Nothing Like The Sun: 1987/88

Sting graces Palace...

Sting, in concert Saturday night at the Palace of Auburn Hills, near Pontiac north of Detroit.

Even a spiffy new pleasure dome can't steal the show from Sting. Cool as his ice-cream suit, Sting held the Detroit area's newest stage for two and a half hours (including a 20-minute break) with profoundly easy grace.

He's had plenty of practice; with no practice at all, the Palace acquitted itself decently on its first commercial enterprise. No 23,000 seat hall will ever serve ideally for the sort of multi-hued music Sting makes. But if we must have these mass affairs and money declares that we must, the fat basketball court on the northeast corner of Pontiac is already ahead in Detroit's hot competition for arena concerts.

Sting has played most of the venues - he even mentioned Bookies, the tiny punk club his previous band, the Police, visited when they toured in a station wagon.

From their early rock-reggae blend, his music has travelled as well as his stage presence, covering plenty of territory to reach his current location at the front of mainstream pop. The man has kept his place by not standing still my friend, who saw this same tour at Masonic Auditorium in the spring, noted substantial changes in the repertoire.

Sting keeps his fans alert, even the ones that just come to dance, or the older enthusiasts who have made him the thinking woman's sex symbol (thought that may be a contradiction in terms). Old faves from the Police days get new arrangements; selections from his two albums under his own name are expanded with solos. Sting has become a stalwart by building a body of work, not just a set of hits, with old and new continuing to stroke each other.

'Bring on the Night', a Police standard, was played faster and with more voices (he brought eight musicians), leading into an extended jazz piano solo. 'One World (Not Three)' started at the lazy reggae beat, with the audience contributing the chorus without prompting. But it gradually built into yakkety-sax rock from Branford Marsalis, the jazz soprano saxman who has become an important element in Sting's thinking.

He is borrowing from several decades of jazz. Englishman in New York could have come from a 1960s balladeer, especially when it moved into the blues ballad 'Sister Moon', just the thing for an old-fashioned crooner. 'Rock Steady' has enough jazz vocalese for the Manhattan Transfer.

Together Tonight, however, vibrated with his own quirky rhythmic feel, often more cutting than on record. The bigger band eases the stress on his nasal voice, which sometimes wore thin on Police tours.

This is the no-sweat tour. The band will follow its leader in kicking up their heels with a little dancing, but with no need for flash. Sting prefers the music to surprise, particularly the eccentric encores: 'Home on the Range', a sensual 'Don't Stand So Close' and assertive 'Every Breath You Take', and an acoustic 'Message in a Bottle' translated into an extended chant.

It was just the right blend for a cavern.

Now to the practicalities:

The Palace sits just off I-75 north of the Pontiac turn-offs, about 55 km from the tunnel.

On Saturday evening the trip took a comfortable hour, including the inevitable creep into the captive parking (including a picket line from the stage-hands union.)

With Pine Knob a bit further north, the Meadow Brook festival site a few hills south, and the Pontiac Silverdome just down the road, the potential for mammoth traffic jams seems great, especially since I-75 has been under construction longer than the Pyramids.

(c) The Windsor Star by John Laycock

Bring on the Night - Sting opens new arena with powerful, jazzy rock concert...

Next to his high-minded musical aspirations, Sting's most engaging quality may be his ability to be mutually enigmatic and accessible.

He's become one of the most successful and influential performers in modern pop by putting his white British spin on various forms of black-derived music, first as a member of the Police, now as a music solo performer.

On the other hand, Sting has worked expertly at concealing the motivations underlying his musical proclivities. He simply likes what he likes and makes no apologies.

From the moment Sting (born Gordon Matthew Sumner) strolled on stage before an estimated audience of 21,000 at The Palace of Auburn Hills becoming the first performer to play the new $70 million arena - he made no apologies, musical or otherwise, for a highly likeable, highly perfected performance that revealed almost nothing about what makes Mr. Sumner tick.

Togged in a white suit, his questionably blond hair just brushing his collar, Sting looked relaxed, playful, fun to be around - far too accessible for a guy who unwinds after writing songs about interpersonal turmoil by writing songs about political-social turmoil.

Backed by a band that would have left the late jazz legend John Coltrane gasping with envy, Sting balanced the first of his two sets with music from his jazz-oriented solo period and earlier Police-era material.

The later work, including dynamic performances of 'We'll Be Together Tonight', 'Sister Moon', 'If You Love Someone (Set Them Free)' and 'Bring On The Night' was straight forward jazz-pop with plenty of room for expert improvisations, most notably by keyboardist Kenny Kirkland and saxophonist Branford Marsalis.

But the real interest lay in the updated arrangements of songs Sting wrote before departing the Police in 1985.

'Too Much Information', got an explosive percussion lead-in from Mino Cinelu; "One World," climaxed with a commanding piano solo (and a rock-meets-reggae dance beat) by Kirkland; and 'When the World Is Running Down', wavered between its original back-beat and sophisticated tonal patterns.

Sting's apparent dissatisfaction with the minimalist rhythms and overtly cerebral lyric lines evident in his earlier material is easy to explain. Concert etiquette all but demands he play the Police songs. It's music a large share of his audience numbers) and mounted a series of recognizes.

But Sting has other considerations as well. His musical tastes are evolving, and he would be less a musician if he didn't respect the changes in his perspective.

Even more importantly, Sting has to keep things interesting for his band. Branford Marsalis and Kenny Kirkland (percussionist Cinelu and bassist Tracy Wormworth, formerly of the Waitresses) are among the most talented young musicians in jazz. They don't have to tour with Sting, they know it, and so does he. It's to Sting's credit and their's that they've found ways to expand the potential of those earlier songs.

Virtually all of Sting's songs share two characteristics-moody introversion and passive, self-satisfied indignation. There are of course exceptions, most notably, the uncharacteristic bubbly, 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic'. But Sting has never been known for his glowing positivity. That made his stage show all the more intriguing.

Although it wasn't exactly a circus, there was an air of fun and good spirits on stage. Instead of playing to the serious side of most of the music, Sting and his band injected tongue-in-cheek theatrics, subdued dance steps and bouncing humour.

During 'Sister Moon', Sting wandered away from the keyboard he attended most of the evening (he also played guitar on a few ascending platforms positioned at one corner of the stage. At the top he danced a slow and suggestive drag with back-up singer Dolette McDonald.

Following an intermission, Sting returned to the stage (this time in black) for a short set that was really nothing more than a setup for two longer-than-average encores.

The highlights of the five-song set came at the beginning and the end with a terrific 'King of Pain' to open, and a dazzling work-up of Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Wing', to close.

The first of the two encores opened with Sting's strange, but an entertaining 'Home on The Range'. There's absolutely no explaining why such a song would be a part of his concert bill.

The encores went on with Sting removing his jacket to reveal a naked torso for his meditative concert version of 'Don't Stand So Close To Me'.

A measured, well-performed 'Every Breath You Take' and a run-through of 'Message In A Bottle', which opened with Sting alone on guitar and finished with the band singing at his side, both went smoothly, beautifully by the numbers.

Few performances have left so many questions about a performer's inner nature. But what is the point of being an enigma if you do not raise more questions than you answer? Then again, the music may be answer enough.

(c) The Grand Rapids Press by William R. Macklin

Sting puts Palace through paces...

Friday night, The Palace of Auburn Hills strutted its stuff in a special "dress rehearsal" for media people and employee's families.

On Saturday night, superstar Sting put the place through its paces.

How did it fare?

Tremendous, acoustically the throaty poomps of the jug and the velvet-smooth musings of or saxophonist Brantford Marsalis sound- ed off with equal clarity, all the way to the highest rows.

And the boast of "not a bad seat in the place" proved not an idle one. The stage was clearly in view from all angles and heights-diminutive from some perches, yes, but always in sight.

What had some grumbling? Long walks and then long sardine-style lines at the concession stands for two things. And a bottle-neck situation at the parking lot exits was another, with the tight quarters ex- tending through to the I-75 turn-offs.

Sting proved an intriguing opener at once both jubilant and world-weary. He delivered upbeat jazz compositions only a beat short of reggae, and then turned pensive and sombre in numbers reflecting his humanitarian interests.

And through it all, Marsalis wailed on tenor, on soprano, on every kind of sax you could find in a perfect complement to Sting's own talents.

So exactly what Sting did Saturday's audience of an estimated 18,000 concertgoers enjoy? It was right there in black and white.

For the first half of his 22-hour show, Sting wore white, and played in a style perfectly suited to Marsalis' club-band white dinner jacket.

Here came 'But for You', a fin ger-snapping effort reminiscent of smoky jazz club favourites of the '40s; the rollicking 'Rock Steady', with Sting showing off his feet as fleet as his vocal cords; and the reggae-tinged 'One World'.

(You see, 'Roxanne' lives on, even if the big Police hit is banished from Sting's solo set list these days.)

Sting dedicated 'If You Love Someone, Set Them Free' to Nelson Mandela and "all the children in South African jails," giving the chorus of "Free, free, set them free" an especially haunting feel.

It was an indication of what was to come. Following a 15-minute intermission, Sting reappeared in total black for his brooding mood set.

Opening with the Police hit 'King of Pain', Sting's music reflected his deep commitment to the human-rights movement.

The mood came to a peak in the emotional 'They Dance Alone', a tribute to the families of the "disappeared ones" in South America. Chile banned the record and Sting after the song's release - Sting's performance Saturday burned with the conviction Chile so obviously fears.

He rounded out the set with a lively 'Be Still, My Beating Heart' and an extended version of 'How Fragile We Are'.

The show wasn't quite over there was still another Sting to appear.

Answering his rousing ovations with two encores, Sting opened this. portion with a real surprise jazzy 'Home on the Range'.

You know, "Oh, give me a home!" Between Marsalis' variations on the theme and Sting's scat-like improvisations, it worked.

It also gave little indication of what was to come next - the long- awaited Police numbers.

First came a rousing 'Don't Stand So Close To Me', with Sting baring his muscular torso in a fit of passion.

If that wasn't enough to drive the crowd into hysterics - it had long before reached the fever pitch he came back again, this time on acoustic guitar, for an impressive 'Every Breath You Take', an then an audience-participation go at 'Message in a Bottle'.

Sting proved himself a premier entertainer, and few left the Palace disappointed.

What's ahead for the Palace?

At Friday night's preview party members from the Harlem Globe trotters shot a couple baskets in colourful Pistons end zone while boxers George Foreman and Leo Spinks, in three-piece suits climbed into a centre ring.

A rodeo star twirled a 60-fo "cowboy's wedding ring" and skateboarders jumped ramps and di wheelies across the concrete floor. Finally, a laser show pierced the arena while coming attraction played across a screen below.

In short, there's a little of everything coming to Auburn Hills and it's off to a rousing start.

(c) Saginaw News by Sue White