealing with an adolescent girl's infatuation with her young male schoolteacher.

Then without a goodbye, Sting left the stage for good, leaving the audience wanting more.

(c) Eugene Register-Guard by Ron Gullberg

Nothing but the sun - Fans sizzle in the light of a superstar...

The temperature was past the 100-degree mark, the star was an hour late, and the three-hour show was an hour short.

But there was no question. about how a Salem audience felt about the star when two people held up a handlettered banner "Sting for President" at the Oregon State Fairgrounds L.B. Day Amphitheatre on Tuesday night.

The Salem audience loved the music in Sting's electrifying show, which travelled the musical world from reggae to jazz, with long improvisational riffs and vivid instrumental solos.

The biggest cheer came two hours into the show, when Sting took off his black tunic.

Rock sophistication has its limits.

So did the attendance. The turnout fell about 2,400 short of the amphitheater's capacity of 9,000.

Sting didn't come on until 8pm, telling the crowd, "We're at little late tonight because we flew from Canada, and the U.S. customs found us very interesting."

The crowd, sweltering in the heat, didn't seem to mind. The audience raucously cheered the singer while he demonstrated his supple voice and musical versatility, performing old hits from his Police years and his newer solo efforts.

Sting, swinging his long, blond hair and dancing around the stage, displayed a mischievous, playful attitude as he bantered with the audience and danced.

The show breached the usual. boundaries of rock, from the African beat of Englishman in New York to a cool, bluesy treatment on Sister Moon, which got a sinuous sax solo by Branford Marsalis.

As good as the band was, however, there was never any question that the night belonged to Sting.

(c) The Statesman Journal by Ron Cowan

Sting's voice, band's talent worth the wait...

'...Nothing Like the Sun' is the name of Sting's new album.

It's also a fairly apt description of sitting with approximately 8,500 people in the Luftwaffe-gray concrete bowl of the L.B. Day Amphitheater at the Oregon State Fairgrounds in the 90-plus-degree heat Tuesday waiting for Sting. And waiting.

At 7:57pm, nearly an hour behind schedule, Sting and his seven-piece band took the stage and made the wait worthwhile. "Sorry we're late," He told the audience after the first song. "We just flew in from Canada, and U.S. Customs took quite an interest in us..."

That low-key announcement set the tone for the evening and deflated a lot of perfectly good, righteous outrage that I had built up about this rock star keeping us all waiting.

There still is a peculiar sense of uneasiness that hovers over the whole Sting phenomenon. It seems to have something to do with his transformation from being a Face - a part of the scene as he arguably was in the film 'Quadrophenia' and his early career with the Police - to becoming a Voice, providing a philosophical direction on the strength of his songs and singing.

After all the reports of his petulance and arrogance and liner-note proof of a certain pomposity, it is a pleasure to report that Sting is a fine singer who writes some great songs and some filler, just like everyone else- and fronts an excellent band.

The evening began with the percussionist soloing as the rest of the band filtered onstage. The band picked up the beat and swung into 'Lazarus Heart' from the new album, saxophonist Branford Marsalis playing the brassy riff with perfection that he displayed all night. As the band was cooking, Sting walked onstage to resounding applause, resplendent in a black jumpsuit and shoulder-length blond hair. He sounded in good voice though slightly hoarse as he sang and clapped through the song, stepping aside for a guitar solo and then a round of short alternating breaks from the drummer and the percussionist.

After his announcement about custom troubles, the band started 'Englishman in New York' with its reggae-tinged chorus "I'm an alien/An illegal alien..." Sting grabbed a white towel that he wore like a turban during the tune, using it to fan Marsalis during his sax solo.

The song wound down with Marsalis still wailing away into a silvery unaccompanied coda. He stopped for a minute, acknowledged the applause and picked the line up again, leading the band into a nice moody rendition of 'Sister Moon'.

There was lots of solo space, and both Marsalis and keyboard player Kenny Kirkland acquitted themselves admirably with jazzy, intuitive solos. Sting's band was tremendous throughout the night.

During this song, and for most of the night, Sting physically manifested the uneasiness previously alluded to. He ambled around the stage, pointlessly it seemed, hands clasped behind his back as he watched his hired guns at work.

(c) The Oregonian by John Foyston