Sacred Love: 2003/05

Sting conquered female voices and excellent curves...

A completely packed Prague T-Mobile Arena watched the concert of the 53-year-old British singer Sting on Wednesday evening and swayed for almost two hours in an atmosphere of complete satisfaction. They did not greet their star with rousing reactions after each song, as is customary at rock concerts. They paid her respect and humility as a tribute to her work full of humanity, love and ordinary stories.

Sting presented himself in great professional form and human strength. The very opening song 'Send Your Love' was performed in a fitting modern dance arrangement, so suggestive that its onslaught overwhelmed the oriental sounds that he boasts on his current album Sacred Love. In a similar vein, Sting and his excellent band continued on, and only after about sixty minutes on stage did they decide that it would be a good idea to say goodbye to jazz rock, to which Gordon Matthew Sumner (alias Sting) has been inclined for a long time.

So, the concert arrangements of older songs slowly introduced more demanding jazz areas, delicacies for connoisseurs and problems for fans who wish to hear the songs during the concert as they know them from the records. But they were happy to forgive the ''excesses'', because Sting smiled the whole evening, spoke to the audience sternly, yet like an old acquaintance, and when one of the musicians on stage stepped forward in his direction in professional joy, he even made room for him next to him.

As usual, he was in excellent vocal form. He was perhaps only ''warming up'' in the first stages of the opening song, then he completely dominated the concert with his voice and resisted attempts when both vocalists, who were wonderfully equipped with voices, tried to shake him off his imaginary pedestal in their solo performances. Sting survived their attacks primarily as a personality, he did not have to defend himself. And he did not have to talk too much during the evening, his songs happily did that for him. It was enough for him to simply stand on stage.

The weakest part of the performance was the rear projections, which stubbornly accompanied the songs. They easily succumbed to the pitfalls of kitsch. The main role in them was played by a number of attractive women, modestly dressed as befits, whose task was to conspicuously remove their dresses at times when the band was chatting with jazz players and some concertgoers might want to look for a new distraction.

However, this was not necessary. Sting would have survived even without the cheap help of the seductive girls and their excellent curves.

(c) Právo by Jaroslav Spulák

Sting has an exceptional position in our country...

The interest in his Prague concert proves that the British musician has not ceased to be a favourite of the Czech audience.

Hits from all periods of Sting's career were performed at Tuesday's concert in Prague.

The British musician's concert was so popular that the path from the tram stop to the T-Mobile Arena was lined with crowds of interested people who could not get into it through regular pre-sales.

Immediately after arriving in the corridor of the hall, the visitor could not help but notice the Amnesty International information stand with a number of petitions to sign, which confirmed that he was in the right place. Sting is known for his interest in public affairs, and Amnesty International is one of the organizations he strongly supports. Instead of the originally announced group of trumpeter Chris Botti, the local Cechomor performed, who did not offend with their folk songs in a rock spirit.

After a technical break, the hall darkened and the first notes of the intro turned into the brisk hit 'Send Your Love', a single from Sting's latest album 'Sacred Love'. The accompanying band has changed personnel since the singer's last visit to the Czech Republic (and since the recording of the aforementioned album), two key personalities remained in their places: Sting's long-time musical partner, guitarist Dominic Miller, and keyboardist Kipper, the architect of the modern sound of Sting's latest albums. The singer himself traditionally handled the bass guitar with confidence, but he also ran to the acoustic guitar. The male musical company was led by two vocalists. In addition to songs from 'Sacred Love', the hall was filled with hits from all periods of the singer's career, from the time of The Police to perhaps the most highly regarded album of recent years, 'Brand New Day'. Sting even saved the main hit from it, the ethnically-tinged 'Desert Rose', as the first encore. This followed the first ''trial'' set after the concert in the form of the Police's most famous hit 'Roxanne'. The Prague audience proved to be knowledgeable. They applauded each famous song after the opening bars and in the most tense moments even tried to sing along with their favourite.

Sting has an exceptional position not only on the world stage, but also on the relatively specific Czech stage. This is also evidenced by the fact that before the concert he received a platinum record from the representative of the Czech branch of the Universal publishing house for ten thousand copies of the album 'Sacred Love' sold - such a number can be envied even by the much more media-frequented faces of the local show business. And the same applies to the attendance of his Czech concerts. Considering the quality of Sting's music, this is a good testimony for the local audience.

(c) Lidové Noviny by Ondrej Bezr

Sting sang for Prague and is taking home a platinum...

A packed Prague T-Mobile Arena welcomed Sting, a singer, musician and big star who always has an open door in the Czech Republic, as evidenced by the platinum record for his recording Sacred Love. The singer's performance was prepared by the local band Cechomor, who knows the hall very well from the filming of the concert DVD.

Violinist Karel Holas, singer, guitarist Frantisek Cerný & co. chose more lively songs, supported by a rockier root.

The audience responded enthusiastically and seemed in a good mood. Sting was then able to enter the arena, which awaited him with eager boos.

The 53-year-old classic started his concert at nine o'clock. Behind the singer, a projection was launched on three vertical screens and the dance rhythm of the song 'Send Your Love' was supported by two drum kits.

Sting started his concert briskly and during the older song 'All This Time' the audience clapped along to the rhythm.

The band, which included two backing singers, a keyboardist and Sting's long-time guitarist Dominic Miller, gave the songs the necessary colours.

For example, the new song Inside sounded like a ballad with a tense, almost gospel-like singing and the girls' bodies undulated on the screen.

Sting sailed through the concert like a plague, which was sometimes wavy and restless, sometimes soothingly calm. There were also hits that the audience recognized after the first bars, such as the song 'Brand New Day', the chorus of which was sung by part of the audience.

Sting's slightly cracked sexy voice carried over the fluffy, fragile Latin of 'Fragile', but the hall completely froze during the ballad 'Fields Of Gold' and accompanied it with gentle applause.

Sting must have felt that he was among his own. 'Englishman In New York', an old hit, received a greater response than the amazing projection of the dancer, who floated above Sting as if alive in the song 'Sacred Love'.

At the end, Sting kept another batch of hits, including 'Roxanne', so the audience enjoyed the concert with due gradation.

Sting takes home a platinum album from the Czech Republic. This is awarded for 10 thousand copies sold for foreign albums and goes to Sting for last year's title 'Sacred Love'.

(c) Idnes by Vladimír Vlasák