Nothing Like The Sun: 1987/88

Sting is beautiful singin' in the rain...

'We'll Be Together', the first single from Gordon Sumner's (a.k.a Sting) '...Nothing Like The Sun', album contains a couplet that goes "Forget the weather, we should always be together."

The 10,000 fans who braved a drenching rainstorm Sunday for his performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, would certainly agree with that sentiment.

This is the 13th month of Sting's current tour, and like Def Leppard's marathon meanderings, this is his second visit to the area. On a below zero night last February, he played the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute's Fieldhouse in Troy.

The first set Sunday differed little from his RPI performance. He opened with a searing version of 'The Lazarus Heart', and featured other up-tempo songs from '...Nothing Like the Sun', including 'Englishman In New York', 'We'll Be Together', and 'Rock Steady'. But the centrepiece of the set was a slow song, the dreamy 'Sister Moon'. Sting's languid rendition coaxed every last bit of emotion out of the evocative lyrics. A sparse arrangement, with the band playing so softly that they seemed to almost evaporate, only accentuated the fragile mood.

An old song from Sting's days with the Police, 'When the World Is Running Down', brought the one hour set to a rousing finish.

Set two diverged from his RPI show. He opened with another Police classic, 'King Of Pain', and then performed the haunting 'They Dance Alone'. It's his tribute to the "Disappeared" of the Chile's Pinochet regime, and of the plight of political prisoners worldwide, and maybe his finest recorded moment to date. When he performed it Sunday, you could hear a pin drop in the amphitheatre. His brittle reading of the aptly named 'Fragile', and his version of Jimi Hendrix's 'Little Wing' were other highlights of the second set.

Sting's highly stylized show worked better on the SPAC stage, than at the immense RPI fieldhouse. Dressed in a tailored black suit, he was in constant motion whether mugging with saxophonist Branford Marsalis, dirty dancing with back-up singer, Dolette McDonald, or exchanging high-fives with fans in the front row.

An accomplished actor whose screen credits include 'Quadrophenia', 'Dune', and 'The Bride', he brought those talents to bear during his two hour show. When singing the wry 'Englishman From N.Y.', he became the dapper gentleman honoured in the song.

His eight piece band - two drummers, two keyboardist, bass, guitar, back-up singer, and Branford Marsalis on saxophone was, as expected, exceptionally tight. On 'The Lazarus Heart', they created complex counterrhythms, which Marsalis' serpentine soloing wove through like a patchwork quilt.

Wynton Marsalis, noted trumpeter and standard bearer of the "new conservative" movement in jazz, apparently has little use for his brother's forays into pop. A shame - there's nothing lightweight about Sting music. It's a vibrant, challenging blend that ties together jazz and a myriad of third world musics, and includes provocative subject matter to boot. Sunday night caught Sting and band at its creative peak.

(c) The Post Star by Mike Curtin